w~~_7.JPG "pjcdn2005"){kind=avatar}
Last Spring Mary decided it was time to "downsize". Of course I agreed with her.
She also suggested that - since we would be moving - why not leave friendly Belleville and relocate to Napanee, closer to the farmhouse where she was born. Mary has a sister living near Napanee and two sisters and a brother living in nearby Kingston.
Napanee is a small town of 5,000 residents (about 1,600 homes with municipal services) limiting the number of suitable bungalows available. "Greater Napanee" has 15,000 residents, two thirds of them living on farmland in the ten to twenty miles surrounding the town.
It took six months of regular weekly traveling to Napanee to find the "right one". While negotiating with the seller a few weeks ago we discovered that he was related to Mary (second cousin) as Mary's aunt (father's sister) married his uncle (father's brother) over half a century ago. Small world indeed!
Closing date is scheduled for the end of February.
Now comes time to prepare our Belleville home for sale. We expect to start marketing in mid-January, after the Holidays.
In anticipation, I had put my eBay store "on vacation" several months ago and started packing my stamp office. 30 boxes already neatly packed... about one hundred more to go. 
And life does go on.
"I hope the fishing is still good"
Our new home is located in a residential area, off River Road, a short walk from the library and the Napanee river.
While I do not fish, I expect the grandchildren to give it a try. 
Happy selling and moving Pierre.
Belleville will be short two great citizens. 
Well as my grandmother use to say "a change is as good as a rest". Look at it as an adventure.
The only drawback is, you're a bit closer to Harper (for the time being).
Congrats on the move.
We decided to attempt selling our house in Belleville privately - at least at first.
Yesterday I arranged for printing of 200 coloured flyers which we stuffed in envelopes and distributed in our neighbourhood, door-to-door, yesterday and this morning (not easy on my old legs)
We already received two phone calls from interested neighbours and have one visit scheduled for later today!
Unless the house sells in the next two weeks or so, our next step will be to go MLS.
If that does not work then we will let a real estate agent get the listing.
Yes, the MLS system maintained by realtors and paid for by sellers.
As a result of recent Supreme Court decision, the program is now open to individuals who wish to sell privately.
http://www.competitionbureau.gc.ca/eic/site/cb-bc.nsf/eng/03781.html
Individuals can use MLS and pay a fee for using it.
In any case, that will not be necessary for us as we have received an offer yesterday which we have accepted. The "stuff" is going to the lawyers in the next few days. A total of five days from beginning our marketing campaign last Tuesday to get a sale on Sunday. We are pretty happy about it.
UPDATE - We were at the lawyers today and the signed Offer to Purchase has been completed!
That was quick!
Finally! The move is behind us. We have downsized and relocated to this smaller bungalow in Napanee.
It turns out we moved over 260 boxes (mostly 2 cubic feet), the bulk of them for my stamp business. In addition, we had two "dump runs" of 50 and 80 boxes respectively (not counting the 70 to 80 bags full of magazines etc... that went for recycling). Plus two van loads to the local Salvation Army thrift store and countless number of boxes full of books for the Alzheimer book sale.
Now it is time to find our "stuff" in that new mess we created (boxes everywhere - some identified, some not!).
It will most likely be another month before I re-open my eBay store (currently on "vacations") and start listing again.
In the meantime Mary has contracted to completely renovate one of the bathrooms and fix a few other things!
And life does go on.
