My neighbor is moving. She knocked on our door one day, came in for a few minutes of small talk and said, “I want you to know before I do anything. I’m selling my house.”
We knew this day would come. Her brother moved to a town 50 miles away, and she often drives to his place for family get-togethers. The clan is a large Italian one, and there are always celebrations – birthdays, wedding showers, baby showers, weddings, holiday festivities.
T is our closest neighbor, in geographic proximity, and our good friend. She moved into her house a year before we made this community our home. T works remotely three days a week, so is often around even though she works full-time. And she is a wonderful cook. We are grateful recipients of her generosity.
T has talked about moving close to her brother, but prefaced that with, ‘when I retire’. But she woke up one morning and said to herself, “I want to do this. Now.” She spoke to her employer and he is willing to allow her to work remotely full-time. Nothing prevents her from relocating immediately. The house is in pristine condition inside and out. It will probably sell quickly.
Change is inevitable, but sometimes not so easy to accept. We will get new neighbors, either part-time or full-time. We hope full-timers move in. Streets occupied mainly by part-timers go dark and foreboding during long winter months.
We receive calls from realtors all the time. Our town attracts folks – those seeking second homes and people looking to relocate full-time. Often full-timers are empty nesters and soon-to-be or recent retirees. Prices have skyrocketed in the past couple of years, and there is more demand than supply.
It is tempting to sell high, a sacred financial rule. But where would we go? Why relocate because realtors knock on our door? If we move, when we move, it will be because we want to, or must.
Which will most likely occur during a financial downturn.
But we will take our chances. What will spur us to move? How much must our neighborhood change before we take the $$ and run? Will there come a time when we do not want to bother fixing things ourselves and are unwilling to pay others to do the work for us?
This week one of our smoke detectors began beeping. We walked around the house, room to room, and discovered the detector needing a battery replacement was on the upstairs landing.
I was not going to climb a ladder to change the battery, and I refused to allow hub to climb a ladder so close to the stairs. I envisioned catastrophe. We called a neighbor, younger and taller than we are; he is also a handyman. He came over and within minutes the annoying beeping stopped.
It is not always easy to quickly and smoothly fix things, especially In a house 70+ years old. Some things do not need speedy fixes, but dealing with the problem often produces headaches. And I won’t even mention regular maintenance, such as a bedroom badly in need of a painting refresh…
Enough said. We will bid a sad goodbye to our neighbor, wish her well in her new home, and return to our comfy cottage. Until it is no longer comfy for us.
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