Sold!

Well that didn’t take long.  After one day on the market the house was sold to the second person that saw it.  One week later we started looking for apartments.

Our luck continued with the first apartment we saw being almost perfect, so after looking at a few others we called the landlord and took it.  At two bedrooms and 1200 square feet, it’s only slightly smaller than our house and aesthetically fits our style to a T.  There is a washer and dryer in the basement, it has gas heat (and a gas stove), more storage than we need, and it’s in the neighborhood we want.  The only drawback is it’s a slightly longer walk to work than I preferred, but I could certainly use the exercise.  Jeff’s work is actually closer now so I teased him that I should just take the car, but honestly I really do enjoy walking to work and wouldn’t want to give it up.

The closing was yesterday.  I thought that I would be sad to be leaving the house, but surprisingly I really wasn’t.  Sure, there were a few tears as I vacuumed over the weekend while we worked to make it broom clean.  After all, at just short of eleven years this is the longest I’ve ever lived in one place in my entire life.  Different memories came to mind as I moved through each room.  But I also saw things that needed to be done (“The floors really need to be refinished.”  The trim in the bedroom has to be repainted”), and I was so thankful that we don’t have to be the ones to do them.

As we walked out for the final time, I felt unburdened.  Footloose and fancy free.   It reminds me of when I was 20 years old, packed everything I owned into my Hyundai Excel, and drove across the country from Southern California to move to Connecticut with no job, no place to live, and not knowing anyone.  There’s something about the fact that if we really wanted to or needed to, we could just cut loose and go with nothing to tie us down.  But for now, all we have to do is live in the apartment and send a rent check once a month.  No more yard work, no more snow blowing, no more minor repairs, no more major repairs.  Something is broken?  Call the landlord.  I love it.

This was a huge step in our plans to cut the dock lines and sail away.  With the equity we paid off a good chunk of my student loans.  The extra money we’re saving by living in an apartment instead of owning will go towards paying off the last loan by the time we leave, and continuing the refit on the boat.  Technically we have 3 years, 1 month, and 8 days to go, but if we really wanted to be fiscally irresponsible, we truly could go tomorrow.  It feels amazing.