KC-PB-NY: Leaving Leadville: Packing and Packing and more Packing

The month of June 2016 is a complete blur to me. Once we decided to move it was time to get to work. Not only did we have a huge moving sale to prepare for, but we were also looking at homes on zillow and working on getting the Leadville house ready for sale.

Looking for a home when you are 2,000 miles away is really hard. Thankfully we have wonderful family that would drive by a house we were interested in and let us know how the outside looked and how the neighborhood looked. We were in love with this one house, but it was really close to the train and the neighborhood was not the best. I knew nothing about Long Island or the town we wanted to move to, so I was asking a lot of questions and looking at maps and learning what streets to avoid because they are really busy with traffic. At one point we found a house that was about 20 minutes from the family and it was right on the water. It was an older home and for one night we were excited. We talked about what it would be like to just walk out and have a perfect view of the sound. Then we really thought about it and looked at the pictures more, and this home was going to need some major work and since neither of us have "rehabbing a home" skills we quickly let this house go.

And then we found the cutest little house. It was adorable outside, recently updated inside and we feel in love. We had family go over there during an open house and we even put an offer in for it. This was mid July and were excited for this house, but not getting our hopes up. Once we visited the home we quickly learned that zillow can be very inaccurate. One of the things we loved about this home was the downstairs room that had all windows leading outside. When we got there, there was no room and no beautiful sun room. Plus, there were about 20 steps to get upstairs and the whole inside was just not a good fit for us. I remember leaving the house kind of sad because we had such high hopes for this house. But it just wasn't going to be good for us. When we left we decided to go back and look at the very first house we had looked at that morning.

We had flown in the day before and the next day we were set up to see 7 homes. The first house we went to is the house wen ended up buying. When we came in the morning it was dark outside, rainy and kind of chilly. I loved the house, but I was still thinking about the house that we really loved, which we weren't planning on seeing until later in the day. After we decided the other house wasn't a good fit my mind instantly went back to the house we are in now. When we came back it was around 4pm and the sun was shinning and the house looked completely different. I knew right away that this was the house we needed to buy. We had really hoped to get a ranch style house, but we also knew we had limited time to find a house and this house really is perfect in every way despite having stairs. The house was taken down to the studs and rebuilt just a few months before we bought it, so everything is brand new in the house. It was perfect for two women that have limited repair skills. lol

Our current house is so similar to the house I owned in Kansas City. The layout of the houses is flipped so the only time I feel like the house looks like my previous home is when I am pulling up and I see the outside. I hope to stay in this home for a very long time because it has such a cozy, homey feeling. Others have mentioned that when they come here it feels very warm and cozy and that is exactly how I want my home to feel. I want others to feel welcome and loved when they walk inside.

My home in Kansas City long after I owned it

New Home sweet home

Sold! We'll take it!

So we have our new house picked out and it's time to get serious about selling the house in Leadville. We decided to put the house on the market in August and we had set a date of closing on the new house and moving in Mid September. The first weekend in August I decided to drive to KC to celebrate my niece's first birthday. We had decided on a realtor and they were coming by to take pictures and sign the contracts while I was gone. As soon as I get in KC, D calls me and tells me the house is immediately going on the market (we wanted to wait a few weeks to work on decluttering more) and they were having an open house within days. I felt so bad because I was in KC having fun with my family and D was at home picking up the house and making it ready for showings and pictures. Lucky for me, I have an understanding wife who insisted I enjoy my visit with my family.

Having your house for sale is a pain in the ass. We had to be ready at any moment to leave the house and pick the house up as best as we could. By this point we were done with the majority of the decluttering and were packing. It's hard to keep the house "show ready" while packing. But we managed and we were having a lot of people coming through our house interested in buying.

So here we are...September. We are down to just a few weeks and what we are about to embark on is slowing hitting home and I think we were both so nervous, anxious, excited and tired.

We have a final moving date and time from the moving company and now we just wait for that day to come.

Here are a few more pictures from our last month in Leadville.