We closed on selling our old place—it didn’t really feel like we’d bought a house until both sales were wrapped up. Now, all the house-related work we do will be about working on our own place. (Right now, for example, one of the toilets is lifted off the ground while we get a new flange and seal installed.)

Looking for a house in Northern Virginia was a trip. The demand is so intense here that throughout the last couple of years, people were routinely buying houses for as much as $50,000-$100,000 over asking, with no contingencies at all. No inspection, no appraisal, no financing (i.e., if you can’t get your loan, you eat your deposit.) “Escalation clauses” were customary, effectively turning house sales into eBay-style bidding wars...