I don’t know how to make this announcement other than coming right out with it.
Mark and I have been talking about our home and lifestyle choices for quite a long while. Mark loves living out in the middle of nowhere, but I have never liked living in the country. Frankly, it was a major culture shock after living in Austin for almost 30 years, and I’ve never gotten used to it.
I realize there are many benefits to living outside city limits — lower taxes and peace and quiet being just two — but the benefits of living in the country, to me, pale in comparison to living within a short distance to shopping, friends, and walking trails. It’s the small things I miss. I miss being able to sit on my front porch and wave to passers-by. I miss being able to stroll out of my front door to walk my dogs through the neighborhood or to a nearby park. I miss mountain biking on nearby trails. I miss being within a 5 minute drive to a grocery store when I need one ingredient for a recipe. Plus, my commute from work to where our home will one day be? Literally 3 minutes.
But, I’m revealing too much too soon. Let me start at the beginning.
Three years ago, Mark and I bought an almost-one-acre lot in Nacogdoches. At the time our decision to move was not firmly set in stone — anything but! But, we realized it’s incredibly rare to find such a large, sweet parcel of land in a prime neighborhood, so we jumped on it. We bought it knowing we’d either move to it ourselves or build some small homes on it one day.
Like I said, the lot is almost one acre and centrally located at the corner of N. Pecan and Lakewood, in the heart of Nacogdoches. Once a horse pasture, it has never had a house on it, and it’s got lots of gorgeous trees, including two huge pines.
That is a small apartment complex you see above. We are planning to build our carriage-house style garage along our property line to mostly hide it from view.
There is an old shed in the back that we’re probably going to bulldoze. Many of the posts are rotting and the shed is starting to lean. It would probably cost more to shore it up than to build a new vintage-style shed.
What does this mean for us and our house? Well, call us crazy, but we are looking into moving our house the 30 miles into town and selling our 10 acres to finance the majority of the costs for the move. If the numbers don’t work out or if someone makes an offer we can’t refuse, we’ll sell our house and acreage, then build a new, “old” house on our lot.
Right now, we are focused on moving it. We both feel that we have put too much time, sweat equity, and money into our house to sell it for less than it’s worth. Luckily, the sale of our acreage should finance most of the cost to move the house. So for these reasons and the fact that our home is already 90% renovated plus we have room in the attic for future expansion, it makes sense to us to keep the house.
Moving the house will be a massive project. We must remove the entire roof and framing, take down the front porch, cut the house in half, and put it all back together again when the house is transplanted in town. Yes, it’s overwhelming and more-than-a-little-bit scary, but we do love our house, and would like to keep it if we can manage it.
We have chosen a very reputable house moving company, and are working with a local architect. If everything goes as planned, we will make our monumental major move by next summer, weather-permitting, of course. We are currently packing up the house, talking with utility companies, clearing our lot (taking out scraggly trees and brush — like a sad-looking pear tree and some bamboo, but leaving the pretty trees, of course), and trying to deal with the emotional stress of the move.
That being said, if you absolutely love our home and have been thinking of moving to East Texas, well, give us a call if you’re interested in our home and acreage.
Oh, and let me anticipate your next question. What does this mean for the blog? Honestly, not much . . . although I imagine I will be absent from it more than usual when we get closer to our move date.
What a shock, Kim! I can hardly believe my eyes, reading this.
I am pleased that you won’t be moving to awfully far away. I know we have not seen y’all much in a while, but it was nice knowing that y’all were only about 30 miles away, now you’ll be a little further away.
Looks like you lucked into a lovely lot in Nac. I hope everything goes wonderfully well with all your plans for your move with the movers and architect and city ordinances and everything that will be involved with the move. I also hope you have no problems selling your land.
What will you do with all of your lumber and etc from the salvage work? Do you plan on moving that as well? We have definitely got to get together sometime soon so we can talk about all of this new adventures you and Mark are embarking on!
Love you both, Drue
Just wanted to wish you luck on your move. Your home is gorgeous so I don’t blame you for wanting to move it. I’ve seen four homes moved in our immediate area over the last 20 years, all successfully. I say go for it.
Wow Kim what exciting news! Even if it is a monumental undertaking to move your house I hope you do. You have both created such a wonderful home! Your new lot looks beautiful too especially the big old trees.
I sure hope everything goes smoothly for you!
Best wishes,
Claudia
PS I’m looking forward to seeing the photos you post during this massive project.
So excited for you guys! Can’t wait to be neighbors!
If it can be done, I know you two can get it done! Nothing makes me happier than to know you’re going to try to take that beautiful home of yours with you! That should be a win-win for both of you. And, should someone come along and make a crazy good offer on the home, then by all means, that should be a win-win too. Looking forward to your adventure. Even if you can’t keep up in real time with blogging of all that happens, it’ll be a treat to read it from your looking at it in the rear view mirror. Keep a journal of notes so you can do that, please! Your land is beautiful. Best of luck.
I was shocked when I first started reading this about you moving, mainly because I couldn’t believe you would want to leave the house you have put so much sweat and love into making it your own. Then I saw where you are considering moving it and I actually sighed with relief! I truly hope moving the house is an option for you. Hope you will keep us updated.
Good luck. Nacogdoches is a beautiful place to call home.
How exciting! Looking forward to following your progress here on the blog!
The first thing that I thought when I read that you were moving was “What about the house!?” I love your house and I totally understand why you intend to move it.
It’s a good thing that you chose a reputable house mover. Here in Austin, someone tried to move a house in the Travis Heights neighborhood and it went so wrong.
Good luck in your new adventure. You have such a nice property that I am confident that you will get good offers.
How exciting! I have always loved that whole lot (with the house and all) since I was a child. I’d always imagined it as it used to be, way out in the country, lol.