Talk to me about living in an older home.

[LarsMal]

DH finally got word that he got his security clearance :yay:!! It's been just over a year since he applied for the job, and about 8 months since he got the offer. It's been a long wait! It's going to be very hard to give up his current salary and move back to a more expensive area, but in the long run it's going to be better for our family.

So...now the housing search really begins. DH and I will be the first to admit that we have been totally spoiled with the homes we've lived in since we got married. Our very first apartment was brand new, the first home (townhouse) we bought was brand new, and our current home was a year old when we moved into it. We've had the luxury of closet space, storage, lots of bathrooms, open floor plans, etc.

We have two choices for our move- go farther out and get a new/newer home/planned community, but DH will have a longer commute and tolls OR move closer in, to an older home that will most likely need work, but DH will have a shorter commute/no tolls- and we will probably take better advantage of the area since we'll be closer to stuff.

So...I need to know what it's like living in an older home- How much upkeep is there- windows, roofing, plumbing, etc? How do you deal with storage if you don't have a lot of closet space? Have you followed through with the renovation plans you had in mind when you first bought your house (if it needed them)? I just need some input so I can go into the search with a more open mind.

TIA!

[ThreeofUs]

It entirely depends on the age and condition of the house you buy. We bought a nearly-100-yo house (7 years ago) with the best electric and plumbing we could find. And we spend a LOT of money every year on maintenance - *just* maintenance. We spend a lot more money every year on upgrading, and we're going slow.

Our next-door neighbors - smaller house, wood siding - spent about $500K fixing and upgrading their home. Now it looks wonderful, but they didn't fix everything that needed to be fixed.

Renovations cost much more than in newer homes, because you have to deal with domino-ing issues. For example, we're putting in a simple place to put our stuff when we come in the kitchen door. We pulled on the wrong tab and now we're also having our contractor mud and paint the walls (because the wallpaper under the stucco has no glue anymore). That was a quick $500-1000 added to the job!

PM me if you have specific questions. I've lived in older homes on the East Coast and in the Mid-West, and will help you any way I can.

Edited to fix grammatical and other I've-been-up-too-long errors.

[HIU8]

I grew up in an older home and live in one now as well. Our house was built in 1970. It has small bathrooms where the fixtures were not up to code (so we changed that). Our basement was meant for storage only (cement stairs that are very steep--also not to code for a useable space. Most people just do it up themselves san contractor). We have replaced our furnace, had an energy audit done and reinsulated most of the house. We also had aluminum wiring and could not afford to rewire the entire house, so we copalumed via a local company (could have done it ourselves, but it was a big job). We also have new windows that the old owner put in right before we moved in and we replaced the thermostadt b/c it was the old dial kind. Oh, we also had the ducts cleaned first thing b/c of a smell in the house. Make sure things like termites are disclosed to you. It wasn't to us and our kitchen floor had fallen about 2 inches into the basement (so the kitchen had to be redone immediately). Also, one of our supporting walls in the basement fell in about 9 years ago (we have lived here 4 years), and it was rebuilt to code. Oh, our roof has about 5 or 6 more years on it before it needs to be replaced.

Having said all that.....We have a more open floor plan. Our entire house is hardwood which was standard then. Our rooms are decent sized and the house has done most of its settling. Ok, so next house I want a basement that can be finished. This is our first home and around here to get new construction you have to go way way out and we were not willing to do that. HTH a bit.

[niccig]

So...I need to know what it's like living in an older home- How much upkeep is there- windows, roofing, plumbing, etc? How do you deal with storage if you don't have a lot of closet space? Have you followed through with the renovation plans you had in mind when you first bought your house (if it needed them)? I just need some input so I can go into the search with a more open mind.

TIA!

Detailed inspection and include a LEAD PAINT assessment. If you need to have abatement done, it can be negotiated as part of the selling price. We're still working out what we will do with our windows with lead paint. We can replace, which is pricey, but new windows will change the look of our house - we have unusual windows and love them. We're looking at getting them stripped back and repainted instead. So, in our case trying to keep the charm of our older home can take more work. If it was a newer home and no charming windows, no qualms over replacing.

Older homes were built to different building codes. If you leave things as they are, you're fine, but if you go to change it, the city makes you upgrade to current code. Eg. we wanted to put wall sconces above fireplace. But that room has the old cloth wiring, which isn't allowed anymore. So to put the new lights in, had to rewire the entire room. If we didn't put the lights in, could have left the old wiring.

We need to get better about checking our house and dealing with maintenance issues before the get too serious. I'm still looking for a great handyman/contractor who'll do small jobs, that will help if I have someone to call.

ETA. A love our older home. It has a quality and charm about it that friend's newer construction just doesn't seem to have to me. Eg. our trim around doors windows, needs to be stripped back and repainted - we have about 7 layers of paint so he can't just be repainted. A friend said it would be easier to rip out and put new in, but I can't get trim that looks the same or that is as substantial. It's just not made anymore. Same with our windows. They're 80 years old and every installer who quoted us, said we can not get wood windows of the same quality. We can get replacement windows but they'll need to be replaced at some point ie. no chance they'll last 80 years.

One more thing. I would look for homes that have updated plumbing, wiring, a/c, furnace - the big expensive stuff. You don't want to buy a home and have to repipe it.

[egoldber]

I think if you limit your search to homes built in the 1980s and later you'll be fine in terms of things like lead and asbestos.

You do NOT want to move farther out if you don't have to. I would look to be very close to a commuter artery. If he works in DC or in one of the close in areas like Arlington I would look to be as close as possible to Highway 50. I would highly recommend test driving commutes at commute times.

The toll road isn't sooooo horrible as long as you aren't past Dulles. But you know you can't use 66 at commute times unless you are a carpool.

[trales]

I love our old home, I would never buy new. Ours is only 50 years old. Yes, projects tend to domino into larger things. But, it has so much character, is so beautiful and I enjoy doing work on it. You will learn a lot of stuff. In fact, I finished my first major dry wall project this past weekend. I am attacking the duct work and HVAC this weekend. I would not trade it in for a new house, only and older one. There is so much to be said for living close to work.

[KBecks]

get a good home inspector and a real estate agent that knows older homes and can show you the basic stuff and condition of the house construction/systems. My house is 1969, good condition, we've lived here 10 years and have done simple things, carpet, paint, a little at a time. No major remodeling, a lot of painting, new light fixtures, flooring, etc. we did a new roof

It's not perfect like a new home. I still have a harvest gold tub. We have an awesome location and we're happy.

Less storage - just have less stuff. :)

[LarsMal]

The toll road isn't sooooo horrible as long as you aren't past Dulles. But you know you can't use 66 at commute times unless you are a carpool.

Of course, it would be! ;)

[WatchingThemGrow]

How old are the homes in the area you are looking at? Each "era" has its own "issues." I'm guessing some of us live in whatever era you are looking at.

I bought this 50's house when I was in grad school (sold the 70's house my mom made me buy from her, so I had a good downpayment). I immediately got an equity loan and gutted the bathroom (1.5) and the kitchen (original) and plopped down some newer stuff that I knew I could live with. Then, I refinished the floors, had to install a new HVAC and ductwork. Then, DH came along and he got us a new roof, converted a porch to an INSIDE laundry room that doubles as a mudroom, home office, etc. Last week we got new windows, next month new drywall from house settling/foundation issues. Let's see...is there anything that CAN be replaced on a house? Oh yeah, the asphalt driveway was totally cracked and horrible for walking on, the attic had to have more plywood put down for storage, the closets have all gotten the shelf-track bar system to beef up the storage.

ITA with the "have less stuff" idea. Wish I could live it. Maybe I do and just always feels tight. Soon enough we'll have 5 of us in 1400 sq. feet, LOL. I LOVE where I am, though. We have a nice, big, flat yard and we are in walking distance to an enviable amount of cool shops, restaurants, libraries, parks, basically anything. The bus stop is visible out our back windows, so I sometimes jump on the bus with 2 kids and head downtown to the children's museum. DH happens to work in a different town, so his commute is 25 min, but it would be really convenient to live here if he worked at the local University.

The thing that is really keeping us here is the school thing, well, and the fun factor of living in a walkable area. Our districted elem school is one where I taught and before that MIL taught. Our district is an overachieving district, so we kinda want to stay here even though we aren't overachievers by any means.

Kinda off topic, but it gives you some other things to consider besides the "house" itself. Oh, neighbors...check them out. Walk around the neighborhood at different times of the day if possible so you can get a better feel of the goings on. We have a public housing unit nearby that creates a little bit of interest, but we have a great, friendly mix of neighbors. Some of the neighbors are retirees, some are grad students, prof. students, artists, local businessmen, several families, several with new babies. It's not just like one big "bedroom community" with families with their 2.5 children. It makes it a little bit more interesting to us - maybe not SO much for the kids. Every so often, we'll have a visitor who comes over to play, but not a bunch of kids playing out in the cul-de-sac kind of thing. Again, sorry for the ramble...just lifestlye stuff to consider. Just thinking about it...I think I'm the only SAHM in my neighborhood - waah. The others have all gone back by 4 mos. ETA: It's good DC and I have a playgroup and bible studies and music classes and stuff like that. Others may have lots of great relationships just in their own neighborhoods, I'm thinking.

ETA again: after rereading niccig's post - I remember getting the whole house repiped. I took all the old iron pipes to the recycling center at the dump myself. It feels great knowing everything except the water coming from the street is going through new pipes -especially the outbound stuff. No clogs!

Dang, after reading Dcclerk's post I remembered that I also had electrical work done - all the plugs/switches, the new bathrooms/kitchen AND I had to change the electrical panel over from the little glass fuses to the breaker box. I think what you say about the CA vs Eastern homes is true. Also, the initial quality of the construction. We had a very nice 60's house growing up that was high-end at the time - rock solid. ILs' house is from that era as well and it is very well-built. Mine was just used up and had little upkeep over the years.

[Dcclerk]

How old are the homes in the area you are looking at? Each "era" has its own "issues." I'm guessing some of us live in whatever era you are looking at.



There is old here in California and there is old back east and I suspect there is not a lot of overlap.

I grew up in a home from the 60's that required little added expense. My parents had to replace the roof at some point, paint the interior and exterior, and they changed the flooring, but the rest was truly just for aesthetics. It was a big enough house and they don't put cars in the garage so storage was never a problem with our family of 6.

My DH and I have owned 2 homes. One was built in the 50's and the other in the 20's. We had to replace the heater in the 50's home, which was a pretty big undertaking. We completely gutted the bathroom and kitchen, which was also a big undertaking. We could've lived with the originals, though. In fact, I miss terribly my Merrit & O'Keefe stove that I actually took to my 1920's home when we moved there. While not totally stylish, the bones and fixtures in the house were quite classic and in keeping with the cottage-y nature of the house. It had very little storage and a one-car garage, so we had to be on our guard for clutter, but you just learn to get creative. For example, we had built-in cabinetry everywhere, used behind the door storage, culled through things regularly, used under-the-bed storage, etc. It was a good place to live in and had character that lots of newer homes just don't have with the paneled walls in the LR, thin plank wood floor, pretty moldings, interesting windows, etc. This home had a lot more character than the one I grew up in.

Our 1920's home had character on the outside but was an absolutely hideous house to live in. Part of it was that it went through some seriously ugly "updates" over the course of its life. I'm sure the original was much more attractive than the way we found it. But, more importantly, the infrastructure was hideous. Our electrical was such that I could not have the microwave in the kitchen and the hairdryer in the bathroom on at the same time. Forget about the microwave and the toaster oven. Heck, sometimes we couldn't even run the microwave when the refrigerator had turned on. It also had NO insulation. While lathe and plaster walls look great, if you have no insulation, it is a horrible place to live. Our problem was also that we had a flat roof with no insulation, but it was one of the most uncomfortable homes I've ever been in. We live in a very temperate area and yet it would feel like 95 degrees inside in the summer and 50 degrees inside in the winter. I would often do my work on the computer with a down jacket and knit hat. If we wanted to keep the home as is, we would have had to spend a TON of money updating the electrical, plumbing, roof/insulation, windows (they were really drafty), etc. That home would have been a serious money pit if we wanted to make it more livable.

Whatever you do, I agree that you should have a home inspector look carefully at everything. I personally prefer the character of some older homes than most new ones, but you definitely need to know what you are buying and budget accordingly.

[elektra]

LOVE our 1958 California ranch home (picture the house from The Incredibles).
The bedrooms and closets are small, true. To help deal with that, we got those modular elfa organization systems from The Container store to try to maximize space.
And its possible to find an older home that has already been upgraded. Ours luckily was. New double-panes windows, plantation shutters. All the cabinets had been redone sometime in the last 10 years I estimate. Also an addition of a family room and extra bedroom. Oh and an attached master bath that wasn't originally there.
We will eventually have to replace our chimney, but we had a contractor look at it and he said that if it's been fine for this long it will probably last awhile longer.
I love the hardwood floors, and the fact that my house doesn't look like all the other cookie cutters that are very common in many parts of southern cal. We could really go any direction with decorating too. Our yard is huge by comparison to many surrounding neighborhoods too.
I would say if you love an area, don't let an older house hold you back from buying there.

[SnuggleBuggles]

I have lived in both and both honestly have their own issues. I love the charm of my older home. I have beamed ceilings in the dining room, plate rails, interesting mouldings... There are a lot of good aesthetic features.

It is important when buying an older home to ask about the age of the roof. It's nice to find a house with new windows. You should be able to find those things.

When in doubt, consider a home warranty. We did that because our furnace is 40 years old. We opted to let it lapse this year because if it breaks we can buy a new one (something that would have been a bit trickier when we bought the house). It covers everything in the walls of your home and is something to consider.

Ditto the pp about a home inspection. Of course, I found quality to be just as bad- or worse- on our newer home because it was built so hastily.

I would move into an older home if it meant a shorter commute. That will improve quality of life enough to offset the disadvantages of a smaller kitchen and smaller closets, imo.

Depending on where you look you can find older homes that have really been updated. You'll pay a lot more for those, usually, but they should exist.

BEth

[dotgirl]

We live in the Pacific Northwest, and our house is about 75 years old - build in 1931.

The people we bought it from did a pretty big remodel - ripped out the carpet, refinished the floors, redid the plumbing, wiring, installed a new furnace, new roof - in all, they probably put about $50k into it.

Overall, I like it better than a new house - it has more charm and character. There are a few things I don't particularly like - the closets are practically non-existent (we built an Ikea wardrobe for our bedroom - you could literally fit maybe 10 things in the "closet"), the bathrooms are small, and the basement needs to be waterproofed - we get a thin stream of water whenever it rains hard.

That being said, we chose to buy an old house so that we could live closer to the city - we could have easily gotten twice as much house for less money had we been willing to commute, but we just weren't willing to drive 45 minute each way to work every day.

[Tinkerbell313]

I hate our house built in 1923. But, at the time we bought it, it was what we could afford. New houses were going for three to four times what we paid. Also we could not live else where and remodel at the same time. We just could not afford two mortgages. Also, we could not afford the remodel. We can only do little projects at a time...the little projects each cost quite a bit...the new furnace ($6000); the replacing of the pipes...all of them...the replacing of the electrical wire...including the wires on our entire street (we did not have to pay for that). The replacing of the sewer line that went under the addition to the house (apparently per architect husband...that should not happen). The replacing of 20 windows at about $600 per window. Oh yeah, we had to put a floor in the basement...it was dirt and about 6 inches of rock. We also replaced the two bathrooms and the kitchen.

We did this all while living in the house...including while I had a thyroidectamy (sp?) and two kids. Also, DH and I both work, so we are going all week until 6:30pm.

And, I hate living in house where there is someone elses' dirt.

I am sure you saw above that I married an architect...he is good at what he does...for others. He knows his stuff. But he just hates working on our house. So, it has been a long, difficult road. And we haven't finished.

Of course, the people who will move in after us, will love the house (and us) since it has been updated by us.

[LarsMal]

Okay, feeling totally overwhelmed now, and we haven't even started really looking!!!

Thanks for all the info, though. I am going to make a list of things to keep in mind, and have my uncle meet up with us when we go check out a couple of the older homes over the next few weeks.

The homes we are looking at are- I think- mid to late 60's, maybe some early 70's. Some have had some udating/upgrading/add-ons and things like that. There is one that is a total fixer-upper- I wouldn't even move into it without carpet being ripped out and walls painted! And that's just what I can see of it online! It's incredibly priced, though, so we'd have a lot left over to make it our own. Just don't know how the "bones" are. I guess there's only one way to find out!

Deep breath! DH doesn't have a handy bone in his body- that's usually my job, but I'll be 6 months preggers when we move, so I don't think I'll be doing a whole lot right off the bat! (although I did paint our bathroom here when I was 8 months pregnant with DD!)

I'll keep you guys posted- and I'm sure I'll have more questions if we go the older route!

[shawnandangel]

1930's house here. DH replaced the furnace when he bought the house. He also built a 2 car garage. Before he moved in the wiring and pipes were replaced in the house.

I love living in an older house. Our walls are plaster and I love the character that gives them. All of our floors are hardwood and all the trim in the house is a dark cherry. There are glass doors inside the house leading from room to room, and the one upgrade we have left to do is the coal burning fireplace being turned into a wood burning fireplace. But that's a $3000 upgrade we don't have money for right now.

I love the "warmth" of our house. I get a "cold" feeling in newer houses. They are (usually) bland and square and have no personality. Just big boxes built quickely and usually haphazardly with no regard to little details.

[WatchingThemGrow]

LarsMal, I totally wouldn't want to be redoing a lot of stuff right when you move in and are pg with DC. no way. If there is any way to stay elsewhere - like even in an extended stay hotel, I'd do that 100x before remodeling with DC in the mix. Or- better yet, rent an apt. with a pool for a couple months. I've seen people be very happy with that choice.

[MontrealMum]

Our home was built in the 19-teens - can't remember exactly when right now. We were lucky that much of the big work was already done, save the new roof, which was done 2 yrs. ago now. It really depends on how much has already been done, and what you're up to doing yourself. There can be a lot of fussy little upkeep, but you always have upkeep in any house. We have some stained glass in the front that needs to be looked at, but have a friend that has this as a hobby. We were told that it was more dangerous pulling out the old cloth-covered wiring than leaving it in, so it's still there.

Getting an inspection is key, but even then there can be problems. My friend owns a hundred-year old farmhouse in upstate NY and DID get an inspection, but the inspector missed major structural issues and the house was basically falling in on itself from the basement up. Long story short, they had to do the repairs which cost big $$, then sued both the city and the inspector. They won, and everything is fine now, but you don't want that headache.

Our closet space is OK, but not enough. You can get some fairly nice armoires which you can "customize" at Ikea (Pax series is one). I have only ever lived in old homes (pre-1930) - except for one circa 1970s appartment, so I really don't know any different.

The house I grew up in had amazing closets, built in cabinets and under the stairs storage (think Harry Potter) - you never know. If the attic had been finished there would have been tons more. Just because it's old doesn't mean no storage.

Heating can be a big issue if you don't have newish windows and updated insulation. That seems to be the only issue not mentioned yet.

I love old homes, it would take me alot to consider anything else :)

[SnuggleBuggles]

Get a house with good bones. You can gradually make aesthetic changes. So long as everything works you don't need to drive yourself crazy to do it all when you move in.

Beth

[niccig]

I love the "warmth" of our house. I get a "cold" feeling in newer houses. They are (usually) bland and square and have no personality. Just big boxes built quickely and usually haphazardly with no regard to little details.

I agree with this. Friends bought a 1970's home that had never been updated. They have done some things to it, but it just doesn't have the same details - we have the windows, trim, picture rail, curved cornices etc. And it wasn't as well built. Our home is much older and yes problems of an older home, but it seems much more solid.

[JoyNChrist]

We had an older home (1950's) and just recently moved into a 1960's house. I love both places, partly BECAUSE they needed extensive remodeling. I very much like to have everything done just the way I like it, and because we got such deals on both of our houses, it was cheaper to remodel an older home to my specifications than build a new one.

Our first house was very poorly insulated, and the windows were ancient, so the house was hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It would have been moderately expensive to replace the windows and put in more insulation, but we chose not to do so because we knew we would be moving within a few years. In our new house, we replaced all the windows and added insulation before we ever moved in. The rest of the work has mainly been cosmetic - we replaced the flooring (ripped out carpet and installed hardwood), put new cabinets in the kitchen, added a laundry room and extended the master bathroom, and added a shower to the half bath. And lots and lots of paint. ;)

Upcoming projects: sunroom, built-in cabinets for the dining room and den, closet expansion or installing some sort of armoire system in each of the bedrooms (closets are tiny), and a new roof (in a few years). I would also like to expand the garage (we have the space, just not the time and $ right now).

So far, the expense and time has been worth it, and the renovations haven't been too painful. Of course, my dad and my father-in-law are both contractors, and me, DH, BIL, and SIL all grew up helping build houses, so all of our labor (along with my mom, MIL, and assorted other friends and relatives) has been free (if you count sweat, blood, early mornings and late nights free, lol).

[maestramommy]

Well, we just moved into a house that was very well built, but is almost 39 years old. I know that isn't old compared to some, but many things were not kept up over the years, so by the time we moved in, it was a disaster waiting to happen. Case in point: When I installed a hand shower for cloth diapering on one of the toilets, the shutoff started leaking, and nothing could stop it. When the plumber (who's worked on the house many times before) came he said that the toilets were so old (original) that corrosion had set in, and when we installed the shower, it disturbed all the gunk that had essentially kept it from leaking. We decided to replace the whole toilet and shutoff, but when the contractor took it up and started removing floor tile, he found that the sub floor all around was rotted. Apparently someone had replaced the wax ring at one time and didn't put the toilet back properly, so water started coming out, and got into the floor. If you think that's bad, the downstairs bathroom was even worse. Not only the sub floor, but the planks underneath were rotted. In the basement when you look at the ceiling you can see it. Why the inspector didnt' catch this we don't know:32: So now we are replacing the toilet and floor of our second bathroom, and in future will probably tackle the master bathroom.

This is just an example of things we started to find after we moved in. But I'm told that with any house it happens. I think we might've been particularly unlucky because 1) the previous owners didn't do any of this upkeep, 2) none of it was caught during inspection. In the previous owners defense, they did do some big things like replace the roof, sump pump, furnace.

Dh is having a hard time feeling it these days, but really this house was ideal for us because of its proximity to his office (he can still bike commute) the elementary school, and the neighborhood is really great. We were fortunate that we bought quite a bit less than what we saved for so we had cash reserves for doing all these repairs. With the economy the way it is, we are slowing down and doing things based on priority/urgency now. So some things we thought we were going to do right away we are holding off on. The bathroom situation caught us off guard. Well, that's life.

We did a lot of new houses, and they left us cold. Most of them looked cavernous, with cathedral ceilings, great rooms, etc. Our house has a lot of living space (2500 sf), but it doesn't look big at all. It's a traditional colonial, so all the rooms are separate from each other. The ceilings are not particularly high, so in spite of being a "big" house, it feels cozy. The new houses looked crappily built too, like they were slapped together. The man who built our house built all the houses on our block, and is a town legend. We've been told by numerous people in the know that he was the guy who did the job right and spared no expense. So that makes us feel much better about the house. It's just suffered from a bit a neglect.

[crayonblue]

Hi Julie,

I haven't lived in an older home but I can assure you that you would rather live in an older home near your DH's work than a newer one farther out! We made the huge mistake of buying a home in Virginia, 30 miles from D.C. We THOUGHT it would be an OK commute. Turned out it took DH 2 hours one way on 66. It wore him down. He tried driving to the metro; he tried taking the train. It still sucked!

We ended up selling and moving into a condo right on the metro line in Maryland and wish we would have NEVER moved so far out in Virginia. It was cheaper and seemed like a good idea.

So, my suggestion is to buy/rent as close to your DH's work as possible. Now DH has a 15 minute commute and it has changed our lives.

Hope you find the perfect house! :)

[egoldber]

Just to add to what Lana says above, before his layoff, DH and I were very seriously considering selling our house in Fairfax (which is NOT a bad commute into DC at all, 25/30 minutes on highway 50 most days) and moving closer in. We were looking at downsizing by about 1000 SF into a townhome or condo in Arlington. We do live somewhat close to a metro stop now, but wanted to be in easy walking distance.

[ThreeofUs]

You do NOT want to move farther out if you don't have to. I would look to be very close to a commuter artery. If he works in DC or in one of the close in areas like Arlington I would look to be as close as possible to Highway 50. I would highly recommend test driving commutes at commute times.


I'll second this! I lived in Annapolis and commuted to DC. Do the drive before you buy!

[ThreeofUs]

Ohhhh.... I wouldn't want to move into a house that needed work - especially not pg!

We made that mistake. We should have gone to a hotel or rented a short-term apartment and lived out of boxes for a month.

Get rid of the carpets, have any lead paint remediated, do any painting or remodeling BEFORE you move in. Even if it's minimal, do it first.

I know money will feel tight and the idea of moving twice with kids is just overwhelming but it's really the right thing to do. Learn from our mistake! ;)