N. Lake Drive, Downingtown, PA – this house was just adorable, but it was smaller than what we have now. There was a sign asking us to remove our shoes or put on paper shoe slippers. They even warned of recordings in process.

Goosetown Rd. Coatesville, PA – we didn’t even go in this house, the driveway was like pulling into a golf course, nice feel to it, but the garage door was slanted…but then it looked like the entire garage was slanted (like it was falling backwards).

King St, Downingtown, PA 19335 – this place was interesting, it was big enough and the price was right, there was a cute little breezeway and a pool. But there were some concerns about the integrity of the pool so we couldn’t even tell if it was usable. Some of the other oddities, the toilet was elongated but the seat was for a standard. The bathroom was too small for an elongated. There were curtains hanging in the basement area (but no windows)…and everything was Christmas…so we think they either some sort of a Christmas vendor or someone was completely obsessed.

Montgomery Dr. Coatesville, PA – loved the drive to this house…it felt like we were in the country! We walked through…liked ALOT about it, but saw alot of ‘projects’, so when we left, we were at yes/no.

Debbie Dr. Coatesville, PA – none of us liked this one…no matter how much we wanted to. Everything about it felt ‘sterile’…the floors had the thin wood veneer, the walls were white…there was no real ‘heart’ to this house…even the yard was questionable.

Moving or NOT, we are going to de-clutter…we need to start this part of the plan ASAP…there are still houses to look at!

Yard Sale – Pod, and a storage unit are the things that will consume us over the next couple weeks. If we are going to have a yard sale, I am not carrying anything back inside, it either goes to the pod or GoodWill.

“Pack Rat” had the best price and I really liked the name. So delivery will be Oct 6. I made a time lapse video of the delivery, but WordPress is being finicky with the .mov file (I will see what file I need to convert it to and post it later). As it stands, the rental agreement on this is 10/6/2023 thru 12/5/2023

We decided to get a storage unit too, somewhere between Morton and Downingtown/Exton area…this is where we will put all of the breakables…TVs, mirrors, artwork, wine making supplies, etc

Time to start playing Tetris

We have been stalking zillow and found some houses we want to see, so we sent the addresses to Mike and he pulled the disclosures. One house was eliminated because it failed the Septic certifications…don’t want to deal with bad water/sewage.

Another was eliminated because of a 50k+ Solar Panel debt, payments until 2047, solar panel company going bankrupt issue. Turns out the solar panels don’t even pay for themselves.

The 3rd house that was dropped was IFFY because there was an apartment complex in the back, so there would never be privacy if we put in a pool

so 3 houses remain…

Manor Ave, Downingtown, PA – We liked this one, very cute, 1 floor (nice size attic, with steps leading up), finished basement, big enough back yard…BUT, the High School is bordering the back yard and there is not enough parking to have a party…eek!

Nevins Way, Coatesville, PA – getting to this place was a long ride down a back road and the driveway was steep. It’s cute and has a nice curb appeal, BUT, None of us thought this house was worth what they were asking for. It’s small, there was a non-existent back yard and no where to put a pool.

Freedom Valley Circle, Coatesville, PA – All of us liked this one…it needed love, and it was priced a little over our budget, but we could have made it work. 2 car garage, lots of yard, fireplace in the middle for 2 rooms. nice size bedrooms, loved it! Mike knows enough about SHORT SALES so even that wasn’t going to be an issue, BUT, the fine print…oh that damn fine print!! There was a 3% fee attached (for the short sale company) after all was said and done. so between buyer and seller and short sale company, 9%…that could have been an ugly surprise!

We have been pre-approved for a decent non-contingency loan. Now that doesn’t mean that we don’t want to sell our house and use that $$ for a ‘down-payment’…so sell in the morning and buy in the afternoon!!

Good until 12/25/2023

I called Mike, the bestie, who just happens to be the best Realtor in the Delaware Valley to come up with a sign of the times realistic number and he sent us these Comps…

of course we have a side lot that will be added in there too and updated kitchen, etc., so, between here and there 🙂

After breakfast, we went back to their house to hang out. Paul was up and moving around once we got there. It was normal afternoon, kids running around, grown ups trying to talk about Adulting stuff…normal!

We went to September Farm to get ice cream and hang out at their playground for a while to wear the kids out! The only sad moment was when we needed to leave.

Driving home, Jen and I started talking about how we had decided to not move and retire in the house that we are in now. But we are so far away from them…and they don’t have a reliable car (right now anyway)!

We are now giving it a second thought!

Kylee’s soccer game started at 9am, which meant hitting the road by 8am at the latest. We took the turnpike, which we normally don’t do and as it turns out there was a giant, multi-family, multi-town yardsale going on 322…we never would have made it. We had no idea this was happening, so we lucked out.

Katt and Remy were the only cheerleaders there for Kylee, the rest of the crew were home sleeping. Watching Kylee play soccer was fun, the kids know how to play, it’s not cut-throat so they all have fun. I’m not even sure they really keep score.

After the game, we went back to the house to pick up all of the kids and take them to Claire’s for breakfast. Paul was the only one that couldn’t make it. He has been working mid-night shift and today is his most weird sleep day because he has off tomorrow. (we brought him home lunch)

We miss them SO MUCH!! They are too far away!