Ken & Steph Move to Vermont

After two weeks we are still not really used to being here. We have met the neighbors and explored around a little bit but we still have a few bags left to unpack and I have not even set up a desk where I can work at. The puppies have started to really enjoy being able to go on long walks and running in the field behind the house.

Every day still feels like nirvana from morning to night. We wake early and get outside for a quick walk with the dogs. Even though it is still August the morning temps are now around the low 50’s.

Stephanie usually makes us a complete breakfast of eggs, bacon and toast and we have our favorite coffee that they sell at the food coop in Montpelier.

After working for a few hours I take the puppies for another walk at lunchtime and then end up working on the yard or cleaning up the house the rest of the day. We have a big dinner and then relax the rest of the day. We have not watched TV since we got here and have not really missed it.

We were really happy that a meeting of the Great Hawk HOA was scheduled for the same week that we moved in. This would give us a way to meet a bunch of the neighbors all at once and to get a feeling for how strict the HOA is and to hear what their main concerns are.

The meeting was scheduled for 10am in the Rochester library and there was to be a cookout afterwards with everyone encouraged to bring a dish to share. I figured the meeting would last about an hour and the cookout probably another half hour. It seemed a bit of a step up from the coffee and donuts I’m experienced to finding at HOA meetings and people will grab them but not bother to socialize or actually talk to any of their neighbors while they are there.

We got to the library a few minutes early and found they had a whole room on the second floor and there were already about fifteen people there. They were really well organized with a secretary taking names of the attendees as we walked in the door. We immediately got introduced to Norm, the president of the HOA and his wife who is the secretary. They began rapidly asking us questions and trying to tell us all about what it is like to live in Great Hawk year round. We were then introduced to about five more people so quickly that I did not even bother trying to remember anyone’s name.

The meeting lasted for two hours and the covered topics like the cracks in the tennis court, the condition of the swimming pond and discussing the condition of the benches that were placed at scenic overlooks throughout the neighborhood.

Afterwards we walked over to the cookout and were shocked at how much food and alcohol was there. We continued to introduce ourselves to everyone and everyone seemed genuinely eager to meet us. In fact, the welcoming committee also presented us with a welcome basket loaded with a variety of snack foods and other items we could use.

The cookout went on for three hours with people telling us about life in Great Hawk and Rochester and Vermont. We were asked multiple times if we are skiers and where we planned to ski in the winter. Sugarbush definitely seemed to be everyone’s favorite resort and we were excited that now we’d be skiing with our neighbors instead of being seen as tourists.

About 3:00pm they began wrapping up the food and then invited us to meet up at Gillis’ house in three hours for an after-party. I was having such a great time meeting everyone and now was overwhelmed that we were already being invited to a party with our neighbors.

By 10:00pm we were on our way home from the after party and I was just blown away by how nice everyone was and how we made so many new friends so quickly. It was clear that we had not just bought a home, we had moved into a tight-knit community where we would have no problem talking to any of the neighbors.

Another interesting thing I had noticed several times from the start of the HOA meeting, through the cookout and on to the after-party was that everyone seemed to agree that living in Great Hawk is a really special privilege and should not be taken for granted. Everyone seemed to agree that those of us who lived in Great Hawk were way better off than almost anyone else who did not.

Every morning I walk the dogs up the road. This is partly because we do not have a fenced in yard but also because a big reason to move up here was to have a beautiful place to get outside and exercise more. This has been a great motivation because each morning I walk to the end of the road and see a breath-taking view of the mountains and valleys in every direction.

Each day I walk up the road and see the most amazing view and then the next day I walk farther and see an even more amazing view.

Actually moving into a home for the first time is nothing but organized chaos. There is no good way to move into a place when all of your tools, cooking supplies, and other essentials are packed. By the time you realize you need to cook dinner you are faced with a kitchen filled with unpacked boxes and not enough clear counter space to even make a sandwich on. The rooms are too dark to see to unpack because you have not unpacked or set up your lights yet.

I wore comfortable clothes for driving to Vermont but now I am trying to find more rugged clothes as I’m hiking back and forth from the car to the house and climbing stairs with heavy boxes.

After three days we are finally able to find a seat to sit on in the living room and eat at the dining room table instead of on boxes piled next to it.

The temperature was only in the 70’s but the sun was beating down on us for the entire drive. We stopped every 90 minutes to let the dogs out for a walk. We gave them CBD treats to keep them calm so they did seem to rest most of the way. Lexi was lapping down water at the rest area. Milo’s legs were getting stiff from sitting in the car for so long and he needed time at each stop just to get his legs working. Everything went smoothly for the ride all the way to the hotel in Auburn, NY.

Auburn is a really cute little town and we found a nice place to have a decent meal. We will be rolling out at first light so we will not get to see much of it.

With both cars loaded to the roof we set out for our favorite pottery place up in Eerie, PA. We got some gifts for others as well as some pieces to add to our own collection. Up in Vermont we will not be able to get to the discounted seconds as often.

We started packing almost two months before the big day. Some of the stuff we wanted to keep but did not need to take up on the first trip we decided to store at the home of Stephanie’s mother. Each weekend for about a month prior to moving day we had been taking boxes of stuff to store there until we could come back on Labor day weekend to get it.

In the week before moving we were down to just the stuff we felt we would need on the first day we got there. Mainly our clothes, cookware and dishes, computers and about a dozen boxes filled with variety of electronic doo-dads, gizmos, gadgets and thingys that we held some kind of emotional need to possess.

had to fit into our 2 cars

We knew it would not be easy.

Buying a new home is never a simple process and never goes as smoothly as it seems like it should. It all seemed to be going along smoothly right up until a few weeks before we were ready to close. We had already packed most of our belongings and stored them away. We would only take up what we absolutely needed at first and then come back every few weeks to get another carload of stuff only if we felt we needed it. The goal was to develop a new lifestyle where we only kept the stuff we needed and used. It was a good opportunity to unload 3 bookshelves full of books we’d already read, get rid of clothes that reminded us of our youth, and the multitude of dust-collecting nick-knacks we had collected over the years.

Closing was scheduled for the first day of August. With just one month to go we began scheduling our utilities to be shut off in Pittsburgh and turned on at the new place in Vermont. When we called the cable company to get hi-speed internet we were told that they could not schedule the new installation until the existing customers set a shut-off date and they were scheduling installations two weeks in advance. We sent a reminder to the seller’s agent to tell the current homeowners they needed to schedule their service to be shut off so we could get hi-speed internet set up. From the day we moved we would both be working from home via the internet so it was essential that this be available from the day we moved in.

For whatever reason the sellers did not respond to multiple requests we sent them until it was too late to schedule new service until two weeks after our scheduled closing date. When we alerted the realtors that we would need to reschedule closing that got the homeowners to call the cable company and shut off the service right away. Nevertheless, we had to reschedule closing for a week later at this point which was very disappointing as we were just very eager to get up there and start our new lives. With some sadness we rescheduled closing for August 9.

Unfortunately, that turned out to be just the first of a series of issues that would cause even more delays. A company was hired to go out and do an appraisal and submit that for the closing documents. That document needed to be received five days prior to closing in order to be reviewed by everyone involved. Everyone was anxiously awaiting the appraisal as that was the only thing holding up processing the mortgage at this point. The last thing the appraiser said to the realtor was that she would get the appraisal completed before she went on vacation. Then nobody heard from her for over a week so we determined that she did not, in fact, complete the appraisal before she left for vacation.

So they ordered a rush appraisal to be done in hopes we would still be able to close on August 9. However, it seems that because this appraisal was done in a rush there were more than a few errors and inconsistencies on the appraisal and the value came in $11,000 less than what we had offered to pay for the house. In fact, it was $20,000 less than the current tax assessment for the property.

The title company found several problems with the appraisal and we were told there would be more delays and we would need to get a new appraisal done and closing would be moved way out. This was really upsetting as we were already living out of suitcases, had scheduled the utilities to be shut off at the house in Pittsburgh already and just were not sure how we would be able to work or where we would be living if there were a major delay.

Somehow the realtors managed to talk the sellers into lowering the offer by $6,000 just so we could proceed as planned. They adjusted the appraisal up $5,000 to make up the difference. We were shocked and excited by this but it was still not clear if we could get all of the adjusted documentes submitted on time.

By the end of the day we had to move the closing date to August 12. We were disappointed again although pretty happy to be saving $6,000 at the same time. Got a new closing time at 11am on August 12 so we would be moving in hopefully by noon that day.

Today we got a call from our realtor, Victoria. There was yet another problem and the sellers realtor was not able to get all of their paperwork done on time. Before we went into panic Victoria suggested that she would be able to get us the keys so we could just go ahead and move in on Monday as planned and might not have closing until the next Friday.

So we have made plans to drive up to New York on Sunday and then get to Vermont on Monday morning. We are hoping that we have a place to stay when we get there but already trying to figure out what to do if we find ourselves homeless in the Green Mountain State.