I am officially homeless as of today. We hand over the keys to our surprisingly affordable Bella Vista mansion, but have yet to settle on a new home.
You know what is worse than moving? Knowing you will have to move your furniture, clothing, dishes, tools, pets, hockey card collections and all your other worldly possessions a second time. It’s like a make-work project.
We had a very quick turnaround (a little more than three weeks) on the sale, so life has been kind of frantic at the Corbett household of late.
We decided that, rather than settle on a temporary solution, we want to take our time in finding a property that will suit our needs well into the future.
The good thing is, with a relatively slow market, there appears to be plenty of options out there.
We should know – it took more than a year for our place to sell. At one point last year, five out of the eight houses in our cul de sac had for sale signs pitched in their front yards.
Almost as agonizing as the move itself was the “staging” you are supposed to do to help sell your home.
We de-cluttered and made our living space neutral, we made sure it was tidy whenever realtors brought viewers by for a showing (I could die happy if I never have to vacuum again).
I even brought my dog to work a couple times so she wouldn’t terrorize the visitors.
Despite all that and probably close to 100 showings and numerous open houses, it took 12 months to get the deal done.
Turns out third time was a charm for us, as it took three offers before we sold.
So when the third one came around earlier this month, even with the short move time, it was reasonable enough that we jumped on it.
And here we are, ready to move a cat, dog and all our “stuff” into Terryn’s parents’ garage for the foreseeable future.
I can think of worse things than spending part of my summer on Okanagan Lake.
And given that we are looking to get a hobby farm out in the country, the commute from Westside Road will give me a taste of the extra miles I will be racking up.
Our reasons for moving are simple – Terryn needs her own space to expand her herbal care product empire, and we want more land so we can learn to become more self-sufficient.
The trick seems to be finding a place that offers the space, outbuildings and other amenities we require, while balancing the price point and commute to Vernon.
We originally started looking at places when we listed our house last year, but quickly put an end to that when we noticed the number of people who arranged showings at our place, but had no real intention of buying. In our case, we simply didn’t have means to make a serious offer until our place sold.
However, that is all behind us now, and we can focus on moving into a new chapter in our lives.
—Graeme Corbett is a reporter for The Morning Star
