They Weren’t Planning
to Move. Then the
Stars Aligned.

A note from Eric

Adam and Emily weren’t in the market. There was no target date, no spreadsheet, no plan. Then a house came up near their triplets’ school that was the right size, the right price, the right location, and something clicked.

The decision they made next was the right one: buy the new house first, then list the old one. Not just because it made financial sense, but because anyone who’s tried to show a home with three kids the same age knows that “move-in ready” looks a little different when triplets are involved.

They pulled it off. Here’s how.

The Stars Aligned

They weren’t planning to move.

They knew they'd eventually outgrow their house; three kids the same age have a way of accelerating that timeline, but there was no grand plan. Then a house came on the market near their triplets’ school, and it just worked. The size. The price. The location. Everything landed at once.

The Triplet Factor

Adam and Emily decided to buy before they listed, and there were two reasons for that. The first was simple: they liked the house and didn’t want to lose it.

The second was a little more practical. Showing a home with triplets in it is a different experience. “Having the triplets in our house looks like a zoo 75% of the time,” Adam says. Being able to move first, and get the old house properly prepped without three kids immediately undoing everything, made it possible to show it the way it deserved to be shown.

Two mortgages was the big question. "We did the math, we knew how long we could carry both, and we were honest about what that would mean for our lifestyle in the short term. But knowing it was temporary made it manageable. As it turned out, we never came close to our limit."

The Worrier and the Swimmer

Every couple has a worrier and a swimmer. In Adam and Emily's house, that’s pretty clear.

“I’m a glass-half-full type of person,” Emily says. “So he did all the stressing, and I just kept swimming.”

When the closing hit a snag, a loan on the buyer’s side that was stricter than expected, Adam felt it. The concern wasn’t just the delay; it was the worry that if the deal fell through and the house went back on the market, people might wonder if something was wrong with it. Nothing was wrong with it. It was just the process doing what the process sometimes does.

But what kept things moving was that everyone involved stayed focused on the same goal. Buyers, sellers, agents... all of them working through the checklist together.

Gone Before They Were Ready

Once the old house was listed, the showing notifications started rolling in, one after another, faster than they expected.

“What, another one? What, another one?” Adam says, laughing. “It was kind of cool.”

Looking back, would they do it in the same order again? Buy first, then sell?

Adam and Emily say yes. Without hesitation. Moving everything out in stages, not in a single chaotic day, made the whole experience different. They got the old house ready on their timeline. They got the new house settled before they had to hand over the keys. It was as smooth as it could have been.

The Hardest Part

The hardest part wasn’t the paperwork. It wasn’t the two mortgages or the loan delay or the showing logistics.

It was the last day at the old house.

Adam brought the kids by one final time. Their son looked around and said he missed his old room a little. That was the moment that landed. The one you're never prepared for.

“Leaving is the hard part,” Emily says. “But as soon as we get the new house organized, it’s going to feel like home.”

They’re settling in now in Dilworth. More space, closer to school, new community. And their advice to anyone sitting on a decision like this?

“Don’t think about it too much,” Adam says. “If you like the house, don’t wait. Just do it.”