Tag: Move to France

Before leaving the US

Riding the roller coaster

Georgia house after a nice rain. Thanks to Pat, our realtor.
Georgia house after a nice rain. Thanks to Pat, our realtor.

Last Monday evening we met with our realtor. Three offers were on the table for the house and they were all very similar. Selling this house was a lot different from most home sales. I actually was the one to show the house to the buyers and their agents. The storms and floods managed to work to our advantage during the process. When there is that much rain and the basement stays dry then everyone is happy.

I do have to back up a bit for you to understand how it all happened so quickly. First we offered the house to the neighbors who expressed interest from the beginning. The timing was wrong for Michael and his family but another family was very interested but really did not know the value that a dry, finished basement adds to property. They could not understand why the home was appraised so much more than others in the neighborhood without basements. Continue reading “Riding the roller coaster”

Unknown's avatarBill4 Comments
Before leaving the US

Lesson learned

100_4128Each morning for part of the time that I’m on the treadmill I listen to a French language instruction course. Lesson after lesson, repeated time and again, it all finally starts to fall into place. At the end of the main course there is a review of the verb tenses that the instructor has taught you so far–all 18 of them. Ironically the verb they use is “to sell” and the object is “a house”. Today not only can I say in the abstract that the house is sold (was sold, would have been sold, etc.) I can also say it and mean it. Continue reading “Lesson learned”

Unknown's avatarBob2 Comments
Before leaving the US

Love (and laugh with) thy neighbor

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Talking animals Teddy Ruxpin and Grubby

We have some really nice neighbors here in Atlanta. Some were here before we moved to this house 14 years ago while others arrived in the past 6 months. This weekend we got to celebrate with many of them: a birthday, a delayed Christmas dinner, and an early goodbye. Continue reading “Love (and laugh with) thy neighbor”

Unknown's avatarBob1 Comment
Before leaving the US

Enter the entrée

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Roasted pork loin on the grill

At this holiday time of the year, food is a natural topic of discussion both in-person and online. Bill and I look at a few different blogs written by Americans living in France and this week everyone was talking about the differences between the big Christmas meal in our two countries. Traditionally the French tend to have a large family meal either just before or right after midnight on Christmas Eve. It often starts with caviar and champagne followed by a variety of seafoods, escargot, foie gras, a selection of fowl, and a chocolate yule log, all accompanied by red and white wines finishing with more bubbly champagne. Continue reading “Enter the entrée”

Unknown's avatarBob
Before leaving the US

Be square

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Boxes on a 3′ X 4′ square waiting for shipment to France

The title of this post probably should have been “Be rectangular” but that just doesn’t seem to have the same ring. So what am I talking about? It’s the shipping container that we’ll be using to send the few things we’ll be taking to France that won’t fit in our luggage. The company that we’ve chosen, UPakWeShip, suggests putting a 4-foot by 3-foot rectangle of tape on your floor to approximate the size of the container with the height being a little over 3 feet tall. Continue reading “Be square”

Unknown's avatarBob2 Comments
Before leaving the US

Fruit cake—European style

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Dried fruit and hazelnut cake

One of our blog posts that solicited a lot of response dealt with “shopping from the pantry” where the idea was to use up what we already had in stock rather than buying more from the grocery store. You may recall that it involved gelatin and tapioca, but not at the same time. Many of you will be relieved to know that since then we have cleared the shelves of anything that resembles a box of pudding or its relatives. It’s now time to move on to the freezer…or at least one of them. Continue reading “Fruit cake—European style”

Unknown's avatarBob
Before leaving the US

A sign of the times

Sale
House soon to be sold

Yes, it’s a sign that it’s time to move on. I was a bit apprehensive about the visit last Tuesday from real estate agent, Pat. This was the first time for her to see our house so naturally we wanted to make the best first impression we could on the person we will be paying to sell the place. We also had a couple of conditions that we wanted to talk about with her; something not at all unusual in France but definitely out of the ordinary here in the US. Continue reading “A sign of the times”

Unknown's avatarBob2 Comments