Adventures in Housing

            As I mentioned a few weeks ago, we put our Atlanta condo on the market and moved back to our Bark House, waiting for us unsold in Northern Michigan. Several of my readers advised that this was a good decision, and we should just relax without all the stress of house shopping.

 

            So, we told Kelly, our realtor, to take our house off the market. She didn’t do it, probably at the suggestion of her boss, and we’ve had three couples looking in the last two weeks, all with our permission. We did this because, coming home, we immediately encountered a mountain of yard work – leaves, weeds, gravel that the snowplow had scraped into the garden – and we felt (in our backs and knees) that we could not handle the work here, and we have been unsuccessful in finding help (except for one guy who charges $150 per hour).

 

            It also occurred to us that it would be nice to have a modest condo in Traverse City, a place where we could spend our winters in non-isolation, and where we would live full-time when the Bark House was too much. We found one in the old mental institution where we lived while building the Bark House, and we made an offer, but we backed out after the contractor’s inspection revealed some serious problems. We are still waiting (two weeks now) for our earnest money to be returned.

 

            Meanwhile, we continue to look for a condo in or near Traverse City. What if someone actually wanted to buy our Bark House? Where would we go? Could we ask the buyers to wait? Every day we go back and forth about staying here full time or selling and moving to a condo. This is feeding the stress that my readers mentioned.

 

            Adding to the stress: Our Atlanta loft is under contract, and in a few days we will drive to Atlanta (1,000 miles) to pack, meet the movers, and close the deal – we hope. Then drive home. Might not be a blog entry next week . . ..

 

            So, pending:

·      closing sale of the Atlanta place – possible delay for lender appraisal

·      earnest money from Traverse City condo – it’s been two weeks Got it.

·      sale of Bark House – one couple “somewhat interested,” but on African safari now

·      finding help with Bark House – guy came over, but more of a carpenter.

·      finding senior-friendly housing, probably a condo, purchased if/when Atlanta place sells. Looked at one Monday afternoon - Nope

 

Time for a cocktail . . ..