Colorado, here we come

Earlier this year, I started considering a new opportunity that had presented itself – a role as an Engineering Project Manager at Apple. On paper it sounded like an amazing opportunity, with one catch: Apple wasn’t embracing remote work quite like some of the other tech companies. Apple was looking to move to a hybrid model with employees in the office several days a week. In other words, we would have to move.

We noodled on this for ages. Do we uproot the family from our very excellent community in Arizona to take a chance on a new state and a new job? Or do we play it safe and stay put? It was so hard to decide. As we neared the point of needing to make a decision, we were stuck. We realized we needed to see the Boulder area, so on 16 hours notice we got everybody on a plane and off to Denver for a weekend of exploring our potential new home.

We had a good time. The parks there are incredible and we could feel the emphasis on outdoors activities. The views of the mountains were amazing! It was a wee bit chilly having come from Arizona, but not that bad at all. Flowers were just starting to bloom on Pearl street in Boulder – it was beautiful.

We told Apple yes – we’re in. Then began the real challenge…

We began to look for a house.

The real estate market has had a ridiculous year so far. Q1 continued the trends of 2021 – in essence, any house that came on the market was sold after a single weekend of showing. We were up against this nonsense when we bid on a house in Longmont, CO, having to go way over asking just to be in contention. We ended up in a bidding war for which we did not have the capital nor willpower to win.

We were dejected.

We continued to tour houses in the area – all remotely, via Zoom. We saw a few more potentials, but nothing that really excited us the way that first house we bid on did. We had decided early on that since selling our house wouldn’t likely be an issue, we would stretch and buy first so we could tell the kids explicitly where we were going when we announced that we were moving. The lack of supply meant a lot of waiting around for new things to hit the market. My project management personality is a bit of a control freak, so this really didn’t sit well.

I was leaving Home Depot in early-mid May and my phone rang. It was our agent, Mark. “I’ve found your house!” he proclaimed, and sent me a link. We were taken with it and booked a tour right away. Two days later (on a Friday) we made an offer and, after much nervous hand wringing, received word that the sellers had accepted it. We were under contract!

We celebrated, and immediately got to work selling our house in Arizona. SO MUCH DECLUTTERING and cleaning. We got photography done (and wow did the photographer do a great job) and managed to hit the market Thursday of the following week. As it turns out – about 2 or 3 weeks too late…

While we were finding a house to buy, the market had begun to shift away from the crazy buying frenzy. Interest rates had gone up (which we sure felt when securing financing for the new house), supply had gone up and houses just weren’t selling as quickly. Our first weekend of showing had about 3 tours and no offers. Queue feeling of dread.

Those that know us well know that we run a tight financial ship. We have a detailed budget. We invest conservatively. We are not financial risk takers. And all of a sudden, we were faced with the prospect of having a new much more expensive mortgage, an expensive bridge loan and our original house expenses to manage all at once. Oh shit. Of course, we had talked about this risk. But to actually realize we were living it sure didn’t feel good.

Our agent remained steadfast in her belief that we were priced well, and were the best valued house in the neighborhood in our price band. We received our first offer the following week – it was a lowball, but would have technically got us what we need. We really struggled with that offer, before ultimately deciding to pass – the offer was low, the buyer was not particularly polite and would have been a nightmare to work with. We persevered, and soon after aggressively cut our price (still higher than the lowball!)

Tours continued. I’m sure anyone who has sold a house while living in it knows what kind of a special hell it is to keep the house “show ready” – particularly with kids. I became adept at getting nice vacuum lines in the carpet. We didn’t ever do a half-assed job – each tour could be “the one” that finally makes us an offer.

We had several “near misses”. “Oh my buyers absolutely love your house and want to make an offer!” After the third time of hearing this with no offer materializing, we began to understand the game a bit better. One of the agents toured on a Saturday, reached out to our agent that night to say they would be submitting an offer Sunday morning…and then completely 100% ghosted us. No further word, no response to text or voicemail – nothing. Unbelievably unprofessional!

Finally – finally – we noticed an uptick in tours. It was clear the fed was going to further raise rates plus school in Arizona was just around the corner (classes start July 20th). Buying soon was going to be cheaper than buying later. We had a busy weekend of showing last weekend, which yielded a fair offer!

We went under contract on Monday the 13th and close on July 20th. Woooo hooo! To make the week even better, we closed on our new house in Longmont, CO. Oh – and it just happened to have been our 10th anniversary. Time flies when you’re having fun, right?

We’ve completed the home inspection, termite inspection, and answered a number of questions our buyers had for us. Our fingers are crossed for a smooth close. In the meantime, we are now preparing for our actual move; in less than a week, I will fly the kids up to the farm so that they can avoid the inevitable angst of movers and hotel living. Simultaneously, Elizabeth will oversee the beginning of the packing process next weekend. This should complete Monday, then loading is on Tuesday, then Elizabeth, myself and Simmy will hit the road and head for the mountains. We’ll be in temporary housing in Boulder for around 10 days (we have a rentback agreement with our sellers through 7/7 plus our stuff won’t arrive until 7/9-7/11) and then the unpacking truly begins, and life can continue in our new home.

We’re almost there!