So Long, Seaside!

The papers are signed, the process complete, the utilities shut off, and the money is in the bank (what’s left, anyway).  We’ve finally sold the house in Seaside, and officially as of yesterday, have cut all ties from the coastal community we called home for 18 ½ years.

It’s been a loooooooong process.  Everything took longer than planned – finding a new community and house to live in, selling the business, and then selling the house in Seaside.  Now I’m only going to discuss the first part, as the business sale (eventually) worked out great – the new owners are doing a super job and enjoying themselves (and we got what we wanted from the sale), and as for the real estate transaction...  As you may know, Mona wrote a (humorous and only slightly exaggerated) book about buying a house, and that pretty much says it all except that if she ever writes a sequel about selling real estate I have the perfect title: “Clusterfuck.”

Anyway, it’s over.  And throughout the process people asked us the same question: “Why do you want to move?”  I’ve decided that there are two types of people in this country – people who move, and people who don’t.  Of course, there are a multitude of reasons for both moving and for not moving, including not being able to move.  I’ve met folks who live in the same town, the same neighborhood, and in one case the same house all their lives.  I know others who have lived in different towns, different states, different countries even.  In my opinion, if “travel broadens you,” then living elsewhere broadens you even more.

Is there something about being where you are that makes being where you are that much more special just because that’s where you are?  Is it like the psychology experiment where the moderator gives you a $5 coffee mug, then asks how much you’d sell it for, and you always say more (or much more, the so-called “Endowment Effect”)?  It seems that way.  “Why do you want to leave Seaside?” was the plaintive cry.  As if this was the perfect place to be.

Don’t get me wrong – there are many good folks who consider Seaside a wonderful place to live, and it had a reputation as a great place to retire.  It’s certainly a popular tourist attraction, and the retirement population is growing (as is the town itself, one of the fastest growing in Oregon).  But that alone doesn’t mean it’s the right place for us now.

Seaside was a fine enough place to live while we owned the business, which is frankly the reason we moved there.  We could have lived in neighboring towns like Gearhart or Cannon Beach, but they were too expensive and too far away.  If you’ve ever tried to negotiate US 101 on a summer day in tourist season, you’ll know why we chose to live where we did – in walking distance of the store.  Smart choice.

We had specific desires (which our real estate agent called “requirements”) for a retirement location.  We wanted to be much closer to the Portland metro area because of medical issues.  Seaside does have a hospital, but if you’re in need of a specialist, you’ll make the 2-hour drive to Portland.  We wanted more room – in Seaside, we could see into our neighbor’s kitchen from our kitchen – on BOTH sides.  There were no large lots or acreage in Seaside, and anything close by wasn’t close by.  If you have to drive several miles to get to a grocery store, bank, whatever…why not live somewhere where you have a much larger choice of groceries, banks…AND you don’t have to wade through tourist traffic for nearly four months every year.

Oh, I forgot to mention that the drive to Portland from Seaside is a fine drive for two-thirds of the year.  From November to February there’s always the danger of strong storms and heavy snow in the Coastal Range, and while you can drive around on US 30 and avoid the higher elevations, you’ll add 30-40 minutes to your drive on a dry day, and you can still run into snow, ice, and freezing rain.  No thanks.

There were other factors, of course.  We spent nearly 10 years researching the “ideal” spot to retire, and we actually settled in the #2 spot on our master list (on the #2 piece of property we found).  It’s not a “perfect” location but it meets most of our requirements, more so than Seaside (and the house is brand-new and larger than the cottage we had there).  So we moved.  To us it was an easy choice, but it was still difficult for others to understand why we’d want to move. 

Every place we’ve lived before this we can tell you good things about and not-so-good things, too.  Every community has stellar points and sore spots.  Ann Arbor, MI was a great place for education, but has lousy weather (six months of winter and six months of bad skiing).  Plus, we had economic issues there (it’s not a cheap place to live).  Ypsilanti (next door to AA) was OK, but it suffered from many of the same problems.  Eugene, OR was very nice, with great summers, but we moved there when the city was going through a tough economic spell (they also have great parks).  Monroe, LA has great food, friendly people, but it’s in the “David Duke” section of the state.  Boise, ID was dynamic – great university, parks, and recreation galore – if it ends in “ing” you can do it in Boise.  However, Boise has the unfortunate condition of being located in Idaho.  It’s isolated and red as all get out.  Too bad.

Seaside has the beach, of course, and more restaurants and banks than a normal town of 6,000 people.  That’s due to it’s being a tourist destination.  Problem is, everything else about the town is geared to tourism, meaning that all other shopping and services are best found elsewhere.  In the last few years neighboring Warrenton, 13 miles north, has grown with chain-store strip malls that fill in some blanks, but it’s not enough for us. 

The woman who bought our house is moving from Washington and is delighted with all of what Seaside has to offer.  She’s always wanted to live by the beach with her three little rescue dogs, and now she has the chance to do so.  We’re sure she’ll be very happy here.  Funny thing is, even she wonder why we were moving away from Seaside.  She actually thought we were reconsidering our move (even though we moved in to our new house five months ago) when we asked for a time extension on the sales agreement. 

Of course, it HAD to be that, and not the fact that she had beaucoup items on the Buyer’s Repair Addendum that has to be fixed before the prescribed date AND she gave us this list on short notice RIGHT before the Fourth of July weekend AND Seaside suffers from a shortage of plumbers and electricians AND they are all busy AF during the summer because that’s when EVERYONE gets work done. 

Which is another reason why we wanted to move.