Have you and your husband ever decided to convert your present house into a rental, and buy a new house, all at 8-months-pregnant?
Yeah, me neither.
Oh wait.
Yes, yes I have.
Just recently in fact.
I know it's crazy, but we are indeed buying a new house. On two-and-a-half acres. Outside of the city. And rather spontaneously, I might add!
When we first moved to Colorado five years ago, we did a ton of research and bought a bungalow in a historic old city neighborhood that we knew would be, due to location, a great investment. (That's me and Kaitlyn checking it out for the first time. She was so little!) It's hard to choose a place to live when you're thousands of miles away, and so this seemed a safe bet--we figured once we eventually put down some roots and had a better handle on the metro area, we'd relocate if we wanted.
And we've enjoyed our time here. I love my home and my neighborhood. The house was a fixer-upper and is (like most homes in the neighborhood), um, kind of quirky--but it's been so fulfilling to see it all come together. We've put a lot of work into it, and it feels good. I'll have to do a before-and-after post sometime soon.
We've decided though that ultimately, we want our kids' childhood marked by being outdoors, running free, and having space. For years now in fact I've been telling my {ever-patient} and {long-suffering} husband that I want him to buy me a farm where we don't have to do any actual farming.
Because I'm practical like that.
And, I like moving.
I like getting rid of stuff.
I like getting into a house and changing things.
As for Kevin, he doesn't like moving, but in spite of his regular head-shaking at my aspirations to own some sort of non-working cattle ranch, he shares my vision for our family. Plus he's tired of battling I-25 traffic to and from work everyday, and he didn't like when someone recently helped themselves into our minivan and went sifting through the contents of our glove compartment. (To save anyone else the trouble, we just have car manuals and holy cards in there. No cash. Sorry.) And it turns out that right now (life circumstances like, oh I don't know, being on the precipice of giving birth aside) is actually a great time for us to make this transition, financially-speaking.
And to make an already-long story short, we went and looked at a house on a whim that pretty much surpassed any and all expectations. Beautiful area, stunning mountain views, a little bit of acreage, and the home itself is outfitted perfectly for a big ol' family like ours.
The only drawback--and it's a huge one--is that the house is in the complete opposite direction of our friends, our parish, and my parents. But we figure we can make it work. Our social and parish life will remain the same--we'll just be that family that drives a little farther for stuff. If nothing else, people will be extra impressed and happy to see us when we show up to parties, right?
So in a semi-uncharacteristic move on our part, we threw caution to the wind and made an offer, which the owners accepted, and which is contingent upon us getting renters into this house. If all goes as planned, we'll close escrow on March 7th--exactly one week after my due date.
Clearly, this will prove to be either one of the best or dumbest things we've ever done.
The great thing about blogging is, you readers will be the first to know.
I'll keep you posted. :)
