The last time I moved was in 2008. In 2006, the time before that, I wrote a short piece about it here. I have a terrific landlord who built the house I live in and several more in Denver. But the last half dozen homes he built, in varied parts of Denver, came up against the real estate crash, so instead of selling them as he intended, he rented them. He's been great with me, and my lease doesn't expire until Feb. 2014. Until this past weekend, I had no reason to believe anything was changing. He's always said I'm his best tenant ever. But he also got a shock last week when the bank holding his construction loan on the property told him no more extensions, he has to pay it off by January, or lose the home. Which means, he has to start selling it now.
That's the worst part of renting: You have a 2,3, or 5 year lease from a very solvent landlord, and in the middle of the term, he tells you he is so sorry, but he will lose the property unless he can sell in the next months. My last three moves have been caused by my various landlords' imminent need to sell the property or else face foreclosure.
My house is fairly big -- 3,000 sq. feet-- and it's filled with the possessions I've accumulated over the decades, and those of my parents (it took me four years to finally clear out their storage unit and I haven't gotten around to valuing or distributing the stuff yet.)
So, since Friday nite, I've been trying to find another place to live. I'll never get 3,000 sq ft again in this upturn market. The same rent I pay now will get 1/2 of that. My generous landlord has made it well worth my while to go nicely in the next two weeks. Which means I have to go through all the stuff here and decide what comes with me to the new place and what won't fit. At least 1500 square feet of my parents and my possessions can't make the cut. (I'm not a fan of storage units.)
There's also a lot of documents that have to be drafted, beginning with his generous proposal for me to leave now, months before my lease is up. Since I'm a lawyer and he's not, I have to draw up our contractual arrangement. And I have to find a new home, which usually is a three month undertaking, but this time, I have just a few weeks. So my days are now split between my day job and contacting realtors, hoping to find a suitable place.
For the past week, and probably next week, I will be consumed with looking at real estate ads for rentals (I have no interest in buying), visiting prospective homes/condos, crunching numbers and deciding where to move. Since I can't take a hiatus from work, every free waking hour is spent immersed in this project, leaving no time to blog.
After I find a place, I have to deal with the phone company and the cable company. I have to be home while a bunch of movers come to give me estimates, Some may be $2,500.00 for a mile move while others are $3,000 plus. And since I really would like to avoid having to rent a storage unit, I have to go through everything that's here and decide what to give to Good Will and leave for 1-800-Got Junk. I just don't have the time to spend to sell things on EBay.
Then there's Tax Day, which for me is October 15. Getting the numbers to the accountant is a huge undertaking that normally takes me a full week. I now have to do it before I move. I just can't see how I will have time to read news and blog during this period.
Moving also means buying new things, since no two houses are the same. So once I find a place, I will have to spend time shopping (another activity I'm not fond of) for things the new house will need to feel like home.
My plan for now is to forget about blogging until I'm moved, sometime in October, and just keep open threads up in the meantime. My next phase of blogging is likely to be when I've moved into my new home, wherever that may be.
My birthday is Saturday, and I think it will be one of those years where I just pretend it's not happening. I'm not going to ask for donations (even though they would be welcome) since I'm not providing anything in return right now.
Anyway, since I've never gone so many days in a row without blogging, I thought I'd let readers know the reason for my absence, and that it's temporary. Now you do.
This is an open thread, all topics welcome, including suggestions for making moving less stressful.