It's Official

We're moving. Yes, you read correctly, we're leaving our home of nearly 9 years, though we're not leaving the Washington DC metropolitan area. And, I'm certainly not leaving my job at GMU.

One clear outcome of Cynthia's health struggles last year was that we really need to have a house with the master bedroom on the first floor. Cynthia couldn't get up the stairs to take a shower when she was convalescing after her surgery, which was terribly frustrating for her. Sponge baths just don't cut it after a while. In most of Northern Virginia, it turns out, that criterion is met only by older, single-story homes or new homes. Frankly, neither of us was terribly interested in the first option so we began looking for new home developments. We first considered a popular area of growth in Loudoun County called (C)Ashburn that isn't terribly far from where we now live. However, my commute would have become about 10-15 minutes longer than it is now (30-45 minutes), which is already at my comfort level. Cynthia searched and searched until she found a development way down in Woodbridge, VA, which is off I-95 south of the Beltway. It's another bedroom community like Herndon, with commuters traveling to and from Washington and other Northern Virginia locations.

The development is called Port Potomac, and it meets many of our needs and desires, including relative affordability, same or shorter commute for me, near the Potomac River/Bay, close to medical services, and close to various amenities. It's in Prince William County rather than Fairfax County, so that's a drawback (mostly for schools). I-95 commuting is also generally a nightmare, but I don't have to travel on it much, if at all. We have some friends that live down there, so that helps. And, we have friends down in the Richmond area so we're that much closer (about an hour), so visiting should be more frequent. (On the map to the left, Herndon isn't far from Reston Town Center.)

We found a builder in the development (Engle Homes) that had a model that we loved, and that we could afford (note: only due to equity in our current home). Incentives are very high right now because the market is so slow. We signed a contract last weekend and we really feel like we got a great deal (essentially finishing the basement for free). Our new house won't be finished until the fall, but that gives us plenty of time to sell our current home.

Speaking of which, we have been working hard over the past few weeks getting the house ready to go on the market in mid-February. Cynthia really deserves more credit than I do because she's been working hard during the week while I'm at work. We feel much better about things after yesterday, but we still have plenty of work to do. I'll keep you posted.