Since Don stopped working, we've focused on cutting unnecessary costs so we can make our nest egg last longer. We discussed living abroad many, many times (usually after having traveled to a wonderful new country) but always came back to being close for our girls and our family. While living on the coast of Croatia or in the forests of New Zealand was exciting to us, the 13-20 hour flights seemed prohibitive to stay connected with our loved ones.
Our neighborhood has continued to become more filled with people...and cars...and junk - which has made us feel much more closed in than we cared for. The rising costs and undesirable neighborhood trends, combined with the realization that we've lived in essentially the same place for over 50 years, highlighted the feeling that some kind of change was going to be needed.
We were very focused on finding somewhere with nature that was peaceful and private, which led us to Northern Idaho and Western Montana. After a couple trips there, we really liked the environment, although were disappointed about what we could find that seemed to meet our criteria at a reasonable cost. The winter season also gave us some pause, as we heard from many sources about how long and cold these could be.
Tammy began looking more broadly at U.S. locations that offered a less expensive cost of living, specifically as it related to post-retirement taxes, and came up with a list of 4-5 states that would be "cheaper living". After considering each of these potential places for their potential for good jobs (for the kids), access to the outdoors, climate and culture, Tennessee rose to the top for us (here are some of the reasons).
We had a trip planned already for the New Year's holiday to Scottsdale, AZ and decided to make a few changes to that itinerary to add in a whirlwind tour of Tennessee. We ended up driving from Pensacola, FL (that is another story) through Alabama into Chattanooga to begin our exploration. From that starting point we saw Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, Sevierville in the Smoky Mountain foothills, then headed north to the Knoxville area and finally West on I-40 through Cookeville to Nashville.
We spent two days in the Nashville area, touring from Mt. Juliet to Brentwood/Franklin to Goodlettsville as well as spending sometime in downtown Nashville. We felt like this gave us a fair sampling of the area, and flew out of Nashville back to Seattle with a much greater awareness of what we would need to be aware of when house hunting remotely.
With our heads full of options, our choice seemed harder to make than when we started. Should we try to buy a house in Tennessee or rent one? Did we like the city conveniences of Nashville or the rural living near Chattanooga more? Will we be alright with the humidity in the Southeast? What about snakes and bears? Should we be looking more in other states? What if we just stayed where we were at?
After stewing on these options for a couple weeks, we finally decided to get some facts about what we may be able to afford and met with a relator, hoping to get a sense of the housing market and where our house may be valued. The initial meeting didn't give us the warm-fuzzies about what we may need to do to sell and how much we might expect to get - mostly it wasn't a good vibe for the personality. Again this made us doubt whether we were making a good choice and put us back into "stewing mode".
Tammy had seen a flyer and Facebook posting for a local team named Excel Real Estate Experts and thought we should explore the incentives they were offering. We set up a meeting with them and were really happy with the team member that helped us (Jessica Klein) and the position that they felt our property would be in given their view of the market. We shared our reservations about whether we should even be selling and to her credit, Jessica didn't pressure us to make any sudden decisions.
By this point we knew that spring was coming and that if we were going to list the house we'd want to beat the new batch of houses coming to the market. Could we actually finish our list of projects in time? Was the market going to continue to climb or drop off? What would it be like to leave behind all the work we've put into this house? What would we do if we actually sold our house?
We spent several days working through the considerations (and maybe had a couple of drinks to help), then late one evening we texted Jessica to call us and when she called told her "We've decided to list our house". *Gulp*
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