The Big Move.

Finally, time to talk about the big move!  We've already been in our new house now for just over 6 weeks.  I can't believe it's already been that long!

A little history - we started talking about selling our house quite awhile ago (a year+).  We always knew it was something we'd eventually do for business reasons alone, but never felt like the time was quite right.  Well, the right time crept up on us and we decided it's now or never!  

We put it on the market and it FLEW off in a mere two days.  What I mean by that is, we put it on the MLS on a Friday afternoon, and that evening we had two showings that resulted in two offers by Saturday morning.  We continued to show it all weekend and by Sunday evening, we had six great offers.  

We were so happy about this, since this meant we were done showing the house and could resume our life without always being "on call."  Having a home cleaned up and in near perfect condition on a moments notice is difficult with a toddler running around!  We were prepared to live life this way for quite awhile, but luckily it turned out to be only two days.

So, we submitted the offer to the bank and thought (& were told) it would close fast, so we kind of panicked and started looking for a rental.  We were trying to time it perfectly, but also knew we'd rather be in our new home early than not have a place to go.  It took no time to find a rental house (something we thought would take awhile) and before we knew it, we were moving in!

Well... fast forward 6 weeks and we still haven't officially closed yet, but are very close!  A little frustrating indeed, but on the bright side, we're happy to be in our new house and settled in before Christmastime.  In a way we feel like we've gotten a jump start on our new life.  :)

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Why Phoenix?


Believe it or not, when we decided to sell our house, we automatically assumed we would stay in Gilbert.  After all, that's where home has been for the past 5 years.  Then, we started to "branch out" and talk about moving into a beautiful community in Mesa called Las Sendas.  I found myself mapping out the distance between this community and our parents houses to see how much closer it would get us...

Then one day, we were at Scottsdale Fashion Square and decided to take a drive to the Biltmore area to look at the homes.  Immediately we both got that feeling of "I WANT IT AND I WANT IT NOW!!!!"  We discussed the pro's and con's and realized there weren't too many con's of moving back into Phoenix, if any.  Steve talked to his Broker to make sure this was the best move to make business-wise, did a little research to make sure he would continue to thrive in Phoenix, and then we told our parents, who were over the moon happy. That 5% feeling of uncertainty (which was basically the fear of change) was calmed by the thought of, "we can always move back."  BUT, we knew 100% in our hearts this was the right decision and since we've been here, we haven't looked back.

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Downsizing


Most of the homes in the Biltmore/Arcadia area of Phoenix were built in the 1950's.  The neighborhoods are cute, quaint, & mature and the homes are on the small side, unless you get into the super duper nice homes in Arcadia (DREAM HOME ALERT!)

We never thought this would be something we'd be interested in, after all we did just come from pretty much the complete opposite of this type of neighborhood.  But after owning in the suburbs for 5 years, we've realized at this point in life we'd rather have just enough home for what we need, and in a central location.  You bet this mama is a happy girl!  I can clean the whole house in a day and the decorating doesn't take years to complete!  So, after a few yard sales and trips to Goodwill (and major packing), we were on our way.

And now, this is where life has taken us.  We're excited to see what it has in store for us next!

 Packed the Uhaul and on our way.

The new digs.

"Change in all things is sweet."

-Aristotle