Hello friends! We have an exciting update which may result in more than 1 post a year (but no guarantees). While I love our little house in the middle of the city, I have always longed for some rural land to escape to near the Shenandoah. I’d often peruse listings out there just for fun and thought that maybe one day closer to retirement, this dream might become a reality. Well, once the pandemic hit and Mike and I were stuck at home for so many months, the walls felt like they were really closing in and at the time we weren’t getting the benefits of living in the city either as everything was pretty much shutdown.
That motivated us to accelerate our time frame. So after a couple of years of hemming, hawing, debating, and searching, we finally bought a house in rural Virginia! This is the pic in the listing that really intrigued us to check this house out:
This all feels a little bit crazy, impulsive, and a bit of a splurge as well. The view is perfect (it’s also better in person, the mountains are very zoomed out in this picture); the house… needs work. A lot of work. And it’s a big house. Much bigger than our house in DC. So have we bit off more than we can chew? Maybe. Only one way to find out!
Why this house?
I say it’s crazy but we did meet with our financial planner before making this purchase and I also have looked at a lot of listings over the years. I knew how hard it was going to meet all our criteria. This house checked off so many must-haves and a few nice-to-haves that it felt right! Besides being in our budget, we wanted something that was a 90 minute drive to DC, ideally on the east side of Shenandoah, with a view of mountains, and that had more room than our current house so we could entertain people in the country! I really wanted a house with lots of big windows to maximize the view from the inside and with lots of light. As nice-to-haves, I wanted a bit of grassy land so Thambi could run around (as opposed to being in a forest), something in Rappahannock County, and we reallllyy wanted high-speed internet since Mike works fully remote now and I only go to the office 2 days a week. We also wanted something that looked “vacation-y” like a chalet-style house or a glamping cabin.
It was the hardest finding a house with high-speed internet and one that maximizes the view. A lot of them had a great view outside but then the house would be dark and cramped. There are a few chalet style houses in this area but most that come on the market had terrible layouts besides a few big windows.
In the end, the house that we bought has a slightly obstructed view of the Shenandoah mountains but you can see them from nearly every room in the house. The interior view that sealed the deal:
With this you see the BIGGEST compromise: the house has not been renovated since it was built in the 1980s. But, look at the light! Look at the view! The vaulted ceilings! It is just a normal house - not vacation-y at all on the inside or outside but I could just picture how to turn it into a country escape with some elbow grease. A LOT OF ELBOW GREASE. And so we put in an offer and it was accepted!
House Tour
The house has 3 bedrooms and 2 baths. The bedrooms are all really sizeable. The master bedroom has a view of Old Rag Mountain! The Master:
Bedroom 2 and 3:
Guest bathroom:
The kitchen is also original and sort of an odd layout but it was in really good shape! We could see that the previous (who were the original) homeowners really took care of ths place. Of course, we plan on completely re-doing the kitchen:
The dining room also will be great for gatherings, with 2 sets of double doors to see the view!
There is also a weird and small mudroom. After owning the house for the past few months and tracking dirt in from the yard, I see why a mudroom is necessary in the country.
This ridiculously long deck was also one of the selling points.
Future AirBnB
Our original plan for our country escape was to turn it into an AirBnB when we weren’t using it. One of the unexpected selling points of this house is that it has a separate apartment! This gives us the option of just having the apartment as an AirBnB rather than the part of the house that we will use. Also gives us the option of AirBnB’ing both! Although Mike is not as much of a fan of that plan. The apartment was supposed to be a garage in the original building plans but the owner converted it to an apartment so his daughter could live there.
Unfortunately two kitchens means…two kitchens to renovate! So this will certainly be an extra investment of time, money, and physical exertion.
Closing & First Weekend
We closed the first weekend of July. The moment we walked in the door after signing the contract, I turned around and Mike had somehow changed into his work clothes and was already pulling up the carpet!
I had to drag him away to take our first picture! Here we are on the deck on the beautiful (but very hot) summer day that we closed on the house:
And now…a puppy picture.
Thambi exploring the deck on his first day. Now that he is more comfortable, he loves to run up and down it every morning!
