Been FAR too long!
So much has transpired since my last post. Primarily, I was extremely busy at work, which made time for posting so difficult.
June 23rd of this year was a little sad for me. It was the anniversary of my dad's passing last year. I miss my dad tremendously, although I don't "mourn" his loss in the way one of my brother's does. I simply miss his wise counsel, his humor, and his interaction with my kids. Every once in a while Colin (my nearly 5-year old) asks to see "granpa Prothero", and asks me sometimes if he's still "bye-bye". Colin posesses some of my dad's features, so as he grows older I know I'll see more and more of my dad in him.
Ever since around Father's Day we've been in a transition mode. I had suggested to my wife that we explore the option of moving into a larger home, primarily so we could have a visit from my mom on occasion. Even though my mom lives less than 45 minutes away, we don't visit her often. Having a home that could accomodate her visits would be nice for us, and enable her to spend more time with her grandkids. I have pretty much determined that she doesn't wish to move in, but I believe she'd enjoy regular visits. Plus, she enjoys my wife's parents a lot, and they enjoy her company as well.
So, around Father's Day my wife saw a home for sale that was a few yards from her parent's home. It was also a place that she spent time in (she knew the family). We looked at it, expressed our interest, and on Monday had gotten pre-approval for financing. We had even gotten an appointment set up to make an offer. But apparently the listing agent was planning on selling it at a low price to an investor, and then "flip" the property. We were out of luck. But we knew someone who was an agent, and he put us on to a property close to our house. It actually is large (2800 sq. feet) with a large lot (nearly 12,000 sq. feet) that has a pool. It is only 2 bedrooms and a den (which we can use as a guest bedroom), and a granny flat that we'll convert to two rooms for the kids. But the journey to get this house has been interesting. We put our house on the market, and it sold in less than 2 weeks. But the other one has had it's fits and starts as we offered, received a counter offer, we countered, the seller countered....in the end we're paying $10,000 more than we were told he was planning to sell it for, and $5,000 less on the roof allowance than we were expecting. All in all, it needs a bit of work, but will end up being a showcase when we're done.
So, we're moving only a few blocks, but it is soon....
June 23rd of this year was a little sad for me. It was the anniversary of my dad's passing last year. I miss my dad tremendously, although I don't "mourn" his loss in the way one of my brother's does. I simply miss his wise counsel, his humor, and his interaction with my kids. Every once in a while Colin (my nearly 5-year old) asks to see "granpa Prothero", and asks me sometimes if he's still "bye-bye". Colin posesses some of my dad's features, so as he grows older I know I'll see more and more of my dad in him.
Ever since around Father's Day we've been in a transition mode. I had suggested to my wife that we explore the option of moving into a larger home, primarily so we could have a visit from my mom on occasion. Even though my mom lives less than 45 minutes away, we don't visit her often. Having a home that could accomodate her visits would be nice for us, and enable her to spend more time with her grandkids. I have pretty much determined that she doesn't wish to move in, but I believe she'd enjoy regular visits. Plus, she enjoys my wife's parents a lot, and they enjoy her company as well.
So, around Father's Day my wife saw a home for sale that was a few yards from her parent's home. It was also a place that she spent time in (she knew the family). We looked at it, expressed our interest, and on Monday had gotten pre-approval for financing. We had even gotten an appointment set up to make an offer. But apparently the listing agent was planning on selling it at a low price to an investor, and then "flip" the property. We were out of luck. But we knew someone who was an agent, and he put us on to a property close to our house. It actually is large (2800 sq. feet) with a large lot (nearly 12,000 sq. feet) that has a pool. It is only 2 bedrooms and a den (which we can use as a guest bedroom), and a granny flat that we'll convert to two rooms for the kids. But the journey to get this house has been interesting. We put our house on the market, and it sold in less than 2 weeks. But the other one has had it's fits and starts as we offered, received a counter offer, we countered, the seller countered....in the end we're paying $10,000 more than we were told he was planning to sell it for, and $5,000 less on the roof allowance than we were expecting. All in all, it needs a bit of work, but will end up being a showcase when we're done.
So, we're moving only a few blocks, but it is soon....
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