We moved to California in August 2003 into the same house where we live now. We've been here for nine years! That's the longest I have ever lived in the same house in my entire life! While living here, we raised two teenage girls, had two more baby girls, hosted two exchange students, had two baby grandsons, and I got my Bachelor's degree. It's been great!
For years now we've been looking for a bigger better newer house that would better suit our large family. This search has been difficult and we only found one home that really fit the bill and our budget at the same time. We were totally in love with that house, still are, but right at the last minute before funding, the sellers backed out and we didn't get the house. We haven't seen another one like it, so the search to improve continued but without much enthusiasm.
Earlier this summer, my husband was having coffee and checking things on his computer, just a sleepy summer morning around here. Suddenly, he was yelling for me to come quick so I ran out to see what was the matter and he showed me what he found online.
Our house was for sale.
Not the dream house here, but the dream house we built in South Dakota. The house we lived in before we moved here. The very same house! Our house!
Karma? Fate? God, is that you?
We decided to call the realtor and just inquire, find out what the story is, get the scoop, have a friendly chat. That phone call quickly turned into an offer. The realtor thought our interest in buying our old house back was pretty cool! She was a little surprised at first to have a guy from California on the phone who knew so much about the house and didn't need to see it to put in a firm offer. There was already an offer on the house and another offer came in after ours. Three total. We were put into a wait-and-see mode, typical house buying game.
After being on the market for two whole days, the sellers considered the offers and accepted ours!
While on vacation, we stopped to see our new old house. The front door still had the knocker on it engraved with our name. Whoa! We met with the realtor and a friend and had a tour. The memories were good inside of those walls and it really felt like home. The people who bought it from us, and now selling it to us, finished the basement very nicely. They also added a back deck and finished the landscaping. In fact, they made all the home improvements in the same way we envisioned before we sold the house. Mind readers! How great is that!
Click here for photos and information about the house from nine years ago when we moved out.
Click here for photos from this past summer when we went to see the house.
We jumped through all of the lending and funding hoops, and closed the loan. The property is now ours again. Now what? Jobs?
We will need jobs! Keith has a pretty good shot at becoming employed at his previous school, but nothing is concrete right now. Plus, he has his job here. Keith is teaching here and teachers do not simply give a 2 week notice and move on. Job offers and contracts usually come out in Feb/March, which means job openings are posted in March/April; we won't know until spring if Keith can get a contract to teach at the school there (if there is a position available). I will have to work full time to live there, which means I need a resume and start a new career search.
We can keep ownership of the house as an investment or we can move into it. The decision has not been made yet and won't be made until we have a teaching contract signed for either a California job or a South Dakota job next spring.
My guess is that his old school will make him an offer of some sort; I hope it is reasonable. If so, I imagine that we will move in June after the school year ends. Like I said, that is tentative until contracts come out. Such is the life of a teacher.
We don't want to give the impression that we think a teaching job will just be handed to us like we're entitled or something. We are realistic and we know the risk. But, we wanted to buy our house back just in case it does work out. We also do not want the house purchase to serve as a termination notice to his current employer. We don't want to count our chickens before they hatch, but it is nice to be sitting on a nest. We'll just enjoy keeping the eggs warm for a while and see what happens. Either way, we have a home to live in and an investment home. Win-win.
If we do move back home, it will be pretty cool to have our littlest girls living in the same house that we built before they were born. Their big sisters lived there and the little ones will go to the same school that their older sisters attended. Some of the same teachers are still there! We will live closer to family and we have lots of good friends there already. We will miss California, but we'll always have our friends here and a fabulous vacation destination! I will have to learn to drive in the snow again, yuck. Oh well, can't win 'em all.
In the meantime, we are done with our house search! We own a nice house in California where life is good and we own a nice house in South Dakota where life is good. We are very blessed!
I'll update you in March or April and let you know where we will be living and working.
