We are off to Northwood Iowa!

[mema]

happyface
Congrats! Best of luck to you, your son, and the pups

[countrymom]

sounds great. I live in a 100 yr old house and we are slowly renovating. And we live in a small town. Love small town living where everyone knows everyone, its a huge thing. Also find that my kids are different compared to city kids. Oh, one thing I did notice with small towns is that alot of families have lots of kids ! so it should be good.

[Cradle2crayons]

Well the day has finally come. I sold my house and my son, the white pup with one black eye, and the brown pup are moving to a small town in Northern Iowa. It is a community of 2000 with eight day cares. We found a beautiful brick house that is 1200 sq foot on each level. It was built in 1965.

The address is 207 5th Street North. If you google it you.can.see pics.

The house is in immaculate condition. It has had one owner and one occupant for 50 years. The woman.I bought it from is 94 years old and never married or had kids or pets. It is COMPLETELY original. Everything but the carpet and the fridge is original.

The basement is completely unfinished. It has a furnace, water heater, and washer, dryer. That's it for the basement.

I bought the house today and paid for it with my life savings in cash. It's mine free and clear! I will need to earn earn earn to finish the basement, put in a second bathroom, and build a driveway and garage. It will also need a privacy fence.

It aint much but it will be easy to renovate because it has never had a single renovation since it was.built.

It has a wonderful high school and a beautiful campus. The school is small but the sports complex is huge. Those Northwood Vikings love themselves some football!

We move in Monday and Cohle starts school Tuesday. We sent a bouquet of roses with a thank you note for choosing us to buy her home. She is living in the assisted living residence and still well. We hope to go visit her on Sunday if she will receive us.

I will be working part time consulting and spending time getting to know the town. I will reopen the daycare when we get the basement done.

It's been a journey to find a new home. I hope small town daycare will teach me about rural child care. I hope my son meshes in.with the kids.

To the folks here who counseled me during the decision process, much thanks.

I have new numbers I will post when I get them. Nan

Awesome!!!!! It sounds so exciting!! A new chapter in life!! When we moved back out to the woods a few years ago.... It was like we were home...

I wouldn't trade my rural child care for anything... People are very different in the sticks for sure!! As a matter of fact, where I live doesn't even have a name... We call it between the Lodebar community and the crossroads community. Communities here are divided by churches... There's a few hundred in each community. We live out where only volunteer law enforcement exists .

[Michelle]

If you don't mind me asking, how much was the selling price?
My brother might be buying property in Iowa soon and keeps saying how low the houses sell for there.
The average rent for a nice 3 bedroom where I live is $2,000 per month.
and the average sale price is around $250,000.
Just curious
Congrats on your purchase!
I absolutely love the view

[Naptime yet?]

Congratulations & how exciting! It will be great fun for you & your son making the house your own!

[wdmmom]

I'm gonna miss my Nan! :'(

[jenn]

Congratulations! I love older homes. They have so much personality. Ours was built in 1910. The homeowners built on and remodeled in the 50's, but did a very poor job. I imagine they did it themselves. Good luck with this new adventure!

[momofboys]

Congratulations!!! Best wishes on re-starting your daycare at some point also!happyface

[nannyde]

Congratulations! I love older homes. They have so much personality. Ours was built in 1910. The homeowners built on and remodeled in the 50's, but did a very poor job. I imagine they did it themselves. Good luck with this new adventure!

When I moved into this house I spent thousands of dollars dealing with the previous owners remodeling. I would rather spend the money remodeling then the money it takes to undo remodeling and then remodel.

[MyAngels]

Congratulations! It sounds like a great move for all of you

[proudmommyofthree]

Congrats!! how exciting, a new adventure happyface

[Unregistered]

I may not be a registered member of this forum, but I am a regular lurker and an occasional poster...

Nannyde, this forum and your posts saved me when I started my own home day care. I imagine I am not the only one who feels that you may never know how many people you have probably helped (and will continue to help) along the way with your wisdom and good old common sense! You have even helped me be a better parent to my own children.

I wish you nothing but happiness and the best of luck--with your move, and with everything else that comes along with your new adventure!

[llpa]

Awesome for you!!!! Yay!!!happyface
I grew up in a small town and love that environment still. Have faith and everything will work out just fine!