On the Road Again
I was willing, but cautioned her that this would be, for the most part, an irreversible move. We finally decided to close up our California house, drive to Kansas and live there for a month to see how we liked it.
So, that’s what we did. Arriving in Abilene, we found the people cheerful and friendly. It reminded me quite a bit of California as I was growing up—before it got so crowded. We rented an apartment and spent the entire month of March enjoying life there before leaving our car with Craig and flying back to California.
Back home, we sorted our belongings; packed and shipped what we wanted to keep to Kansas; held a garage sale for the rest and tossed what was left. Then we put our home of 15 years on the market.
We couldn’t have picked a worse time. Nearby March AFB had closed, the economy was in shambles and new houses were a glut on the market; selling for the same or less than used ones. There were homes in our neighborhood that had been on the market for over 6 months—even, in some cases, when priced at below original cost.
Kaye heard about a guy who had devised a plan for selling your house in 5 days. We sent for the information, took a deep breath, and tried it. It worked! We self-advertised our home on a Wednesday and sold it the following Sunday. All, at a higher price than comparable nearby houses had sold in recent memory. Praise the Lord; we were on our way to Kansas!
It was with some sadness that we said goodbye to our church friends who all asked, “Abilene; why Abilene?”; but we drove our remaining car to Abilene, settled back into the same apartment and then began looking for a new home.
I won’t bore you with all the details, but we looked at 18 houses in Abilene (we were insisting on a home within one to one and a half miles of Craig, so the granddaughters could walk over if they so desired) before our Real Estate agent mentioned an area five miles away. We reminded her that we wanted to live closer—she mentioned it was on a small, private lake—“Let’s go look”, we replied.
Earlier, we had found a house Kaye favored, but I wasn’t too keen on. Later, we found another I liked, but Kaye wasn’t too keen on. Both sales fell through. On this particular day, we had three houses lined up to inspect. What is now our home was the first on the list. It appeared perfect—both of us liked it.
I said something to the effect that we should go and look at the other houses. When we got outside, Kaye asked, "Didn’t you like the house?” I replied I liked it very much. “Well then,” she said, ”I do too. Go on back in and buy it before someone else does!” I offered to pay the people their price if they would include a beautiful hutch and dining room set, as well as the downstairs furniture.
And so in 2000, we acquired our new home at a price over $30,000 less than we had been prepared to pay in town. Before leaving our California house, we had given our ‘Lazy Boy’ recliner chair to a neighbor who had a back injury and really needed it. Our new house came with two ‘Lazy Boy’ recliners! God was truly watching over us again.
So, that’s what we did. Arriving in Abilene, we found the people cheerful and friendly. It reminded me quite a bit of California as I was growing up—before it got so crowded. We rented an apartment and spent the entire month of March enjoying life there before leaving our car with Craig and flying back to California.
Back home, we sorted our belongings; packed and shipped what we wanted to keep to Kansas; held a garage sale for the rest and tossed what was left. Then we put our home of 15 years on the market.
We couldn’t have picked a worse time. Nearby March AFB had closed, the economy was in shambles and new houses were a glut on the market; selling for the same or less than used ones. There were homes in our neighborhood that had been on the market for over 6 months—even, in some cases, when priced at below original cost.
Kaye heard about a guy who had devised a plan for selling your house in 5 days. We sent for the information, took a deep breath, and tried it. It worked! We self-advertised our home on a Wednesday and sold it the following Sunday. All, at a higher price than comparable nearby houses had sold in recent memory. Praise the Lord; we were on our way to Kansas!
It was with some sadness that we said goodbye to our church friends who all asked, “Abilene; why Abilene?”; but we drove our remaining car to Abilene, settled back into the same apartment and then began looking for a new home.
I won’t bore you with all the details, but we looked at 18 houses in Abilene (we were insisting on a home within one to one and a half miles of Craig, so the granddaughters could walk over if they so desired) before our Real Estate agent mentioned an area five miles away. We reminded her that we wanted to live closer—she mentioned it was on a small, private lake—“Let’s go look”, we replied.
Earlier, we had found a house Kaye favored, but I wasn’t too keen on. Later, we found another I liked, but Kaye wasn’t too keen on. Both sales fell through. On this particular day, we had three houses lined up to inspect. What is now our home was the first on the list. It appeared perfect—both of us liked it.
I said something to the effect that we should go and look at the other houses. When we got outside, Kaye asked, "Didn’t you like the house?” I replied I liked it very much. “Well then,” she said, ”I do too. Go on back in and buy it before someone else does!” I offered to pay the people their price if they would include a beautiful hutch and dining room set, as well as the downstairs furniture.
And so in 2000, we acquired our new home at a price over $30,000 less than we had been prepared to pay in town. Before leaving our California house, we had given our ‘Lazy Boy’ recliner chair to a neighbor who had a back injury and really needed it. Our new house came with two ‘Lazy Boy’ recliners! God was truly watching over us again.
posted by Dave | 6:51 AM
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