House for Sale

We have sold our house - We listed it on Saturday at a price higher than any in our neighborhood had listed for, thinking it would give us negotiation space. We had an offer the next Saturday morning - before the open house - full price, the only contingency being a 40-day escrow!! I am astounded!! Not that the house isn't worth it on today's market - it's 4 bedroom, 2000 sq feet - on a nice cul-de-sac with a pool - but this house has increased - are you ready for this(?) -1566% since we bought it 30 years ago!!!

We moved in on April 17th, 1976 - Easter weekend - and we are moving out April 22, 2006 - 30 years and 1 week later. I have been packing boxes for about 10 months - just a few every week or two, but really hit it hard after the holidays. I am embarassed to say I have over 175 boxes in storage! These boxes contain all kinds of valuable stuff that I have decided I can live without for another 2.5 years!! That is the magic time til my husband hits 62 and will retire. At that point we will pack our bags and head to a very pretty northern state, near some very dear friends, where we will enjoy the next chapter!! All that is left in my house right now is the stuff I have determined to be vital in those 2.5 years!! I may be having a really grand garage sale in 2.6 years!! HA!!

The plan in motion is to sell now while the Southern California property market is still hot, and buy in that very pretty northern state before their housing market gets any hotter!! We will then try to rent it out or visit it quarterly or something like that til we actually move in.

We found out yesterday that we got a 2 bedroom, 2 bath apartment in the complex we wanted to be in. It looks really nice, is gated, not very many kids, and we have a pretty good size unit at a good price with a private garage!! I wrote the check last night - and sitting in the manager's office it struck me that we are really doing this!! We have about 3 weeks or so till we move out, and we will probably have to put all of the apartment stuff into storage for 2 - 3 weeks while we either motel it or farm ourselves out to the friends who have willingly offered to put us in their guest rooms for the "homeless" nights. This will be a little tricky - but we will live through it!!

We said from the beginning that if this move was in God's plan for us, that He would bring it all together. My husband was blown away when the house sold so quickly - he was prepared for a long wait to see if we really were working within God's plan! Between the sale of the house and the apartment opening within 3 weeks of finding where we wanted to be - we are real sure that for now we are right where He wants us!! What lies ahead will be exciting to find out!!