Relocation through a Buyer’s Eyes…and a Coldwell Banker Agent

2010 was the year of change for my husband and I. As Baby Boomers facing retirement in a few years, we decided it was time to explore options other than California to call home.  As a Realtor for 25 years in California specializing in corporate relocation, I had a lot of experience and wonderful memories helping buyers not only find a special home in a completely new area, but also helping them get settled quickly into their new neighborhood.  It took a solid commitment of working together 8-10 hours a day during their limited time to find a home.  Whether it was picking them up at the airport and getting a sitter for the children to make the best of a 2-day house hunting trip, or getting fresh water for the dogs, cats, and even bunny rabbits that had made the long trip across country, I was the “can do”, “do all” Realtor..

So when we started our house hunting adventure in the Nashville area, we told our Realtor that we would look at homes within an hour radius of Nashville, and were open to researching various counties and cities within our budget of $300,000 and minimum requirements of a 2500 sq. ft. home on at least an acre with room to build a shop for hubby’s toys if there wasn’t one on the property.  In California, we might have received 10 homes to consider…but in the Nashville area we received a list of nearly 200 to start narrowing down. 

We put 800 miles on a rental car the first week, driving around by ourselves the first 2 days to eliminate as many properties as we could to come up with a reasonable number to view with our agent.  We did find a great house on our second trip out here, only to find out that sink holes and septic systems eliminated any space for hubby’s workshop… so the hunt continued.  We found many that looked great in online photos, only to discover the pictures were at least a year old and in reality, the glamour shots did not really portray what we actually saw.  We found other homes that were perfect… but could not get back out to Nashville to see them before they sold. 

On our 4^th or 5^th trip, we found a great home that belonged to a Coldwell Banker Barnes agent, wrote up an offer that was accepted, and 30 days later were the proud owners of our new home north of Nashville, just 2 miles from a boat ramp on the Cumberland River and Old Hickory Lake.  We met with a contractor who could quickly build a shop, as we went back to California to start the other half of the process – packing and shipping cars, boats, and furniture over 2400 miles to our new home.  Luckily we did not have to sell our CA home first, so our stress level was reduced by not having a deadline to vacate that house… other than the financial stress of carrying two properties!

 I drove the Corvette across country with 2 camping chairs and an airbed, and spent the first two nights looking at my shiny Burmese teakwood floors in my vacant house! I flew back to CA, and a month later, hubby and I caravanned across country a second time, with Ted hauling his hotrod with our pickup truck, and me driving a rented pickup truck hauling our new boat we had just purchased.  3 days later, we were here, safely stowing those toys in the newly built workshop.  And 2 days after that, we were driving back to CA in Ted’s pickup, to make another trip across country with the 2^nd hotrod and 2^nd boat that had a “for sale” on the trailer as we drove through Nevada, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Kentucky, and down into Tennessee.  We flew back home, and finished packing the house, just in time for hubby to go back to work, and the truck driver says to me “See you in Nashville in 3 days!!!”  So with a deer in the headlights stare at him, the light bulb went on that he was right – someone had to be there to unlock the door to receive 25,000 lbs. of household furniture and boxes!  I quickly packed the cat carrier, food, water & litter for her, a few clothes for me, locked the door, and started one more 2400 mile trip across country, this time through Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma and whatever other states I crossed on the southern route. 

I met the movers with a bleery-eyed, exhausted smile, and quickly got overloaded with “where do you want this?” and “where does this go?”, but at the end of the day, kitty and I had all of our stuff in the new house.  What to do with it all was the next step.  Good thing we had the workshop built with a 60’ long loft storage area!! I laughed as I found boxes still unopened from the previous 400 mile relocation 15 years earlier. 

Looking back now, a year later, we couldn’t be happier.  We have wonderful neighbors, the fun of going into “Music City Nashville” to the honky tonks and Titan football games and Predator hockey games. We found wine tasting such as we enjoyed in California… and experienced the South’s own version of wine tasting – the bourbon barrel tour in Kentucky! We’ve gone to the Corvette assembly plant, and took the maiden voyage in our new boat on the Cumberland this past winter…with a 1” layer of icy slush on the water!

I am now a happy Tennessee Realtor with Coldwell Banker Barnes, with a new insight and sensitivity to how I work with my clients.  Unless you have experienced it personally, it is sometimes difficult to understand the emotional stress of a life-changing decision to buy a new home, especially when it involves a relocation move and is far from family and friends and a lifestyle you are familiar with.  My neighbors were wonderful in recommending banks, doctors, schools, restaurants and other necessities. 

So I will again be specializing in corporate relocation, and treating every client with the new understanding and personal experience of all the frustration, tension, excitement, anticipation and happiness of making a new house a new home.  Buyer’s remorse?  Let me tell you all about it… and yes, it does go away in a day or two after the first “Oh my gosh – what have we done?” when you’ve received acceptance on your offer and there’s no turning back!

PS – we did finally sell our California home last month, and can sleep well at night again!

Sincerly yours,
Rosie Mietzel