Last May, Tim found a really great house for us in the school district we wanted to be in. We looked and made an offer. Accepted. Emotional roller coaster begins!
I was sad to leave our current neighborhood even thought it was for a good reason. The new house was a bit of an older home so it needed some updating. I was dreading living through renovations. After many discussions and a few tears, we decided this was not the house for us.
This little adventure did make us go ahead and get our house on the market.
Don't you hate having to make sure everything is perfect all of the time. It's nuts. Nobody lives like that. Pretty good traffic though. I work from home so I had to vacate the abode whenever there was a showing. Sometimes I just went next door and visited our fabulous neighbors. Did I mention I was sad about leaving. Other times, I just parked down the street and watched. I kind of felt like a private eye on a steakout!
While our house was showing, we found house #2 in the desired location. Offer submitted. Back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, ... I'm not kidding. Accepted... finally! Our house sold on the same day.
Purchase process of house #2 spins out of control. Lots of tears. I don't want it anymore. I want out... even if we loose the earnest money. Sometimes your prayers are answered. An opportunity to get out and get our money back presented itself. I jumped on it. With Tim's approval of course. Now we don't have a house to move to, but ours is sold. Crap!
I REALLY don't want to leave our neighborhood now. But we forge forward with the search in the desired location. We find homes we like, but the lots are not that great. We find lots we like, but the homes are crappy. At that time, the only listings on the market with good lots and good homes were out of our price range. Figures. Should we build? That means temporary housing, moving twice, ... not fun. I calmly mention there are a few spec homes in our neighborhood in the back. I have a favorite, but I would honestly take any of them if he agrees. He looks. He thinks. He talks with the builder. He does his spreadsheets. We make pros/cons lists. I don't remember the exact moment, but he agrees to my favorite. YES! I want to move in now!
We now have to be out of our house in a week. I haven't packed everything. Some, but not all. We can't close on the new house for at least 3 weeks. At least.
One of our fabulous neighbors told us we could use their guest house. Luckily, the builder agreed to let us store most of our things in the garage. But now we have to actually pack it all. I mean every single thing in the house. We only have a week. It's overwhelming to think about. I'll just tell you now... DON'T DO IT.
The new owners were scheduled to take possession on a Friday at 10am. On about Tuesday, there was still so much to do. I told Tim, we are not going to get it done. They are going to show up and we will still be here. Thankfully, Mema came to entertain Grace so we could pack. Wednesday, Tim started moving boxes and stuff to the garage of the new place. On Thursday, movers showed up just to load and move the furniture and whatever boxes we had ready. After they left, we still had a lot to do. Mema and Grace went to stay in the guest house. Tim and I stayed at the house to pack, pack, pack, pack, and ... oh yeah, pack. We finally collapsed on the floor of what had been the guest room with a couple of moving blankets. It was hell. After a few hours of sleep, Friday was here.
The last truck load. I swear that last hour the thought was just throw it in a box and get it on the truck. About 9:55am, somehow by the grace of God, we had everything out of the house and on the truck. We were in the kitchen looking around catching our breath and kind of saying goodbye and thank you to our house. 10am the doorbell rings. I kid you not. I think they were standing on the porch just waiting for the clock to officially say 10am. We handed over the keys and pulled out of the driveway.
The garage is packed - no more room. So we have to find a temporary storage place for this last truck load. We do, and spend the rest of the day unloading it. I think I lost 5 pounds in the heat. Late Friday evening, we make it to the guest house to start our 3 week stay.
The guest house is a loft-type apartment. 3 adults and 1 child. Lots of together time!
3 weeks later, on a Friday, we close on our new place. And we start moving in that night. Well... first we had to clean it because the builders cleaner didn't show up. Luckily our housekeeper was cleaning the guest house and was able to help with the new house. Tim and I also helped because there was no way they were going to be able to get it done. Another long night. But at least this time we didn't have to sleep on the floor!
Then we had to move out of the guest house. It's amazing how much crap you can accumulate in 3 weeks. Nothing newly purchased really, just bringing a few things in each time.
The finish line was just in front of us. A day or two later, we were all in the new place. Finally!
Very long story short... we sold our house and moved around the corner.
We love the new house and its location. We couldn't be happier! Wait... why did we start this whole thing? Oh yes, to get into a better school system. Did we accomplish that? No, but we have options. And I have faith that the school thing will all work out.
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