Will Move for Water

Back in the really early days of Zillow when Make Me Move was concocted, I stated that there was no price I would take for my house and that I was happy where I was.  Rich and Lloyd didn’t buy my position: "Come on, Kristin, everybody has a price."  I eventually confessed, "Well, we might consider moving if we could live near Lake Washington."

You see, I’m extremely attached to our current home, and especially our next-door neighbors.  Little did I know that the wheels had been set in motion when we bought a ski boat last year.  About a month ago, Gordon Stephenson (our college friend, my husband’s water-skiing buddy, and Zillow board member) mentioned, "there’s this house near us that you might be interested in…"

This offhanded comment has spun into motion a sequence I could have never anticipated.  We soon found ourselves investigating the Shoreline School District, bus routes to downtown, and building regulations.  We agonized over the choice between living next door to our dear friends vs. the amenities of an almost-waterfront place.  I was daunted by the work (both to get ready to sell and to add a bedroom to the new house) on top of our already busy lives.  I prayed for it to become obvious what choice to make.  Ultimately, it became clear.  Here were the main factors:

• We are water people (I’m a rower and swimmer, my husband would water ski 3 times a day given flat water and time, and our boys are rapidly turning into water rats).
• This was a unique property that comes with a share of a dock.  We can afford it without winning the Lotto.
• The public middle and high schools in Shoreline look like a better fit for our kids.
• And the clincher, our 3 boys wanted to move, knowing we’d only be 10 minutes from our dear neighbors.

So we made an offer and the owners accepted.  It warms my heart that they had found their new condo on Zillow through a Make Me Move price.

Now I’ve joined the ranks of home sellers.  I must confess I have a radical new appreciation for the work and stress involved.  This has been an educational experience for me as a Zillowite.  We spent the last week doggedly getting our house ready to sell.  I called my friend Laurie, a professional stager, for advice on prepping the house.  The first thing she said: "It doesn’t have to be perfect.  Anything you do helps."  Even thought I have a husband who loves to purge, when you’ve been in a house for 15 years and 6 people live in it, there remains a daunting amount of stuff to pack, hide, donate or ditch.  And beneath that stuff… cobwebs and dust bunnies.

Sunday night, for the first time in a week, we made it to bed before midnight.  The punch list that started with over 100 tasks has been whittled down to about a dozen.  The house is fresh and shiny.  I have replaced the houseplants I neglected to death when my boys were babies.  So, if you’re in the market for a great family house close to everything in Seattle with awesome neighbors, a big fort and a roller rink in the attic, look no further.  It just went up on Zillow (and the MLS) today.

Until we move, I’ll have daily reminders of what we’re leaving.  The neighbors’ knocks on our door now evoke sweetness and sadness.  I don’t think my kids grasp what they’re losing.  Me neither.  Is this the right move for us?  Hopefully soon, I will watch ours and our neighbors’ boys race up the hill, damp from an afternoon of waterskiing, seeking a massive snack, and then I will have proof that we made a good choice.