Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything on this humble website. This is by reason that, once again, Winnie and I are in-process of moving to a new home. This time, we’re making a bigger move than just across town.
This is a move to a new state and is part of shifting into my retirement phase of life. The entire process is giving us another dose of the moving time blues.
I Want a Home
When Winnie and I moved into our new old house in December 2021, we planned on staying here only a couple of years. Our overarching grand plan was to look for our “retirement house,” then move while selling our new old house.
Initially, we planned on staying in this area where we’ve been living since 2006. We generally like the Prince William County area for the parks, access to large amounts of boatable water, and lots of facilities important to us senior citizens. Traffic, not so much. This area is also getting built-up beyond what we want to deal with. But we reasoned that when I was retired, I wouldn’t have to drive during peak commuter hours and could avoid the heavy development.
So, after getting as settled into our new old house as best we could, we started looking for our retirement home. Winnie had definite ideas about what she wanted. Her demands included decent kitchen, large yard suitable for gardening, and windows in at least the main bathroom. I also had definite requirements, which included a parking place for our boat and garage suitable for a workshop.
Having purchased five houses in three states over the years, I thought house-hunting would be relatively simple. It wasn’t.
Reality Sets In
Armed with our requirements, last June Winnie and I set out on the great retirement house-hunting expedition. Reality quickly set in.
We knew the housing market was skewed towards sellers, but we didn’t appreciate just how much. Any house we saw that we sort of liked was priced beyond what we were willing to spend. We considered buying another “Handyman Special” (aka: ““) on basis that we’ve already gutted and rebuilt three houses over the past 19 years. Which gave us plenty of experience and all the tools needed.
But we finally accepted that the experiences of rebuilding houses included not wanting to do it again. Not to mention, even the gut job houses we saw were priced way beyond what we were willing to pay.
Looking Elsewhere
So, after many months of house hunting efforts in our present area we started looking elsewhere. Now our criteria for a new house also included close access to boatable water and senior-citizen-important facilities. Which did tend to narrow our options.
One of Winnie’s friends moved down to the Charlotte, North Carolina, area last year. Winnie also had a couple of other friends who constantly talked up Charlotte as a nice area to live in. So, last October we made what was to be the first of several visits to Winnie’s friend, and visits to Charlotte in general.
We did like the area, and real estate was also – more – reasonable than what we were seeing in Prince William County. Lots of open space, necessary facilities, and a nice nearby lake with an active boating community. People seemed friendly. So, we did some house hunting there.
With all our on-going house hunting practice, we quickly found a house Winnie and I could agree on.
A New Home
So, last month we closed on what we fully expect to be our permanent retirement home, on the outskirts of Charlotte. Step one completed.
The Moving
Step two is actually moving from Virginia to North Carolina. We started by combining our closing trip with moving. We first hauled down our boat, and our utility trailer loaded with kayaks and miscellaneous gear. The towing vehicles, our RV and Jeep, were loaded to the roof with more stuff. As soon as we completed closing and received the house keys we started unloading.
One unfortunate detail of our new home is a too-small driveway for both the boat and our RV. So, we’ve opted to keep Sea Dragon stored at a local marina. I think this will work out ok as I’m getting tired of towing the boat between the house and boat ramp every time I want to play in the water.
More Moving to Come
My retirement date is set for June 28, so we’re not permanently leaving Virginia until after that. Which does give us lots of time to haul stuff down to our new home while selling our present house. I’m sure we’ll have numerous opportunities for moving adventures.
