We decided last year we needed to move closer to "civilization"...shopping, doctors, etc. with less maintenance (read, less mowing, leaf raking, etc.). In actuality, Joyce has been haunting the real estate listings for 2-3 years. We've even looked at a few. Our requirements were that we must improve (not necessarily in order of importance) better Internet service, less driving distance to "stuff", less maintenance, no more wood or pellet toting and within our budget. All those we looked at in the past had at least one deficit.
Last year, Stephen bought a big house in Ft. Smith, Ar. where he had taken a new job. He invited us to move down and live with him. So, we did. His house was nice and roomy and met all our requirements. I bought a cargo trailer and we began moving, load after load. The highways between here and Ft. Smith became very familiar. We got most of our stuff moved down from the house plus some of my workshop tools. But, before long, Stephen began having some difficulties at work and began looking for a new job. It started to look like he might move to Dallas. We weren't going to do that...no sir! So, we moved back to the lake (trailer load after trailer load) and Joyce resumed perusing the home listings.
A couple of weeks ago Joyce, for some reason, expanded her upper dollar limit in her daily searches and, bang! There is was. It was priced at our upper limit but looked very promising. We made an appointment to view it. Upon seeing the neighborhood and the house from the street, we were quite impressed. It was like when we first visited the house here on the lake where we are now. It looked perfect and we both went, "Oh!"
Paula, the real estate agent arrived and let us in. From the inside, it seemed perfect for us. Three bedrooms (but small), a nice size living room with a gas log fireplace, two baths (one a walk-in or roll-in shower made for handicapped), a nicely updated kitchen with custom cabinets and, of all things, two sun rooms! Plus, the house was set up for the handicapped with nice ramps at the front and back (at our age, this could be a necessity for one of us any day). It even had a two-car attached garage AND a finished two-car detached garage for a workshop. There's a fenced yard for Ditto and it's on a corner lot, located on a relatively isolated street with only neighborhood traffic.
After stewing over the price and trying to figure out just how best to approach an offer, we opted on trying a low-ball offer, knowing we'd have to come up. We offered and, of all things, he accepted. So, we're waiting for the other shoe to drop, but the last resident was a one-legged man. Maybe there is no other shoe.
Rear views of sun rooms
Living Room
Big sun room (we call it the gymnasium)
Little sun room (just off the kitchen)
Kitchen
I'm not sure we could find a better suited home without building one ourselves. About the only negative is limited parking for Lil Pumpkin.
Location? West side of Springfield, near a big grocery and a Walmart Neighborhood Market and even near a big Ace Hardware and a Walmart Superstore. Even though we are in Springfield, we are closer in time to Michael in Kimberling City and closer to other family in the area. In fact, we are closer to about everything except the lake. But, we haven't had the boat on the lake for over two years now. Maybe we used up the lake.
All that said, with all the positive attributes of this new home, it is hard to leave Cedarcreek. I don't know if anyone noticed or not, but we have lived at the Cedarcreek lake home longer than we've lived anywhere...ever!
