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Relocating Casa de Blender

We’ve been talking about moving for a long while now, but have been putting it off for a multitude of reasons. The biggest being our hopes that some treatment would actually work for me, that I’d be able to return to work, and our money problems would be eased. Since that hasn’t happened, and since I’m still seeking effective and/or consistent relief, we no longer have a choice. Our finances just can’t bear the situation we find ourselves in. No, you won’t find a chip-in donation site at the end of this, nor is this a plea for sympathy. I realize our situation is very similar to one that many find themselves in. I just wanted to update near and far friends on our situation since we’ve been tweeting about interviewing realtors and getting the house ready to sell.

I’ve found that since we plan on getting a house roughly half the size of our current home, we’ll very likely be able to live much closer to Chooch’s job. Besides a cheaper housing payment, it would save a substantial amount of money on gas (based on current and projected gas costs for this year and next), as well as wear and tear on the cars. Plus, the time he would recoup is astonishing. Not only will he be going from a 3 hour a day commute to less than an hour, he won’t have to miss a full day’s worth of work to take me to doctor appointments. Win!

Our bank/insurance company has a great program for buying/selling, so I contacted them and got referrals. I spoke with three realtors and spent Wednesday through Saturday morning purging junk and cleaning house. I was slowed by a few migraines and a dizzy spell, but still managed to make some decent progress. First steps anyway, we’ve still a ton to do.

We interviewed two realtors today, and have another scheduled tomorrow. After that, we select our realtor and begin the serious purge to empty out the house and get to staging it for showing. I’m a bit overwhelmed working on all this, but am rewarding myself with brief glimpses at potential properties closer to hubby’s work. I’m the type of mule that is very much motivated by a carrot at the end of a stick and seeing what’s out there in our lower price range is definitely helping. It won’t be huge or grand, but we’ll make it a home.

We’ll definitely be renting and not buying. You can’t feel trapped in a house the way we do (because of the current market) and immediately jump into another 30 year commitment. Plus, it will be nice to not have to pay for all the surprise repairs, such as the roof tiles and other stuff that cost us over $600 last month. And our happy surprise moments before Realtor 1 arrived? The dryer is not working now.

So if I seem extra cranky or tired, bear with me a bit. The reason we moved into our current home is five years gone, and this empty nest is too expensive to keep. For those in a similar situation, I wish you the best of luck. As we are now learning first hand just how nasty things are out there, we are also learning that there is hope. We’ve got our fingers, toes and eyes crossed on this one and we’re hoping for the best.

So that’s about it. I may detail our process in more detail, I may not. I’m not expecting it to be something I will ever want to read again, but if others can learn from us then I guess it would be worth it.

I’d love to be moved by the time LT gets here in June so we can maximize fun and minimize moving chaos during his time here, but I’m sure that’s just wishful thinking. A gal’s gotta hope, right?

7 replies on “Relocating Casa de Blender”

Thanks for the update! Here’s to everything going smoothly and you finding the perfect place! Let us know if there’s anything we can do to help. <3

Oh, I forgot to mention how excited we’ll be to have you closer! Have you thought about Ashburn? You’d be closer to Chooch’s band practice and a ferry ride away for us (and a lovely drive.)

Heather,
Thank you on all fronts! Just keep being loving and supportive friends, and that’ll keep us going through all this. We are actually looking at locations super close to hubby’s job, and Ashburn seems to have the nicest and most affordable options to meet our needs, which is really surprising to me as I’d always heard it was super expensive. Although it will apparently be further for some folks (which has me utterly gobsmacked), it’s closeness to his job makes it very tempting. <3

This is fantastic news! I know the idea of selling your house might not feel great but it is. My mother held on to the large house far too long after most of her kids moved out (7 bedrooms for only two children still living in the house, and only semi at that point as they were college aged) and it was a long and slow drain on her wallet, her energy and her emotions. She had the idea to buy a house right after and that was also a hard thing for her, she couldn’t get a place to own and had to rent, so instead of looking for a place to rent that worked for her, she had to take a last minute rental. Then that one fell through a few months after living there and she had more time and notice to look for a real rental, and she found a great house to rent that she loved and lived there for a few transitional years till she was really ready to settle into a new house of her own. (I still think she should have bough her rental though)

Thing is, when the nest empties it’s good to move on, and to change your life. Now you get to think about you, and where you and chooch are in life, and it will be great for you. Sure, moving sucks, but this will be a good step, I can feel it.

Nutty,
That’s definitely what we’re hoping for, a new chapter in a new place. And it will be great to finally purge some of the things I’ve been hanging on to for too long. Very freeing to shed a few tons of baggage, which I’m planning on doing in prep for the house staging.

I’m glad your Mom worked things out and took her time. In our experience, rushing in headlong hasn’t always paid off. Thank so much for the continued positivity and support!

Bon courage! It will be worth it in the end. I wish you a smooth process and a quick sale with no hassles and ease in finding a new place.

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