"I'll be HOME for Christmas".... literally! We're moving back to CALGARY!

Well Lisa, you asked for it, so here it is! Where do I begin...

In January, Lawrence & I decided that as a family, we are happy, but as a family and 2 individuals in BC, we are both ridiculously miserable and lonely, missing our friends and family.

We went to Calgary in January, February, May and July......

In May, we decided we needed to sit down and create an 'Exit Strategy' and start thinking about packing it up and heading East (It's sure a lot more difficult and complicated than when we left!).

Upon our return after our July visit, we were 100% committed to making it happen and making it happen FAST.


AUGUST: In early august. Lawrence told his boss we wanted to move back to Calgary so he may be job hunting - just in case it got back to him (it's a small industry, word travels fast). He also told his boss how he really does like the company he works for, their ideologies and business practice, and was wondering what the chances were of an opportunity at their sister company in Calgary ('AG' Associated Grocers).

His boss then started to talk to the AG guys. a few weeks later, they told Lair they would Create a position for him and to hang tight while all the details were hashed out...

We spent the month purging items we didn't want/need anymore. I had a virtual garage sale on Craiglist/Kijiji and sold TONS of random household items & baby stuff and made a fair penny! We started talking with Jen Mikla about mortgages and Tom Sherry about Calgary Real Estate. Tom referred a local Realtor who we met with to chat about Abbotsford Real Estate.

Lair replaced 7 light fixtures, we updated all the door knobs and closet handles. So August came and went. We were pretty disappointed as we had full intentions of listing our place for Sept 01.

SEPTEMBER: We decided to freshen the WHOLE main floor (Excluding 1/2 bath), stairwell top to bottom and upper hallway with new (boring neutral) paint. First we were going to get a painter in ($1000+), then decided to tackle it ourselves, saving the money for the move. What an ordeal! Week nights we were unable to do anything until Quinn was in bed, and 2 full weekends we sent him off to a sitter and worked none stop. We got it done, but man, what a chore. The house was upside down for so long; It was pretty hard on us.

In mid Sept, work got back to Lawrence with a drafted idea. If he was willing to leave the Buyers position and go back into the Warehouse side of things, they want him to go into a Supervisory/Produce Quality Control roll. Lair said sure.

Sept 24, a big-wig from Alberta came out here to officially outline and offer Lawrence the job. :) And he accepted! They won't pay for our move as we asked, however, the new roll includes and extra week of holidays and a $5000/year raise. They have asked him to start on December 1st if possible!

October. On the 1st we listed our home. This was good news/bad news. The good news is, our house is on the market. The bad news is, the market is terrible right now for selling. Being that we have to take off in +/- 60 days, we can't list high and gamble that we will get any bites. So we've listed pretty much at Fair Market Value. We bought the place 23 months ago for #231,500... We are asking $237,555... I was pretty disappointed as I was really hoping to ask $247k... :( Boo.... As well, there are 3 unit up in our complex. Let's just hope that our shows the best and it is priced right.

Our Real Estate team is helping a friend start their home staging business. They are offering a complimentary consultation (Usually $100/hr). He came over today. We've done a pretty good job so far, only a few minor suggestions to help it show a little better. But 2 MAJOR suggestions that suck.

#1, paint the basement a neutral color. Now we are not stupid, we totally understand why, but we were thinking whoever moves in will just paint over it (like we did when we moved in). But the Stagger brought up a good point. It may only truly appeal to 50% (or less) of any potential buyers... the other other half may totally disregard our unit because (a) they hate the color, and (b) think it would be too much work/$$ to paint over it....

So, it looks like we will have to cave and paint the rumpus room a dull boring bland color. We understand that it has to be done to help attract buyers. This would be a Big project and by the time we add up child care, paint, more supplies and Time - it's not worth it for us to do it. We will get some painters in to Quote it - if they can do it for under $500 we'll get them to do it.

Suggestion #2 - to paint over Quinn's mural... :(

I really really really don't want to do this (yet).... The demographic of who will be buying this place is a Young Family. I'm hoping a young family comes in and sees it and fall in love with it for their child....

As well, Quinn's life is about to be completely turned upside down, I want to keep as much normalcy as possible until the move....

So we will talk it over with the Realtor. I want to here the feedback after a few showings before I send Lair in there with a paint roller.... :( Meh.



SO - that's pretty much it. Now we are getting ready to pack up what we can, and try to keep our place in 'show home' condition for the next two months.



OH - I guess I left out some pretty important details about the move.


So, originally, I wanted to move back to Calgary and NOT tell my MOM! I was going to unpack and settle for a week, then tell her I was popping into town and have her come to my 'friends' place then tell her.... Ya, LOL, I think that would have been awesome....

BUT, things are not going to be so smooth.

Real Estate in Abbotsford is sitting on the market for 3-4 months.... So originally we were thinking Lair would head to Calgary, start his new job and couch surf for a week at a time from friend to friend while Quinn and I stayed here, packed and tried to sell the house...

Ya, right. Well, there is no way I could handle being stuck here over the holidays in the rain separated from my soul mate and Quinn would definatly have a hard time being away from daddy.

So what were our other options... Well, we can't buy a place until this place sells. So do we move and temporarily rent?.... No way - we'd still be paying our full mortgage and utils for a vacant home in BC - can't afford any rent...


hmmm...... Well I didn't surprise mom the way I had wanted.... The only way we can do it would be to find somewhere to stay, virtually rent free, could be a few weeks, could be a few months.... So I called my mom.... and Bless her heart, she said yes. She's a little dumb-founded and shocked, but said yes none the less. THANK YOU MOM!! THANK YOU MOM!! THANK YOU MOM!! THANK YOU MOM!! THANK YOU MOM!! THANK YOU MOM!! THANK YOU MOM!!

Seriously, this is pretty much the most feasible way we can all be there before Christmas. So I've asked her to clear out her spare room the best she can and we'll come with a few suitcases of clothes and a few books and toys.

Now, it doesn't get any easier. What do we do with our stuff? Originally we thought we would move and put it into storage, but the Realtor and the Home Stager both suggested that a Furnished home shows much better than a vacant home. So perhaps we will just pack everything up, put the boxes in our storage room and keep the basic furniture etc out for showing.

Once the place sells, we will have a possession date - this gives us that amount of time to find and Buy a place in Calgary - fly out here and make the actual move.


Geez, could it get any more complicated????



K. I think those are all the thoughts I need to get out of my head for now. I feels SO good to poor it out!


In conclusion. We love and miss you all. We'll be home for Christmas. Please pray our place will SELL FAST and for close to the ASKING PRICE!


I don't have time to re-read this to make sure it makes sense, so hopefully it does.


xoxoxoxox

Melanie