So when we last saw the Kennedys, they were hoping for good things, with a new job and a little pay from the previous one. But they still were staring at financial uncertainty. Can they successfully transition to a new life? Let's find out...
Seriously, the first thing I want to know is this: Who can go 10 weeks without any income whatsoever, and still have cash left in the bank at the end of it? Because we sure can't.
I think I forgot to mention in my last post that the new job is in Huntsville. When he took this interview, he had just interviewed for two others in the last couple days - one in Raleigh, one in the DC area. So we were kind of in job limbo, knowing we'd be relocating but not where to. I am SO SO thankful it's Huntsville. We will just be adding to our life, and not really losing anything. We are keeping our house, coming home every weekend, staying in our same congregation, etc. And during the week we'll have a great life up there. The Huntsville area is doing really well, between the defense and aerospace sectors. The cost of living is not too much higher than here, but the pay is way better. Well, if you are like Andy and do a very specific, highly specialized line of work, there are only so many places you can work anyway. He got a great raise, though, which will allow us to keep our oft-refinanced-but-still-almost-paid-for house down here, and buy a second up there.
OK, so we are relocating. We knew that was a given. Between Huntsville being so close, and Andy being unemployed, the house hunt went pretty quickly. We found a great place in a nice subdivision in Monrovia (Madison County is one giant subdivision these days.) We negotiated a great, great deal. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this house. Anything would be nice after living in our current house, which is still not finished yet. But this house is great. Four beds, three baths. The master bathroom is the same size as the bedroom. That's why we bought it. Double shower heads, corner whirlpool tub. There is a vaulted ceiling with a skylight over the tub, and transom windows in the living room and master bedroom. The kitchen is huge, with granite countertops and stainless steel appliances. I could go on forever because I really love this house.
There is a ton of moulding throughout the whole house, but especially in the living room. The dining room (on the right of the picture there) has wainscoting and a beauty box. (After doing so much trimwork ourselves in this house, I notice extras like that.)
The kitchen, or part of it at least. There are two pantries, a tile blacksplash, and an awesome 4'x5' island that Andy has dubbed "The Continent".
Here is where the uncertainty comes in. I like to live a frugal lifestyle. We have a very modest home, two older cars, and very little debt compared to most. I don't wear fancy jewelry or expensive clothes, get my hair colored, or have cable. Our kids wear clothes from Target and Old Navy. It freaks me out when I make dinner and the ingredients cost more than $10.
BUT after being crammed into four rooms for over a year, I am ready for some space. More importantly, for a house that I am not completely embarrassed to have visitors in. A house to grow a family in, and a house with a big honking bathtub. A house we can enjoy living in, then sell easily in a few years if we want.
We found out quickly that the Huntsville real estate market is strange. On the SE side, where there are some really "desirable" neighborhoods, we saw some amazingly overpriced dumps. I'm talking homes in the high 200s/low 300s with rotting windows, rotting fascia, holes in the roof or floors, etc etc. Then you can go west of the city and buy a brand new home for the same price. Guess which we chose. I'm not by any means suggesting that we have bought the nicest or biggest house in Madison County. It's fairly modest, especially compared to some of the $750K + homes for sale right now. But it has a lot of great features that you normally see in the next price range up, and I feel like we got a great deal.
When we bought our current home, it was on a handshake. We went from seeing the house to closing in under a week. Now we're doing all these contracts and earnest money checks and walkthroughs and punch lists and etc etc. We don't close until the 27th. There was a problem with our down payment not being seasoned enough to meet tightened lending restrictions, but I think the problem is solved, so hopefully in two weeks, Imri and I will be soaking in that tub together. I am trusting our realtor and lender to work it all out amongst themselves, then just tell me where to sign.
Now, about the job: I hope Andy likes it there. He thinks he will. I hope he likes his work, his coworkers, and the new life this job affords us. I hope he will stay there for a few years. He is doing contract work on the side, with his best friend, and making noises like they want to do it full-time. I hope not. This last experience has scared me away from all that. My plan is for them to bring in some extra money to have fun with, put away for the kids, or whatever. NOT to have to live on contracts.
So the bottom line to all this is: the last year has been overwhelmingly miserable for me, with a few very bright spots to light the dark corners. I'm ready for a little change. Wish me luck.
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wakeful dreamer