Inside A Downsizing Expert’s Move: My Journey Moving to North Georgia

The Genesis of Change: The Empty Nest

As our children approached high school and college graduations, my husband Mark, and I found ourselves contemplating the future. The prospect of an empty nest prompted fruitful conversations about the next chapters in our lives together.?

In 2021, when I launched my first downsizing and move management business in North Metro Atlanta — Mark & I envisioned expanding our businesses and lives into North Georgia. We have spent quite a bit of time there over the years and love the beauty and quieter lifestyle.

Realizing Our Dream

Fast forward to the summer of 2023, an opportunity arose to turn our North Georgia dream into reality.?

After much discussion, we decided to make the mountain region of North Georgia our primary residence. Our “must-haves” were clear: a strong sense of community, a spacious lot, the ability to build a home suitable for aging-in-place but also one that could accommodate extended family visits, recreational opportunities, medical infrastructure in the area, and inspiring home offices that allow us to support our existing business while growing in a new region.??

By late summer, we had purchased a plot of land in an ideal location in Blairsville, GA.

This set the stage for some important decisions about selling our current home, choosing a realtor, selecting a builder, choosing a floor plan and finding interim housing.

Strategic Planning and Execution

Opting against a rushed sale of our home in North Metro Atlanta in the fall, we planned for a market launch in late February right before the influx of spring listings. This decision allowed us to pace ourselves and manage our tasks effectively:

1. Home and Lawn Maintenance (September–February): Mark & I (mostly Mark) tackled necessary home improvements to enhance our home’s appeal.

His “honey-do” list was quite long, but he worked through it over time and brought in the help he needed when he needed it.

By the end of all these touch-ups, our house was looking so good — we asked ourselves, why are we moving?

Kidding, we still wanted to sell.

2. Decluttering and Early Packing (September–December): We began by packing non-essential items and decluttering, which facilitated the staging process. Even though we knew we were going to sell much of the excess we had, there are still some items that just aren’t necessarily sellable and best to part with through donations. Donations were made and unnecessary items were let go.?

We focused on starting to live a downsized life.

3. Selling Items (December–January): Contrary to our usual advice to clients of doing an estate sale or an online auction after you have moved out, we conducted an online auction while still residing in our home.?

This required careful organization and patience, especially during the three-week period when our home was essentially a live auction house from catalog to pick-up day.

We couldn’t use or move anything we were selling once we had gone live. By the end of this phase, we had successfully sold 98 percent of our items we had set aside to sell.

It was an awesome feeling to “let go” and “travel lighter” into our future.

4. Packing and Storage (January–February): Once the holidays passed, we really picked up our pace with packing and organizing our belongings. Storage has been a great short-term solution for us. We stored quite a bit of boxes and excess items to better stage our home. For us, it made sense to choose a storage location near our future rental area to simplify the transition.

5. Listing and Selling the House (February): To minimize stress, we vacated our home during the listing week, staying with friends in North Georgia.? This allowed us to keep working and have our golden retriever Fletch with us. We were out of the way so our realtor could do their thing — staging, photos, going live with listing, showings, and open house.

By the time we left the mountains to return home on Sunday, we were under contract with an offer that was beyond anything we could have anticipated and had a back-up offer in place on that Monday!

As we headed home that Sunday afternoon, we stopped by a few of the rental options we had narrowed down to and made a decision on where we wanted to live.

6. The Move (March):? As the closing date approached, we put our final plans in place for the physical move-out and move in. As eager as we were to move forward to our next adventure, the final days were bittersweet and filled with? ‘last moments’ in a home filled with seven years of our family memories — happy, sad, dreams fulfilled, some dreams not realized — but blessed for our time there.?

My tears would flow out of nowhere, and I had a lump in my throat that wouldn’t go away.?

Despite the emotional farewell, we are so excited about the future.

Embracing New Beginnings

Settling into our rental home, we are enjoying the pretty much maintenance-free lifestyle and are focused on our family and businesses. This rental phase has been a time of reduced responsibilities and increased planning as we look forward to building our dream home in North Georgia.??

It certainly helps us understand what we are comfortable living without, as they are just “extras” that keep us tied down in various ways.?

But there are other things we are missing and will be “must haves” in our new home — like having a “doggie door” for Fletch!???

Reflections and Looking Forward

This journey wasn’t just a physical move but a significant life transition. As a downsizing expert, I’ve guided many through similar transitions, but experiencing it personally brought new insights and reinforced the emotional sensitivity surrounding these turning points in life.

We’re excited about the new memories we will create along this journey to building our dream home — continuing to grow our businesses and embracing the adventures that await our family.

___________________________

WayMaker

Downsizing & Move Management

Guiding Your Journey. Lifting the Burden.

Honoring Your Life Story.

Lighting Your Way to New Beginnings.

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Melanie (770) 954-6622