"For Sale"

Our home is “For Sale”. No, not in Tsukahara…Federal Way, Washington. We tried to sell our home in Washington a few years ago. Home prices were quickly dropping as the real estate market was turning sour. We had our home on the market for almost a year with very few offers. I had spent every weekend for two years remodeling our home. The effort failed to produce a buyer. However, it did produce a home that was easy to rent out. The home had been a rental for the past 3.5 years. The home went on the market in February. Currently, the house is “pending”. This basically means that we have agreed on a price with the buyer and the home will be inspected, appraised, and financed. A lot can happen until the house is sold, so we are keeping our fingers crossed.

Why sell the house? Good question. To keep the house in a rentable condition requires maintenance. Maintenance requires money. It boils down to this: Being a landlord is a pain-in-the-butt! If the house does not sell by the end of June, I will rent it out…again. It’s not the best choice, but I have a great property manager and the house is ready to rent.

The second bit of news is that my services are no longer needed with the Board of Education in Yufuin. However, my services will be used at our company (Y.E.S.). Erika has done a spectacular job building the business to a point where it can support both of us. I’m excited to be finally working for “us” instead of someone else. My few years at the BOE were not a complete waste of time. I gained valuable experience and confidence from teaching elementary school students. I met a lot of great people and I had a chance to see how the Japanese education system works.The most important thing I learned are the limitations an ALT must endure by following the guidelines set forth by the BOE. I won’t go into this any further except to say that my skills will be utilized more "efficiently" at YES. 

So, there you have it. On the days I’m not teaching at YES, I’m working on the house. Stay tuned…                 George

UPDATE:  The house in Washington sold! It wasn't easy, but it's someone elses headache.