Blog 12 Downsizing

I think one of the difficulties in moving to Hawaii, or any warm weather locale, is deciding what do to with all your heavier clothing and winter paraphernalia. It’s like, “well what if we ever move back to Chicago, won’t I need this?” And in our case, like many, we were going to a much smaller house (2,000 square feet versus 4,000 square feet) because of all the outdoor lanai (patio) space we were going to be having at our new place.

I had never been exposed to “garage sale fever” that exists in northern California, and perhaps elsewhere. Over five garage sales we were able to sell about $7,000 worth of unneeded possessions including TV’s and furniture. We gave away probably a like amount, and threw away probably even more. Undoubtedly we could have downsized more, and probably should have.

Our last move, only two years ago, had been a corporate move and we brought everything with us – which is probably typical. And after two years in California, we had crates and boxes that we had never opened. That’s probably a message, but who wants to spend their weekends after newly arriving in California doing unpacking?!

Blog 11 Putting the California House on the Market

Our realtor said it was first about price, and then a beauty contest.  So we priced conservatively and never had the house looking better.  And we had a great view of Mt. Diablo to the east.

Sure enough, after only a few weeks a decent offer came in that we accepted and the “offer pending” notice went up in front of the house below the “for sale” sign.

Little did we expect that our qualified buyer would run into the same credit crunch affecting the world at large, but they did.  The offer was withdrawn one month later, and our house no longer could win a beauty contest, in fact it would probably come in near last.  We had begun packing and holding a series of garage sales.  Stuff was strewn pretty much everywhere. 

From the Tundra to Paradise

The view from our Chicago House

Blog 1 Chicago to San Francisco to Hilo, Hawaii 

In August 2006 I accepted an executive position responsible for mergers and acquisitions for a company headquartered in the Bay Area of San Francisco.  We were living outside Chicago at the time, and I was Vice President Corporate Development and Investor Relations at the Alberto-Culver Company ($4 billion in sales).  The new position seemed challenging and the package included a corporate relocation so we accepted.  Plus we had always both wanted to live in Northern California.

The Chicago House Packed for the Move

So after some weekend commuting, during Thanksgiving weekend in 2006 we drove across country with our pets, and shortly thereafter our possessions were moved into our newly purchased house overlooking Mount Diablo. 

Less than 18 months later in February 2008, the company hit a bumpy patch and my position was eliminated, luckily with a reasonably generous severance package.

About eight months after that we closed on a house in Hilo on the Big Island, and on January 5, 2009 we arrived for good with our dog, Valentine, and our cat, Kiwi, in tow.  It took 6 more weeks for our goods to arrive and since then we have been settling in. Life is good on the Big Island.