It Begins

Saturday, February 21, 2015 marks the beginning of a new adventure for my hubby and I. We have officially gotten things going to sell our townhouse and search for a house to buy. What are our reasons?  Well to be honest, we aren’t really sure, but we feel God is leading us in this direction and we are dutifully following His lead. We own our place outright (though that is not totally true due to the fact it is a leasehold property).

To purchase a house we will be taking on a mortgage.  The last time we had one of those we got into some financial hot water. But we have been pre-approved and are planning to try to stay below the maximum amount.  We have become much more budget-savvy and are, as I mentioned, going heavily on faith here. We have met with our Realtor and have a lot of “homework” (pun definitely intended).

We need to remove a great deal of “stuff” and do a few odd repairs before we settle on an asking price and put it on the market. So, step one was renting a storage locker nearby our current place so we can pack up what we don’t need and keep it there until we move. As we walked out the door to get in the van and drive there, I stopped and said to my hubby “okay, are we really doing this?  We have to decide now.” He said “Yes!…I think so.” I replied with a smile, “I think so too” and off we went.

So why are we choosing to sell a place we actually like and have no glaring negative reasons to leave it?  Why are we going back into debt when we have been living comfortably for the last few years? Why are we putting a whole lot of work on our shoulders when neither of us are feeling particularly healthy? Only one single word comes to mind – Faith!

I think I should add at this point that my anxiety and OCD clash head on with even the thought of moving.  I get bogged down with the details and my mind works in overdrive trying to figure out everything that has to be done and little or none of it gets done and I end up in a hot pool of shame, anxiety and depression.  But not this time.  I have already started making lists of what has to be done, what it would be nice to get done and what we just have to set aside or get someone to do it for us.

I passed one hurdle by agreeing to only tidy up the kitchen, dining and living rooms a bit for the Realtor and his wife and tried very hard not to apologize for the piles of things we need to get out of here.  They new I was sick and were impressed by our list of what we know needs to be done.

So do we know where we are going to move to?  We have three areas and three strategies. We will be visiting a few of our top picks next weekend.

1. There is a really nice house that fits all our needs within 10 blocks of Kay’s house.  This would make spending time with the kids, and helping her out, a lot easier.  It has a huge yard that the little ones will love and so will our dog who needs more room than we have to run around in. It is on a busy street but parking is in the back and there is a fence and hedge blocking the front
2. We found a cute little (the key word here) house in the same subdivision as hubby’s brother and sister, and is not very far from their parents.  We have missed out on so much with family so it would be nice to be closer.  Also, it is handicapped ready, so if I ever do need to use a wheelchair in the future, we wouldn’t have to move again.  But it is fully functional for normal use as well. The parking and storage situations are not great and it is actually slightly smaller than this place, but worth keeping on the list.
3. Getting closer to hubby’s work is always a bonus and we could find houses that are between work and his family.  Kay is very good with transit and could easily bus out to either area 2 or 3.

I would go on any journey with my wonderful hubby and if this is a leap of faith then I am ready to take his hand and step off the cliff! I will be reporting the progress of the packing up, renovating and house-hunting just in case you are interested.  Also of course the expected effects on my moods and pain levels.  I know we will have a lot of help along the way and that makes the journey that much better.