Going to California

 Oh boy! We found out a month ago that we were being relocated back to San Ramon, CA and we are leaving in TWO WEEKS! While we are thrilled to be going back to our favorite location we have ever lived, it's not without it's complications, especially during Covid times. 

California has been playing things very conservatively (never thought I'd use conservative and California in a sentence together) and very low risk. Things are just starting to open back up but most people I've talked to feel very wary about it and public schools have voted to remain closed until at least January. After coming safely out of lockdown and returning to our normal school activities, this was quite the blow to face for Forest. 

We had decided I would stay in Bangkok with the kids until Christmas break and then would likely homeschool Forest for the remainder of 1st grade. Out of Hail Mary desperation I reached out to our old church to see if we could possibly get him on a waiting list for their highly-in-demand private school and unbelievably they had a spot for him! Since they are private they can open under California regulations and are moving forward with reopening this week! 

They are holding Forest's spot until he can start on November 2. Which is ahhhhh-mazing! But also AAAHHHHHH because it pushed our moving timeline up by 7 weeks. 

Also AAAAHHHHHHH is the housing market there. Last time we lived there we were on a TDA (Temporary Domestic Assignment) which meant Jon's job was helping us pay rent and it made zero sense to buy. With rent supplemented we ended up in a big house in a new development with tons of parks and trails. 

But this time around we are really hoping we can be there for at least a few years so we are hoping to buy. The market is INSANE. Most houses have multiple offers for significantly more over asking. We've made an offer on one house for 50,000 over asking and the other realtor told us we weren't even in the ballpark of being competitive.

 

You may offer 100,000 over asking and still get outbid. You also have to waive your right for an appraisal so you are on the hook in cash for the difference between what you've offered and what the house appraises for. It's so nuts and high stress. 

And yes, we are bidding on houses sight unseen. We have a great realtor who Facetimes us while she views houses and I also have a great friend who stakes out potential houses for me as well. Closing will likely happen really quickly (21 days) and we have an airbnb until mid-December so as long as we have an offer accepted by Thanksgiving I think we won't end up homeless. If we don't then we may have no choice but to go the rental route. 

PS. Even at the top of our budget we will likely be significantly downsizing to move to this area. If we want something sizable it would be a gut job. Some of the smaller homes in our budget still need some work. 

In other news, Juliet has decided this is the perfect time to switch from 2 naps to 1 nap. So yea, I'm a tad frantic.