Curious

March 2016, and our long-time next-door neighbors finally sold their house.  We expected the sale, of course.  The house had been on the market for awhile, the couple who owned it were snowbirds who spent more time in Florida than they did in New York.

The young couple who bought the house didn’t move in right away.  They had plans to renovate the 50-year-old house, to expand it and make it their own. The new owners would come by periodically to check on the construction work, and to meet the neighbors and enquire about the best preschool for their three year old son.

Renovations took over a year, the family moved in towards the end of the construction period.  

In November 2017 we heard that they had adopted another child, a little girl.  In December they decorated the whole house for their first Christmas in their new home.

The “for sale” sign went up last week, one month shy of the second anniversary of their purchase of the property.

I’m not embarrassed to tell you that when I saw the sign, I did a bit of googling on the real estate websites.  I found numerous listings for the house, full of photos showing off the new features.  I also found an older listing, from when the snowbirds sold the house two years ago.  It was like looking at two different houses.  And the current asking price is about 2 1/2 times what they paid for the property.

I don’t believe they bought the house with the intention of flipping it.  I think they sincerely planned to make their home here, to raise their children in this community.  Some of the changes they made to the house were very personal, things that advertised who they are as a family, and which the next owner is going to want to change.

So I have to wonder what happened.  Why are they selling!  Why are they moving away?  Money problems?  Relationship problems?  A better opportunity elsewhere?

Perhaps the next new neighbor will know.  Perhaps I’ll never find out.

I’m far too curious about it for my own good.