But, in keeping with the promised posts, here is an update on our housing situation:
As many of you know, we bought a third-floor condo at the end of 2005. We thought it would be a good "investment."
Ha.
As the real estate market continued to tank, and our family continued to grow, we realized we needed to get out. The condo was a fine place to live -- it was roof over our heads. The Association was well managed (I was President of the Board!), and things were taken care of to our satisfaction. I mean, there was a roof leak and the Association paid every penny. We took care of our little home and enjoyed our time there.
But there just came a moment, sometime recently, when we realized we were absolutely done with multi-family living. Done.
Maybe it was the pile of bath towels sometime left outside the Dumpster in the rain. (They were towels. Why not put them *IN* the Dumpster?). Maybe it was the annoying dog belonging to a new neighbor in the apartment complex next door. Maybe it was the ugly abandoned vehicle with the flat tire parked on the street, which I personally called and reported, that got tagged for towing, but the owner scraped the stickers off and yet didn't bother to move the car. Seriously? Maybe it was the jerks who attended a party at my neighbor's place at the beginning of October and smashed my pumpkins (to which there was an eye witness).
I'm just so done.
We put our place on the market at the end of June. We put EVERYTHING in storage. The place was pristine. But yet we couldn't give it away. Our price dropped... and dropped... and dropped. Our realtor has been patient with us. We initially thought if we couldn't sell it we'd keep it and rent it out, but when we crunched the numbers it was too scary and risky. Then, we thought we'd just move out and have it vacant until it sold, but when it started to look like maybe no one would buy it. We had to accept we may have had to stay there for the time being. Very scary.
With my belly burgeoning with a baby, we set Halloween as our deadline. If we didn't have an offer by then, we'd take it off the market, suck it up, have a baby, and decide what to do later. The timing was so bad.
Our offer came on October 24. Seriously. We went back and forth a few times, and settled on a rock-bottom price. We are getting nothing out of this folks. Our place (a regular sale) was competing with two short sales in the complex, and we got the first offer of the bunch. Lucky us. I'm glad someone realized that even though a regular sale does come at a premium, it's worth it. I'm really grateful for this single guy who is buying our place. I hope he's really happy there.
We were set to close today, but because of Thanksgiving it has been extended to next Friday.
So there we were, finally with an offer but with no plans on where to go. I was 8 months pregnant. We went to all the potential houses in our price range and we didn't completely love any of them. Sure, a handful of them could work, but did we want them? Did we want those neighborhoods, those square footages, those schools?
We gave up and decided to find a place to rent. I had a couple leads from some friends from Church about rental properties, and we checked into a few of them. There was one family that was here, renting a fabulous house, on a 6-month Boeing contract. In November (the week of my birthday), the contract was up and they were headed back to Montana for 6 months. BUT, they wanted to come back to this very same rental property after that contract was over, as they had another contract here that starts in April. It's all very precise. Enter us -- we only want a temporary place to live, 6 months tops. We wanted to move in Thanksgiving weekend (the very next week after they had to leave). It was like the stars aligned.
The funky thing is that this house is furnished. The owners moved in with some family in a mansion somewhere to save money, and they kept all sorts of everything in this house. They are willing to rent it to someone they trust. When we were talking about renting it, they asked us to meet them for dinner so they could get to know us. Of course the previous tenants put in a good word for us. I think we are so lucky it all worked out the way it did. We were able to negotiate a rent price that worked for both of us, it has all the space we need for our family for now, and it's not like we had to compete with dozens of other renters. It was handed right to us.
So, I am sitting in their chair at their computer desk. Shane is watching a movie on their big-screen TV while lounging on one of their couches. I used their skillet to make quesidillas for dinner and Wesley likes to jump off their cushy ottoman and play on their backyard swings.
It's kinda wild. They have really nice stuff, some of which I'll never use. I've been stashing things in the deep corners of cupboards so I don't have to deal with them. Trying to work the ergonomics out has been challenging.
We love not having stairs. LOVE it. We love the garage! WOW! I've never lived in a house with a garage. (Not that I remember.) We have Gabby's kitty box in the garage and it's awesome. I love that we have our own four walls and if I hear a noise, I know it's coming from my house.
But, not all things are rosy. Some things are in strange shape, like the dishwasher that makes crazy noises or the nightstand that is missing handles. The second day I tried to draw the blinds up in the master bedroom and blinds completely fell down. Whoops. Although the washer and dryer are in the upstairs hallway, when we do laundry at night (or during a nap), the spin cycle makes the bed shake. Weird. And although we're in a quiet cul-de-sac, one of the neighbors has like 15 cars, including one really annoying suped-up car which he "warms up" every morning at 6 AM for 15 minutes. Once he woke up Wesley who came out of his room screaming, "Smoke! I see smoke!" I literally thought a house was on fire, but it was just the car's exhaust. Seriously!
It's funny how living in this house hasn't been 100% perfect. It's really made me think more about what I thought living in a house meant. We are still dealing with neighbors that bug us, still dealing with quirky things about where we live, etc. It's strange to reconcile that in my mind.
Our newest family secret is wondering if maybe we should move somewhere else. Frankly, I am terrified of living in another state. I really like it here. I've made such good friends. But Shane is right when he says I'm done with my job, his makes him crazy, the weather here isn't wonderful, and we're having a heck of a time finding a house we like. Maybe the reason things aren't working out if that we're not supposed to be here. I hadn't considered that. Should we be in Utah to be next to Shane's sister, Denver to be next to my brother, South Carolina to work at the Boeing 787 plant, TriCities to be closer to grandparents?
Who knows. All I know is we have to figure out something, since I can't handle all this transition. I cannot physically handle another change now. My job, my home, a new baby girl... so much has changed. SO MUCH.
Anyway, for right now, we have place to live. Wesley calls it our "new house with the garage," and our old place is "our old house with no garage." We still go there every once in awhile to clean and get stuff done... I'm kinda looking forward to the last time I go up those stairs. The place treated us well, but we're happy to have something different. I just wish we could space things out a bit. I guess that's not our style. Go big or go home, right?
7 comments:
When we lived on Craft Street, that house had a garage!
You would have been 2 when we moved in there, and 6 when we moved out.
You don't remember living there?
Ahh I did think of that one, and that is why i said, "not that I remember." It was so long ago. I don't even know if we parked in it! Did we?
Yes, we did park the car in it. That came in handy one day when a snowstorm hit. I remember opening the garage door, and there was this "step" of snow that we had to shovel out of the way, so we could get the car out.
The work van, however, would not fit inside, and had to remain outside.
We moved out of that place on July 4, 1987.
It looks like a pretty house. It will probably be a nice trial run to help you in your decision of what you'd really want in a "house". As long as you're looking...coming to Arkansas :) You'd know two families here! And Walmart's hiring. ha! I hate making such important decisions. That's why I always say "for now" if I say "forever" I'll never make a decision.
I meant come to Arkansas. Not coming...
I think the house looks great! Things will NEVER be perfect, no matter how much you are anticipating something being bigger or better. Take Brad's new job. It's great to get paid more, but we never see each other. Right now, I'm glad he has a job, and I'm learning more independence. I'm also grateful for a good baby who looks just like him so I'm not so lonely when he's gone.
I hate transitions too. Maybe this is why we are still living in our 2 bedroom apt with our two boys. Every time we consider moving, we talk ourselves out of it. :) Good luck! YOu'll get used to it all - even baby girl - and all will be okay.
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