On moving

Perhaps there is something compelling about moving. There must be. With as much as I move around there must be some driving force, some joy, to it. I can't even recall the last time I stayed at one address for greater than 2 years. Had to be when I was living at home in high school. This, however, will be the first time I have a vested interest in the place I leave behind. Usually I only care that it is clean enough to get my deposit back.

I think the part I enjoy is the looking for new places. Being able to try out new locales, even if those locales are within the same zip code or city. Eat at new restaurants. Find new local haunts. Each time I move I think that I learn a little more about what I want. What I like. What I can't stand. The hope, of course, is that all the information eventually leads to something more or less stable and structured. But it seems to me at this point, the only stability I know is constant upheaval. It doesn't seem like much, but it is something I suppose.

But where does one go once you have owned a home. Once you have known true autonomy. Back to renting in our case. But now the expectations are certainly higher. No more ratted out carpeting. No more walls less than privacy thick. No more neighbors with either jacked-up trucks or souped up mid-90s Honda Civics. No more built-ins that should have been tear-outs.

However, before the moving part, comes the selling part. The process of finding a decent Realtor is not an easy one. Much like anything else contractual, you don't really know if you got a lemon until too late. Thankfully, their contracts are short and don't cost much more than time unless it sells. We decided against our previous Realtor. We liked her, but she seems a bit scattered for our needs. Too, well, immature really. So she was out. For due diligence we picked three, one via recommendation and 2 pretty much randomly.

#1 - Young and very Portlandy with her (and her partners) focus on Eco/green living. Kind of more urban. Far more tech. Far more inexperienced than the others. Definitely internet savvy. Downside: They are carrying too many properties and she is clearly more East side than West. She suggested we list the house around $315-$318K, with our break even being about $313K.

#2 - More veteran and clearly not very savvy about the internet (though people she works with are). Turned us off immediately by jumping right into talk about short-sale (we are in no hurry) and then essentially telling us we would be hard-pressed to get appraised out because the market remains so shoddy. We eliminated her as soon as the door closed behind her.

#3 - Same level of experience as #2, but with a more clear understanding of the market. The difference between someone who works in an industry and someone who is clearly still engaged in learning about it. She seemed a little pie-in-the-sky, but perhaps we could use that in this economy. We actually had to talk her down from what she wanted to list it at. Sees no issues in appraising based on local comps. Lives on the West side.

So, if it wasn't clear already, #3 was the winner by a nose over #1 (with #2 having lost her jockey out of the gate and promptly returning to pasture to graze). Looks like we will list at $329,500 and potentially (though not terribly likely) even get most of the money we put down back when we sell. Would be great, but we would still be happy to just walk away without pulling out a checkbook. We shall see.

In the meantime, the cleaning, decluttering, and general touching up is underway. God help us, cause the next how ever many months will be fraught with living so tidily it will look like we don't actually live here in the hopes that maybe, just maybe, the right buyer will come along.

In other news, I spent today (and last nite) with a respiratory infection (or inflammation, hard to say at this point). Lovely. Kind of overdid it cleaning yesterday and sucked up enough dust to send my lungs into failure mode. Back on the Prednisone train or, in other words, hello 3AM! No neb treatment though.........which really sucks because I need one to get my lungs started out right. Not a huge fan of Zoomcare. The are efficient, but though they state they treat asthma, are poorly equipped to deal with inflammations. Still kicking though.

Off to bed...........or at least lying prone with eyes peeled wide open.