Sunday, June 22, 2014

Moving On



























We moved June 19th from our mountain home of seven years to Albuquerque, New Mexico.  You may ask how that happened because we seemed perfectly happy at "El Cheapo Ranchito".  It involves the website Zillow.com and listing a "Make Me Move" price a couple of months ago.


Ron and I have talked about moving into the city, but we were thinking it would be in a year or so from now.  As we age, we thought it would be more desirable to be closer to town amenities and to reduce our physical chores (such as shoveling snow).  In March, my husband and I casually decided to list a "Make Me Move" price on our Sandia Park home on Zillow because if anyone really wanted our house and made the right offer, we'd move.  In May, someone did just that. The buyer wanted to move in before the end of June so we rushed to find a new home in Albuquerque (about 20 miles west of where we were living).

                                                                                                                                                                                                   
After a few days house-hunting, we found a much smaller home (900 sf smaller in the house and 450 sf smaller in the garage) in the foothills of the Sandia Mountains and we made an offer.

We have some nice views of the city lights and sunsets to the west

A smaller backyard but room enough for a new hot tub



We closed about 30 days later and moved in to our little townhouse.  This move was completely unexpected,  but we are very happy we did it.  Our new place is close to Albuquerque parks and open space for walking and also we're next to several National Forest trails.
We have north and east views of the Sandia Mountains...


...and trails for hiking are just steps from my door.


I've already planted my vegetable garden






Our selection of restaurants and stores have certainly expanded now that we are in the Big City. We're just steps from the city bus stop. Albuquerque bike and walking trails are all around our neighborhood. My garden is a lot smaller but that means a lot less work.


One feature I like is the eastern facing private courtyard off our master bedroom.  I put in my rock fountain, a bistro table with umbrella, sculpture and plants and now it is a nice oasis for us in the morning or afternoon.




We have laminate floors, big vigas in the great room with views of the top of Sandia South Peak through eastern-facing clerestory windows



We have plans to install central AC (this week), convert the wood-burning fireplace to a gas insert, put in a new pantry in the kitchen, and a few other home improvement projects.  Overall, this is a good move for us as we move into retirement.

1 comment:

  1. A surprise indeed, The adjustments for age began for us downsizing and simplifying when we hit retirement and continue. Built a smaller house in the woods next to our old one thus keeping our friends and neighborhood. Remaining near the Mayo Clinic was also a consideration

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