Still Looking

We’re using Labor Day to drive to San Diego and look for more housing. We went down on Friday and spent all day driving through neighborhoods and by houses we found listed on Craigslist. We were able to look inside a few, but nothing has seemed right yet. We have a few references for realtors there and will be using them to help us find a rental. We’d love to buy of course, but it’s all a bit rushed to commit to that, so if we can find a reasonable rental we’ll go with it and have some time to see where we’d like to buy when the time comes… A huge shout out to my friends Heidi and Holly who are taking my kids for the day. THANK YOU!

We have moved about every two years, sometimes less, since we’ve been married. I have a pretty good system down now for finding housing.

1- Talk to friends. Somebody always knows somebody wherever we are going. Especially as members of a worldwide church, there is always a network of information on the new area. Ask them about the neighborhoods they like and most importantly, about the schools.

2- Go to greatschools.net and look up the schools in the new city. They are all ranked by their test scores, and you can also see demographics, teacher credentials, etc… and parent reviews!

3- Go to Craigslist and housingmaps to find rentals or homes for sale in the new city. You can map how far they are from work and figure the commute time. Then comes the really tedious part.

4- Print the addresses of homes that look interesting and drive by them. I usually print a stack and then go through and use the map’s street guide to mark where they are located on the map. Then you can organize them according to location and not waste a lot of time driving back and forth through the city. This gives you a good feel for the neighborhood (shopping, cleanliness of the streets and yards etc.) so you know if you even want to bother scheduling to see the inside.

5- Contact a realtor with access to MLS listings. That is the easiest way to find out what is available in the area. MLS has listings for houses for sale and for rent.

6- Pray that you find the right place without too much time and trouble!

Rob starts his job tomorrow and I’m curious how this first week will go. It’s a big change going from Big Law to In House Counsel, and I look forward to a life not centered around billable hours. However, you never know if the grass really is greener until you’re living in it. But we’re hoping.

School starts here on Thursday and the kids are all very excited. I think they are bored enough that they’re ready for it. I can hardly believe I’ll have 3 in school now, and worry that Sabrina will be bored with them gone. Lucky for me (but unlucky for trying to get things done) kindergarten is only half day, so it shouldn’t be too bad for Brina. I was planning to do a Joy school with some friends for Sabrina, but I chickened out and thought it would be too stressful trying to plan a move and coordinating that. So we’ll be looking for playdates instead when I feel like I can handle it.

Summer has flown by, and I’m worried about having to wake up early again! That is my favorite part of summer: sleeping in. We have had a lot of fun and I have a million pictures that I hope to look through soon. Maybe once we get this whole moving thing figured out.