On the Move

Over the next couple days, movers will pack and empty our Texas home because we have tenants arriving in early September. A family of 5 from England will live in our house for the next 9 months, so it looks like even our house is getting an international experience! It's been interesting to be on the other end of a global real estate transaction because while both husband and wife are civil engineers who will be working in the Dallas area, they lack social security numbers and credit history that we would normally check before signing a lease contract. In lieu of the normal paperwork, they instead provided us documents containing their expat contracts with their companies and official letters verifying their salaries. It all looked pretty familiar to us, since we had to use the same documentation to get anything done when we arrived in Singapore. So, it feels good to me to be dealing with another family in a similar situation as they embark on their American adventure.

It's not exactly easy to finalize the details with a 13-hour time difference though. I have to expect a one-day delay in all communication with our agent. A couple weeks ago, I stayed up late one night to call and disconnect all the utilities. Within the next day, I received an email from our agent asking if we could keep the utilities connected a few days into the lease to give the tenants time to provide the necessary paperwork to all those companies. Again, that lack of a social security number causes problems. So, I repeated the same night owl routine a second time that week to switch dates. Joy.

The timing of the lease should work out well for us since our house will be empty by next summer when we intend to move back. And I'm excited that we will finally have some money flowing in to offset the costs associated with the house. After all, I'm still dreaming of a remodeled kitchen when we move home! I pray the family enjoys living there and treats it with respect. And I'm thankful Brian's father Steve can help coordinate the move for us in our absence.

Don't worry - we're not missing the joys of moving just because we're on the other side of the world. We just heard from our Singapore agent this week that the new owners of our condo unit want to move in at the end of our lease, at the end of December. They even inquired about our willingness to terminate the contract early so they could move in earlier. If we're going to have to move, I'd rather move before December 31st! So, it looks like I'll get to experience the Singapore real estate scene first-hand after all. And, no, I'm not feeling overly enthusiastic about it. I feel no great love for our condo and I have plenty of complaints about it but I really like our neighbors so I hope we can find a place in our same complex or close by. Stay tuned for more news on that front...