In 2010 we decided to leave Woodland where he had been living for just short of 20 years. That is the longest we have ever lived in one place. We wanted to move into the foothills east of Sacramento. Near Auburn or Grass Valley was our desired location. We had lived there once before and loved the atmosphere there. Not necessarily the weather, as it could get hotter than the valley.
Our granddaughter was a sophomore in high school at the time and asked us to stay near her. We figured she had two years left in high school and would like to be close to her and her mom during those two years. So we started looking closer to them.
We saw a house that was on about an acre in Loomis. It was on a small hill and stood out all by itself. No trees or bushes; no fencing. Nothing. We liked the area, but decided with a new border collie we might have problems with no fencing up.
We found another house near the church my granddaughter and I go to. Best of all it had a pool and a big back yard. But the house was very small. We have an eastern king size bed, which would have fit in the room, but nothing else would have. We would have had to make another bedroom our dressing room and put our oversized armoire and dresser in there. The living room would have only taken our love seat and easy chair. What would we do with our couch, rocker, recliner and large end tables? The kitchen was only big enough for one person, which is not how we cook when we have family over. The dining area was only a kitchen nook, so our dining table and six chairs and china cabinet would have to be stored or sold. But it had a pool!
So we continued looking.
Gil found a place in Carmichael on Craig's list. He Googled it, and it was so covered by trees that we could not even see the house. There was no address, only a phone number. We called it and left a message. One day we started off looking for houses we had seen on Craig's list that had addresses. One was on Orangerie in Carmichael. We drove by it. Nice house, but it was a tract home. We did not want to go back into that type of setting. It is just too restricting.
After looking at that house, we turned the other way when exiting Orangerie. We drove down a hill and were marveling at the country feeling that street had. As we passed a small lane, we noticed a for rent sign. We went back. Gil recognized the area as that what he saw on Google. We turned into the lane and there was a house behind all those trees and bushes. It was a two story house with the living space upstairs. There were no cars around, so we parked in their carport and walked up the side stairs. We looked into one of the windows and saw it was empty, so we started exploring it. It was a charming older home, with a large living room with fireplace, large dining room, decent sized kitchen and a large master bedroom. Huge windows all around looking over a park-like setting with a seasonal creek. Plus a deck that wrapped around three sides of the house. We fell in love. So we wrote the number down and called to see if we could see it right then. No answer. We left a message and told them we were from out of town and wanted to see it that day, if we could.
Off we went to look at other addresses and to drive around hoping to find other for rent signs. We found a house in Orangevale that sat on a little over an acre, which is what we were hoping for. It sat on a hill and had a long driveway up to the house. It had fencing all around and a gate at the bottom of the driveway. It had room for a garden, a shed, trees and a large garage. It, too, was empty. We looked through the windows of it, too. It had a normal sized living room, a long narrow enclosed patio [perfect for my quilting machine and supplies], a very large country kitchen, which I loved.
When we got home, we called on both houses again. They were both being handled by rental agencies. The one in Orangevale answered and I made arrangements to see it the next day. We tried the one in Carmichael again and again and again with no answer and no call back. I finally went on their website and found an e-mail address to the person that was listing that house. Finally I got an answer back from her. She agreed to meet us the next day, too.
We went prepared to seal the deal on whichever house we liked the best. The Orangevale house was first. We liked the house in general. The only real drawback was the size of the bedrooms. There were three and all were very small. But there were just the two of us, so it would work. So we told her we were interested. Well several other people showed up to see it, too. So all she did was have us fill out our application and take an application fee. After telling her why we should be the one to get the place - you know, retired, stable, older couple with a fixed income of enough money to afford the place - we went on our merry way.
We went to Carmichael next. We got there before the listing agent did. We were up on the big wrap around deck when she drove up. She showed us the house. Downstairs, which we could not see when we looked through the upstairs windows, were two rooms. One is the furnace room. The other was a 12 foot long room. I mentioned to Gil it would be perfect for my 10 foot long quilting machine. She heard me mention that and told me the owner was a quilter, too. We loved the house. We told her we were interested. She handed us an application and told us to fax it back to her. Then others starting arriving to see it, too. I was concerned someone else would get it first, so I went and sat in the car and filled it out. Since the owner was a quilter, I mentioned that I owned a website that sold quilting items and that I had just closed down our quilting store in Woodland. We took the application back up to her and gave her the filing fee check and off we went. That was a Thursday.
We left the next Monday to go to Simi Valley to take care of two of our grandchildren while their mom and dad went to Hawaii. We were to stay until the next Monday or Tuesday. I got a call the next day from both of the agents saying we had been chosen to rent both houses. So now a decision was needed. Gil and I had talked about them both on the way down to Simi Valley. We were both happy with either one. We figured that whichever one called us first would be the one we would take. Well the calls came to my cell phone, which was upstairs at our son's house. When I saw I had two calls, I listened to them both and told Gil we were going to have to decided after all.
We couldn't make up our minds on the houses. There were pluses for both and minus points, too. So we called our daughter and granddaughter to see what they thought. They had not been inside either house, but they had gone and looked at the windows of both. They both said we had to take the Carmichael house. I was leaning towards the Orangevale one because it was all fenced in. Gil wanted the Carmichael. So Carmichael it was.Afterall I cannot fight the majority.
After calling them both back, the Carmichael listing agent said she needed us to come in that day to sign the paperwork and put down the deposit to hold it. We told her we could not until the next Tuesday at the earliest. She said she had others that wanted it and would get back to me. I started to worry because we had already told the other agent we were passing on the Orangevale house. Later that day the agent for the Carmichael house called and said the homeowner would wait until Tuesday. The agent said she had never heard of an owner doing that. Quilting saved us on this one, I know.
We have now lived here for over 5 years. We love it. Our dog loves it. We love the landlady, who is our next door neighbor. It worked out.
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