Remind me again why we're moving?

In response to my last post, “Hell is Bureaucracy” – in which I had something of a temper tantrum about obstacles we’ve experienced – a number of alarmed readers expressed concern at the timing of our homestead sale. They urged us to renege on our agreement with the buyers and stay where we are – safe and secure, away from the potentially explosive results of the election.

Don wrote the following post in response to these concerns.

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There have been a few people – not just here on Patrice’s blog, but also among our family and friends – who have questioned our decision to leave our established homestead of 17 years … especially in these “consequential” times. Some have said we should call it off, that we should simply hunker down and not sell.

So let me try to explain our reasons.

First and foremost, for those who suggest we call it off the sale of our homestead: We won’t. We’ve already given our word to the buyers. I wish I didn’t have to explain any more than that, but in these days of more “liberal” interpretations of what we consider to be fundamental truths, that might not be enough. For us, our word is our bond.

 While we have no legal reason we can’t pull out of the sale at the 11th hour, we certainly have a moral reason. The party buying our place has placed their faith in the value of our word. They have already left their home in a far off state – leaving their own place behind them – and arrived here in Idaho with all of their belongings.

In Patrice’s last post, she related how we attempted to buy an inexpensive mobile home as temporary housing, and at the last minute – the 11th hour – the seller withdrew. We were understandably upset when the seller reneged on the mobile home sale, since he broke both his promise and a contract. And that was only an inexpensive mobile home.

Now imagine how our buyers would feel – coming to a strange place with everything they own in a cramped trailer, with no family or friends nearby, hoping for safety and security of the new home they were promised – if we suddenly and capriciously changed our minds and made a bad-faith decision at the last minute not to sell?

And imagine how WE would feel if we broke our word in that manner?

But putting that aside, there are a number of other reasons why we don’t regret our decision to sell our homestead, even during this awkward time.

One of the most important is economic. Despite the relative difficulty of finding a new place, it’s not impossible. Just today, I did a quick Zillow scan and found at least four properties that look interesting. When we finally have cash in hand from the sale of our homestead, we’ll be in an unbeatable position to jump quickly.

We still have the remnants of a mortgage on this place, but when the sale is finalized, we’ll be in a position to buy (or build) our next place mortgage-free. We’ll have a homestead without debt. I can’t even begin to tell you how important this is to us.

Another reason for our decision to move is more visceral. We’ve learned many skills over the years we’ve lived here, and we’ve figured out how to do things faster, better, and cheaper. Our current homestead has been a 17-year practical master’s-degree program in self-reliance, prepping, construction, farming and country living.

In other words, we’ve done about as much as we can on this homestead … but we believe we can do even more and even better with a cleaner slate. And while we’re both 17 years older than we were, we feel perfectly confident on our abilities to raise one more barn and set up one more homestead. However, that happy fact comes with a deadline – so if we want to do it again, and better, we have to jump now.

Finally, we’ve “been hearing the wild geese honking in the sky and wondering where they go.” Both Patrice and I come from foot-loose families, and the past 17 years here were as much about giving our kids a stable place to thrive and grow as they were about building the homestead. Now that our kids are out making their own way, we’re itching to see what’s on the other side of the mountain. We aim to find out.

I agree these are consequential times. But I recently wrote a couple of articles for Backwoods Home and Self-Reliance Magazines about the pioneers. These were whole families who also lived in consequential times, but headed west anyway, often against the advice of family and friends. These folks often left behind snug, secure farms to chase the wild geese. My ancestors were among them.

For these reasons and many more, we’re not afraid of making the attempt. We’re looking forward to it. Despite the relatively minor hiccups we’ve experienced so far, we’re eager to move forward. As we keep saying to each other, “It’s an adventure!”

We don’t know what lies around the curve in the road. But we promise to keep all of you in the loop every step of the way.

See you on the road.