Tuesday, March 09, 2010

Farewell to the Condo

Four years ago, a young couple madly in love and pregnant with their first child purchased their first home - a lovely condo just minutes from his work and in a safe, happy neighborhood. The wife pictured their life there, carefully decorating each room to feel like home and going for long walks with the angelic baby and dog in the neighborhood. Every room was painted the exact colors she wanted before they even moved in. They knew that with the baby's arrival date in just 3 1/2 weeks, they were cutting it close, but they were confident that they would be able to finish the nursery and make the new house a home in time.

Three days later, at a routine doctor's visit, it was discovered that the wife had lost all her amniotic fluid and the baby was in danger of strangulation via the umbilical cord. A C-section was immediately scheduled for the next morning, and two very overwhelmed and under-prepared new parents took their tiny baby girl home to the condo. Between the physical complications of the C-section and the emotional complications of new parenthood, decorating and finishing the condo got put on a back burner. Poor Baby Girl didn't even have a finished nursery until she was four months old.

However, the condo was still the perfect home. Baby Girl had her very own room with attached bathroom for lots of bubble baths and playtime. The condo felt roomy and cozy, and the new father could even come home from work for lunch to see his wife and play with his little girl.

Then, life happened. Two more unexpected pregnancies suddenly made this a family of five. Now three rambunctious little ones shared Baby Girl's room, which seemed a lot smaller with three beds in it. Instead of roomy and cozy, the condo felt stifling, with the walls closing in. The perfect home was not so perfect anymore.

The family decided something had to be done. In the shaky real estate market, it didn't look like selling the condo would be an option, as they would lose a lot of money. Decisions had to be made, and the right opportunities had to be there. They theorized that if they could get someone to rent the condo for the same amount of money as they would spend to rent a bigger home for the family, they would not lose any money each month and be able to maintain and improve the condo until the market was better for selling. It was a nice plan, but it was certainly not the easiest one to work out. Timing was crucial - finding the renter and a place to rent at the same time was challenging.

To make a long story short, it did happen. The husband's parents ended up renting the condo. After a LOT of house searching, the family found a bigger, three-bedroom house with a backyard to rent. The most chaotic week ensued, with the moving of two families, cleaning of two places, and doing some renovations to the condo. It wears me out just telling you about it!

And I still have a bunch of boxes to unpack and rooms to organize. . .

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