Move Status Update

It’s been a couple of weeks since my last post. Things have been busy. Plus, something is wrong with the settings at my host and I can’t post any pictures. I don’t have the time or mental energy to figure that out right now. I can link to stuff, I just can’t post new images. It’s been really slow, too. I’ll do something about it after the move. Hopefully it isn’t too painful for you.

Anyway… I decided an update was in order. This moving house is a long, drawn-out process. It started months ago when we decided to start getting the house ready to sell.

How does one prepare for such an event? First, you de-clutter (aka tossing a bunch of crap). Then you spruce things up. Our biggest “spruce-up” was the kitchen re-do. Well, biggest after Hubby’s basement finishing project. (He added an in-law apartment.) Then there was all the yard work. Painting. Power washing. De-personalizing (removing people and pet pictures).

It was a time-consuming endeavor. Then, when the house is finally ready to sell, you have to keep it neat and clean so it’s always ready when potential buyers want to visit.

We weren’t sure how things were going to go. This isn’t the best housing market after all. But we did our homework with regards to getting the house ready (that’s called “staging”) and setting a price. And it paid off. After just three weeks on the market, we had a contract. We’ve made it through the pest inspection, general home inspection, and radon tests. There are no more hurdles. Almost. There’s nothing to stand in the way of the buyers closing as planned, but there is the small problem that we haven’t found a house yet.

A bigger problem? Ninety-five percent of the houses we would consider buying do not have the Internet access we need.

Yep. Who knew?

We’re looking primarily in Northern Virginia. In counties right beside the nations capital. One of the counties we have been looking in is Loudon County, which happens to be THE county that consistently ranks in the top five counties in all of the US for highest median income. Don’t worry, we won’t be living there. Property taxes are really quite high. Which also makes me wonder…

How is it that I can get DSL service in West Virginia, one of the poorest states in the country, but not in Northern Virginia? It’s one of the richest areas in the country! Really. Do a Google image search for “homes in virginia hunt country” and see what pops up.

You’ll see places like this.

You think McMansions are big? Think again.

The major cities and towns have wired service (cable or DSL), but a very large portion of the state is without wired access. People have to rely on satellite or wireless broadband.

I’m not talking remote areas either. Or poor areas. I’m talking a whole lot of places in Loudon, Fauquier, Clarke, Frederick, and Warren Counties. Amazing.

We could go a bit further west to Shenandoah County, but that’s too far for Hubby’s commute.

So… we’ve not had a whole lot of luck finding a place.

We are NOT in the market for a Virginia Hunt Country estate. We probably couldn’t even afford a guest house at one of those places. Of course, even if we could, WE WOULDN’T HAVE INTERNET ACCESS! (We need that for our work.)

We’re still hopeful that we’ll get something that will allow us to take occupancy on October 1. But if we don’t find a place in the next week or so, that isn’t likely.

There’s a tiny chance we might find a place this weekend. Small. Teeny.

Whether we end up temporary residents of West Virginia until we find a suitable place in Virginia, one thing is for sure. You’re going to see a much wider variety of pictures here once we do move. The locales we’ve been scouring are gorgeous. Horse farms. Historic towns. Mountain streams. Miles and miles and miles of stone walls. The Manassas Battlefield Park. Skyline Drive.

I could go on all night.

I’m looking forward to the change of scenery. I hope you are, too.

As soon as we find something, I’ll let y’all know. Until then, we need to do some serious packing.