A moving experience

Oh, I have been MIA, haven’t I? You thought with the sale of my house that the journey was over, eh? Oh, heck no! This is just the beginning, kids.

The painful exercise of having my home up for sale and having to have my home “show ready” went on for about 5 weeks. After 1 price drop, and a point where I was ready to drop my realtor, I found my buyer! 

It was then about a 2 weeks process of offer, counter-offer, acceptance, inspection and having all the conditions of sale removed. I have certainly learned in my constant viewing of real estate shows that you can’t count your chickens until they are hatched. Meaning – until all the T’s are crossed and all the I’s have been dotted, do not call it “sold”. Anything can happen and sometimes “anything” does. But once again my little star continued to shine and everything went relatively smoothly. When I got that final word that the deal was complete, there was no bigger relief.

I just went through the closing of my townhouse on June 29^th and I am now “in limbo” living in a room that I rented from a couple. Why am I living in temp accommodations? Well, there’s the rub. We all hope that the moving process from home to home will go smoothly but we are usually prepared for bumps in the road. But are you prepared to live basically out of a suitcase for a month just to snatch up that great real estate deal? I decided to answer that question with a slightly hesitant “yes”…ok, more like a groan, shrug of the shoulders and an “ok, if I have to”. With this decision came the big question…what about the cats? Most rentals do not allow you to bring your own animal into the mix, even if they have one. I am indeed lucky as my parents agreed to accommodate my little ones for 7 weeks while I moved…and then moved again. Thanks Mom and Dad!

Could I have waited for a different real estate opportunity with a better and more accommodating move-in date? Yes. Most certainly. But I couldn’t pass up the deal. Fantastic price, great condo building and convenient location. Gym, pool, sauna and a lobby with a big shiny floor. The “catch” was that it is presently tenanted, and those tenants weren’t required to vacate until the end of July. Do the mental math – I close on my sale June 29….I take possession of my new condo August 2. Yep. A good solid month of homelessness. But I decided to take a leap of faith and agree to the terms of the deal and *hope* that finding a place to stay for a month wouldn’t prove too difficult. I had never rented in this fashion before but Kijiji and Craigslist are just full of people looking to rent out rooms and share their homes. But it’s certainly a leap of faith and luck of whether or not you end up in a decent place with decent people. I lucked out though. Two nice people with a super-cute dog that likes to lick my feet when she sees me. Private room with ensuite, cable TV and internet access (however slightly dodgy due to a crappy modem) . The condo is nice, the building is nice and only about an hour to work (which by Toronto terms is “quick”). So I landed under a lucky star and making it through these next few weeks won’t be so bad.

The move itself? Well, moving sucks, there’s just no way to sugar coat that fact. Packing sucks, cleaning sucks, loading a vehicle sucks. Trying to play “guess what’s in the box” because you forgot to label the darn thing. 

But I must give a shout out to my Little Helpers (namely two of my good friends who, for some mad reason, volunteered to help me). If you weasel some friends into helping you move ensure they are the “right” friends. Your friend that stresses over every detail and has a short fuse? – forget ‘em. Your friend that is clumsy? – tell them you already have enough help, but thanks for the offer. That friend with the well-manicured nails and wears makeup to the gym? – nah. Pick carefully. My two Little Helpers were two guys of similar personalities and senses of humour. Oh good grief – you MUST keep your sense of humour during a move. Moving is just one big ball of stress and it feels like everything just isn’t going to get done. Patience that you normally possess goes out the door (not that I am a particularly patient person…but moving never brings out the best in me). So luckily my friends kept me in reasonably good spirits throughout the day and we got everything shoved into storage and the truck returned to the rental place by the skin of our teeth (6 hours goes by really quick!).  

Now my worldly possessions sit crammed into a 20x7 space and I spend the month like I’m living in a hotel – without the tropical location or well-placed cabana boys.

So it is the dawn of a new era, my blog watchers, as I embark on a new journey of condo improvement. Those condos at a “good price” come with their own catch – they need a little love, sweat and $$. I am accepting the challenge of turning a “decent” rental into a real home. It’s a diamond in the rough and I’m ready to give it a little shine.

Stay tuned, because as Danny Zuko said at the beginning of Grease, “it’s only the beginning”….but they’ll be no breaking out into song here…no, no…I don’t allow such things.