TheBanyanTree: Time to Get Packing . . .

[Margaret R. Kramer]

It’s amazing how the pace of the life can accelerate in just a week after
months of droning along at sub-warp speed.

Our house has officially sold.  We spent last Sunday doing “research,” going
to a couple of open houses and then driving by some of the houses on our
list.  We eliminated a few just by doing that and when we met with our agent
on Monday night, we only had to look at four houses.  Of the four, we
eliminated two and then had to make the tough decision between the two
others.

One of the houses was a beautiful 1920s bungalow that was in a great
neighborhood.  It was compact, but used its space well.  The other house was
built in 1947 and is a two story home.  It has a newly remodeled HUGE
kitchen.  Two bedrooms with a bath upstairs and there is one bedroom on the
main floor with a bath.  There is a bath in the basement along with a
workshop and a finished area with that old fashioned icky looking paneling.
The 1947 house is only 10 minutes away from work for me and cuts 12 miles
off of Ray’s commute.  That was the deciding factor – the short work
commutes for both of us.  We made an offer and after a little dickering, it
was accepted and today we are having our inspection of the house.  By the
way, did I mention it has a HUGE oversized brand new garage with a second
floor?  Yes, it does, it has a man’s dream garage.

So if all the stars align correctly, then we should close on both houses in
mid-April.  Ray and I started packing this week.  I have to somehow
coordinate the professional (I have no friends and I’m too creaky to move
all our stuff on my own),  movers with closing of my house first and then
closing on the new second in one day.  I’m not sure how to do that, but my
agent said moving companies do that all the time.  I’ll worry about it
anyway until I call companies and talk to them myself.

I worry about the financing, because my middle name is “debt,” and I can’t
believe I can get the financing for this house.  I mean I have the
pre-approval for this house and I’ve talked to the lenders, but I worry that
they don’t realize my debt load and when they find out, they won’t approve
the loan and the sale will fall through.  I don’t know . . . I know they’re
pretty careful about pre-approving and hopefully, wouldn’t let me get this
far if they didn’t know my middle name is “debt.”  It’s my biggest worry and
I have nightmares about it.  But my middle name is also “worry wart.”

As Ray and I packed up the living room the other night, I realized that it’s
been a long ride, but taking two years to get ready to move has helped.  We
have gotten rid of a lot of stuff and still could rid of more, but it’s
helped that we have gone through each room this past year in our
de-cluttering efforts and don’t have as much stuff to weed through.

Spring is in the air now and it got to 55 degrees yesterday.  It’s funny how
all of us come out of houses on such warm days.  Axel got to meet the puppy
across the street.  He also discovered a female beagle who lives in the
cul-de-sac part of our street.  Her name is Sadie and she is two years old
and also enjoys chasing deer out of the woods.  Axel met a tiny Yorkie and a
greyhound from the next street.  Axel is making all kinds of doggie friends
he’ll have to leave behind when we move.

Now on to packing . . .

Margaret R. Kramer
margaretkramer at comcast.net

http://www.bpwmn.org
Business and Professional Women of Minnesota

Be careful of your thoughts, they may become words at any moment.
~Iara Gassen