Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes…

Based on feedback on the last post, the main thing readers are interested in is our two-block move. Which, of course, has the least interesting photos and the most detailed explanations, so strap in for some big blocks of text describing a pretty simple process that we’ve all suffered through.

Local Relocation

Why did we want to move? While we really like our neighborhood, we were lacking two specific things in the condo. One was outdoor space; a tiny balcony where two people can stand (but not sit at the same time) really doesn’t give us the connection to the outdoors that we crave. The second item was a garage. Our next vehicle will be an EV, and we prefer to have home charging. Several of our neighbors in the condo already have EVs, and the management company has shown no inclination to install a charger in the resident parking area despite keen resident interest. Both of these issues were apparent when we bought the condo, and we knew at the time of purchase that it might be a short-term situation for us as we explored the very idiosyncratic (but very affordable) real estate market in this area.

While we wanted to achieve a few specific upgrades in a new place, we also wanted to replicate the things we already liked about our condo. We wanted to stay in the same neighborhood, we wanted to continue living in newer construction, and we didn’t want to take on the responsibility of managing a yard. Our list of desired attributes was particularly vexing (some might say wildly unrealistic) because our neighborhood includes a designated national historic district with homes and buildings over 200 years old along with a large number of “newer” craftsman homes dating from the 1920s and 1930s. The predominant format is single family homes on relatively large lots, and most substantially predate the era of cars (and thus garages).

However, after patiently scrolling Realtor.com daily for years we’ve discovered that there are some examples of newer construction and different home styles in the neighborhood. We looked at several options over the years, thanks to our very patient realtor, before landing on a relatively new (2019) townhouse located mere blocks from our condo. While I can and have made this website a construction blog, that won’t be necessary because the townhouse required virtually no work. Some new light fixtures, ceiling fans, and paint were all it took to get the place ready for our move. The furniture from our 2 bedroom / 2.5 bath condo fit perfectly in our new 2 bedroom / 2.5 bath townhouse. The only snag: our new bar counter is higher. IKEA to the rescue! The exact same bar chairs come in a taller version. Our limited furniture needs for this move were basically covered by two stores — Costco and IKEA. Ah, bliss.

 

 

The big change is the addition of not one but two great outdoor spaces. The townhouse is on three levels: a garage (yes!) and finished basement on the lower level, the main level facing the street, and the upper level with two bedrooms. Patio space on the roof of the garage and a covered porch facing the street are giving us exactly the amount of outdoor space we need, with plenty of room for chairs, a grill, and several containers for plants but no yard maintenance responsibilities.

 

So far the new place has been everything we expected. We still have a great location with strong walkability and a mix of uses, which we prefer to purely residential neighborhoods. We are dangerously close to the best bakery in town, and as a bonus the build quality on the townhouse is better than the condo so we have better noise reduction and energy efficiency. A major factor making the upgrade possible is the sheer affordability of housing in the area; the combined purchase price we paid for the condo plus the townhouse was less than the sale price of our beach house in Florida. Low housing prices means smaller transaction costs (title insurance, deed recording fees, etc.) and more flexibility to make a change; there is just so much less riding on the decision of where to live. And now for some obligatory moving pics:

 

Repurposing the Condo

Speaking of our condo, what’s going on with that property? It was never our intention to build a real estate empire here, but sometimes the best-laid plans go awry. While we were in the midst of our relocation, my mom’s situation has also been in transition. Although overall in very good health, she is no longer able to drive because of low vision and this makes living in a sprawling town of large planned communities very challenging. One of the tasks we addressed during our visit in January was selling her car, and that loss of transportation (and independence) has been really tough for her. The area where I grew up is simply a very car-centric place, and while there are some handy things like grocery delivery there is little infrastructure to support people who don’t drive. So my mom is moving to Winston, and will move into our condo while biding her time on the wait-list for one of the really excellent (and popular) senior living communities in town. Please feel free to share stories about nightmare landlords in the comments in case I need to prank her.

Changing of the Guard at the Library

Another big change this spring was the expiration of my term on the Board of Visitors (basically a donor advisory board) for the library at my university. I just completed seven years of service, including the last four as chair, and it will be a big change to not need to plan our spring and fall schedules around those meetings. I’ve served on the board since we were on the road, and the two in-person meetings each year anchored our travel plans by requiring me to be near a reasonably-sized airport on certain dates. This allowed Ken to spend some unsupervised time in Las Vegas, but also brought longer-than-usual visits to Boise, Idaho and Las Cruces, New Mexico (for proximity to El Paso). I wrote a bit in the post about my trip from El Paso that serving on this board was helpful to give me a sense of community despite the constant displacement of full-time RV life. When we were seeing friends and family only fleetingly — including and especially friends we made on the road, who we might only see briefly once every few years — it was quite significant to me to have this constant connection with the university. During my time as chair, the board emerged from a post-pandemic slump, developed a new sense of identity, articulated our role and purpose, and grew in size by welcoming more than a dozen excellent new members. Being involved in building (or, more accurately, rebuilding) the board created a throughline of service that grounded me while living in a whirlwind of constant motion, planning, reservations, and general upheaval. Leaving the board really feels like the end of a specific chapter in our lives, and I was gratified to receive several meaningful tributes in honor of my service. Fortunately I am leaving the board in exceptionally good hands, and of course our permanent presence in Winston-Salem has given me a wide array of new opportunities for engagement. I have already managed to parlay my board service into a very satisfying volunteer gig at the library that takes me into the building one day each week. Here are a few items from our special collections on exhibit at the library right now, in an exhibit focused on print culture in colonial and revolutionary America:

 

Changing of the Scenery Around Town

Spring came and went while we were wrapped up in our home purchase and moving, and with the season came a return of several gardening-based activities. The master gardeners resumed our monthly public info booth at the Cobblestone Farmer’s Market, and I returned to my post with a new two-block commute. I once again braved the prospect of swarms of third-graders to volunteer at Extension’s spring Youth Education Program. For four days, 10 classes per day (about 200 students per day) visit the Arboretum at one of our county parks and participate in hands-on learning experiences aligned with the state’s plant science curriculum. Like last year, I genuinely enjoyed my two volunteer days but was left with extreme admiration for our public school teachers. I would die within a week trying to manage these wriggly, curious little humans.

 

 

We also completed our lifelong learning course (one afternoon per week for six weeks) covering the birth of modernism in Vienna. Starting with the decline and fall of the Habsburg Empire, we covered architecture, art, music, psychology, fashion, and more in a very engaging and comprehensive series of lectures. Not surprisingly, having no homework assignments, no required reading, and no tests really does take the pressure off in a classroom setting. Last but not least, we made sure to take some time to enjoy the spectacular spring blooms at Reynolda Gardens, especially the bulbs that I worked so hard to plant last fall.

 

 

Last week’s post caught us up on the events of January and February, and this one covers March and April. If all goes according to plan, by the time I post again we will have completed a beach vacation to the Outer Banks and mom will have moved to Winston-Salem. Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes indeed!