Future/House plans update

So THIS house, has been really good to us. (no things aren't in bloom now, this picture is from last year)

We've loved it. Loved living in this town and everything about it. BUT, Brooks Pathology residency is coming to a close this June. After his test in May, he'll be a certified Pathologist, that could TECHNICALLY (if he had chosen not to do a fellowship) go out and get a really nice job.

Which is exactly what we've decided NOT to do. ;)

This July Brooks will start ANOTHER residency in Family Practice. (3 years)

It started a while ago when he thought about it. He's LOVES Path and loves learning everything at the cellular level, where EVERYTHING started. He's loved getting specimens from surgery, doing FNAs and even autopsies. Every few months he did a different rotation and he liked that. But in real life, he would be doing the same thing everyday and mostly w/ a microscope. He just couldn't see himself doing that everyday for the rest of his life. His goal in family practice is to combine the two (hence, not leaving his Path residency early). He would like to see a patient, and also do their labwork. Have both aspects of medicine that he loves.

When he told me this, it wasn't a shock. I always tease him he has "Professional ADHD" and can't do the same thing everyday. My dad followed his dream in his vocation and went for what he loved instead of just going for the money. I just looked at him and said, "If from 10 years from now you'll look back and regret that you never did another residency, you better do it now."

So that's where we're at..........applying for programs once again (like we did 4 years ago), going through interviews and waiting for Match Day to come in March to tell us where we'll be headed.

Either way, we're moving from here. That was sad. I didn't really WANT to leave this place, but on the other hand, wanted to meet new people and off to a new adventure. We've decided to RENT out house out and not try to sell it, with the hope in mind (or at least in MINE!) that after his 3 year Family residency that Brooks will do his Pathology Fellowship back here. And I can come back to my house!!!!

(This is getting long, so feel free to quit reading, but I've had so many ask what our plans are....)

We were obviously planning on selling this house all along, and KNEW we would be going to a place (fellowship most likely) that we wouldn't be making much money. Ever since we moved here we decided to pay a LOT extra on our principle of the house each month to get it as low as we can. We did this so when we sold the house and moved, we could leave w/ a really good chunk of money to either put down on another house or start paying of med school debt. We sacrificed and Brooks took extra jobs to make this happen and we felt peace knowing that we could never have to "eat it" at closing or have to take out a loan to SELL the house.

We have ended up over 7 years ahead of schedule on the payments in paying down our principle. Brooks is basically married to amortization schedule calculators. It's kinda his thing. ;)

Then some realtors came to our house and said that the market has gone down and we should sell it for 10,000-15,000 less then we bought it for. Which is FINE because we've paid off well over that, but we were disappointed w/ the fact that it wasn't what we had in mind. We ended up putting $500 extra to the house each month to just eat it and not leave w/ as much as we had hoped?!?! As I said, at least if we sold it, because of this sacrifice we would've been fine. And could've even sold it for a lot less...................but we decided to rent it instead.

That way, Brooks could keep his little hobby of watching his principle get paid off even MORE (it really is his little obsession) by someone else, while we go rent wherever we move.

So there you have it. Our plans in the next few months. IDEALLY we could have someone rent our home w/ a 3 year contract so if by some chance we DO come back for a fellowship, the place would be available.

We actually had a resident who emailed and wanted to come see the house last week. He was going to be here for 3 years. He said he was super interested. PERFECT (I thought!) and I was going to give this the BEST shot I had. I had no idea where he was from, kids? (surely he would if he was looking at a 3 bedroom w/ a LARGE yard, right?), etc. But I didn't care. I went to WORK. A few things I did last week in a matter of 4 days:

-got a storage unit and filled it up (Brooks took it down there though)

-painted the garage

-painted all the doors and frames

-pressure washed the house (my friend Jim came over and helped too, what a stud)

-shampoo-ed the carpets

-bought mulch and spread it in every flower bed

-took out 50% of EVERYTHING in the closets (shoes/shirts) and threw them in storage tubs in the back of the Yeti so the closets looked more open

-cleaned out every cupboard and closet, etc.

-cleaned out the garage/organized it

-Need I remind you that keeping a house spotless w/ 6 kidlings running around is pretty hard in and of ITSELF!!!!????

-I had even made bread that came out 5 minutes before he came so it would smell perfect

I was giving this my best shot and frankly was getting my hopes up SUPER high. Afterall, who WOULDN'T want this house? It's awesome!

Friday came and the guy showed up early, so yes, I pulled a few tricks and threw some things in the dryer and shoved some papers under the chairs. This younger looking man walked in and introduced me to HIS GIRLFRIEND!!!!!!!

AH!

No family. Single guy. Super nice guy, but in my mind I couldn't figure out why HE would want a house the big w/ a yard w/ such an upkeep. The walk through lasted all of 7 minutes.....not a closet was opened or anything!!!!!!!!!! AND, they didn't even want any bread. ;)

After they walked out Brooks and I collapsed in the chairs and just kept saying, "Unbelievable" over and over. Then we giggled and I said,

"I'm going to get a hot fudge sundae at McDonalds"..........and I did.

And yes, it helped.

So that's where we're at. In the process of finding renters and also looking ahead to our own move. WISH US LUCK!