We did it. We sold our home. We’ve moved out and a new, younger family has moved in.
Like a lot of families, we’ve moved around a bit. This means that our children have no particular attachment to the physical space of our family home. I know of some families that have never moved and really go through a lot of anxious moments when it comes time to sell the family home.
When we told our kids we were planning on downsizing, the two college-aged kids we have left were more concerned about losing their bedrooms than the house.
That doesn’t mean we didn’t make a lot of memories in this house. We have always had wonderful times at the holidays.
And homecomings, proms, and other events have filled our home with fun and laughter and love.
Our older children, who never lived in this home, contributed to our memories in this space.
But, it was time to move on. My goal is to find a space to age in place. Smaller house. Fewer bathrooms (I hate cleaning bathrooms). Smaller yard. Lower expenses.
I say it is my goal because DSH is taking some time getting to the same place as me with regard to this decision.
He loves yard work. So we will buy a new home and not a villa or a condo. (Probably. I have learned to never say never.) But, I really want less time spent on yard work and more time spent on checking items off our bucket lists.
We have moved all of our belongings into storage, and we are living with my sister in her small condo. A good lesson in downsizing.
Good bye house.
Hello new life.
Good luck with the house hunting Theresa! Finding our “last home” was a big challenge that took years of searching, but primarily because I was focused on the property more than the house. We had been cramped up in towns for too long and wanted a lot of space around us with the right views. After searching for five years across six counties and two states, I knew it on sight when driving up the hill to the place we were considering to rent. Two years later we bought it. No regrets, but unlike your excellent foresight about yard work vs bucket list, our 10-acres of overgrown brush assured my husband a hobby for the rest of his/our life! Still, for us two extreme introverts, the price is worth the beauty and peace that surrounds us.
Well, we hope it won’t take us 5 years to find the right place! We’ll drive my sister crazy if we hang around that long! We have been looking for quite some time and are focused on getting out of a subdivision and are looking at finding a place in a local historic district where we can walk to shops and restaurants and the festivals and local events. We’ve seen a number of properties and are probably driving our real estate agent nuts, but we’ll know it when we see it (I hope).
Mama
Don’t worry about that Real Estate Agent. That is what they get paid for. You take as long as you want to find the right place. I have moved a lot too but you still have attachments to those old houses. I had a favorite house in New York. I wish I had it here. I would have retired there!! Give Jack a little piece of property to play with. I know that was something my Dad loved to do. My Mom still does! Best of luck to both of you guys. You deserve the right place.
Thanks Mary! We do love our agent, and she is working for her commission for sure! I wasn’t sad to see this house go. I think we settled on it because there wasn’t much that was decent on the market when we bought it. That and I did not like the HOA trustees – it was like living in the gulag.
Mama