It’s been 10 months since I last posted here.  It’s not a lack of things to write about, but a lack of time to do it.

The middle of last year I made a sudden decision to sell my house.  This was a surprise to even me since I had spent all spring doing projects that I had wanted to do for years…like repainting the interior, replacing the carpet, and installing new blinds.  But, I’d also felt trapped in that house for years as well and the market was ripe for a sale.

I couldn’t jump into the sales process right away because I had plans for vacation in August, and didn’t want to worry about it while I was gone, but I did start looking at other places right away.  I gave my real estate agent some guidelines (I highly recommend sitting down and writing at least 5-10 things you want in a home before starting a search).  Any new home had to be around 1200 square feet (my last house was too big), one story (I’ve had too many knee surgeries and didn’t want to deal with stairs), and rentable (my previous neighborhood had rental limits)…and, those were just my top three.

Life never quite aligns with expectations and I found the PERFECT home right before going on my vacation.  I had just enough time to get the offer in and accepted, the home inspection complete, and a lot of the mortgage paperwork complete before I left.  However, while on vacation the appraisal came in and adjustments needed to be made to the original offer (it’s too complicated to write about now) but exchanging emails with my real estate agent long distance, with mediocre internet access, and totally different time zones was difficult.  It came down to me sending a message saying “I’m ready to walk away” before the sellers got the point.

The closing paperwork was done within days of me returning from vacation and then the real work began.  My house went on the market less than a week later and I started some medium size renovations on the new place.  A couple of times I worried that my other house wouldn’t sell, but it sold just as the new place was getting ready for me to move into.  The official move was mid December and since then I’ve been doing more work (a large portion of the electrical had to be replaced shortly after moving in).

And, I became a landlord.  When I started looking for a new place I was looking for a “rentable” rambler style home closer to work.  Turns out my PERFECT home is in the same small town I’ve lived in since 2005 and it’s a duplex.  Lucky for me, the second unit was already rented to a great tenant and eventually I can rent out both sides if I decide to move (freeing me to do whatever I want).  Since my current tenant pays almost 75% of my mortgage/insurance it will be profitable when both sides are rented…HUGE WIN.

All of this to say, time to write has really gotten away from me and I’m eager to get back to it at a more regular pace.  I don’t yet know what that pace will look like, but more to come soon…here are a few things I want to write about…

• House buying process.
• House selling process.
• Aluminum Wiring…something to considering when buying a home.
• Home renovation.

And…

• A new health and wellness program
• Gardening…since I now have 1/2 acre of professional landscaping to take care.
• Being a landlord.

And…so much more…I hope you’ll stick around.