Hello from Borrego!
So many things to share. Because of many factors, Chris and I decided to pursue homes in Spokane just for our family. I won’t get into too much detail but the housing market is not good, high interest rates are stopping sellers from listing their homes and homes that are available that are nice are being snapped up by people like us who are ready to buy. We did not want to wait until the spring to try and find a home which will end up being a bidding war. Carol’s house wasn’t getting any interest, we just decided that we can’t wait.
We told Carole of our plan and of course she was disappointed. I hope this doesn’t ruin their friendship but it’s not good which is very hard on Chris. There was one home in particular in a small community in Blanchard, Id that Chris really liked. We weren’t able to make an offer before it was sold. While on the golf course, I got a call from the Blanchard realtor that the deal fell through on the home Chris liked. We decided to take action. We identified a couple of other homes in Blanchard as well as two or three homes in Spokane and decided to fly up to Spokane, have an early Christmas with Jake, Em and Grace and spend one morning in Blanchard and one morning in Spokane looking at 5 or 6 places. Our flight into Spokane included a stop in Salt Lake. While having lunch in Salt Lake, I saw a new listing in the Spokane Valley area. We looked it over pretty good (almost too good as we damn near missed our connecting flight), we called Jim and asked him if we could see this new listing first thing in the morning.
Well we did and
We close on Feb 6th. Not sure yet but if the weather is good enough, Chris will fly back up and I’ll arrange for the movers to meet her at our new place and move our things from storage into the new house.
We had a blast the rest of the trip. With no more houses to look at we got more time to spend with the kids. We spent Monday night watching Seahawk football with Travis & Anne. The remainder of the time we spent with Jacob, Em & of course, Grace. There is no more joy in this world than watching a child get excited for Christmas. It was a nice early Christmas present to ourselves. Chris developed a head cold and wasn’t feeling great. Jim, our realtor called and told us that his wife had Covid. Chris did a test and sure enough, she tested positive too. That forced us to cancel our Christmas with Ben and Matt. We had to reschedule for the MLK 3 day holiday weekend in January. Looking forward to that.
Here in Borrego, both of us have been playing golf, taking in the spa and pool and riding our e-bikes. Decembers weather has been pleasant. Should just get nicer and nicer as we roll into 2024. Not sure if our stay will be cut short. As it worked out, Carole got an offer on her home and despite us going our own way, she accepted a contingent offer. If she closes before we plan to go back, we’ll need to cut our stay in Borrego short to get Christal’s car and my boat out of her motor home garage. More to come.
