Well, it is happening. I think that I mentioned that we were planning to move from NJ to VA about 5 years ago, right after I retired. My wife is from Bridgewater, VA. I was born and raised here in northern NJ, settling in Butler 25 years ago when my wife and her daughter moved up here with me -- we were married a year after she moved up, so it is our 24th anniversary on the 21st of this month. My parents passed away 13 years ago. My sister and I aren't particularly close, though we do keep in touch, she lives 2 hours away and we haven't seen each other in a dozen years.
Five years ago we actually thought we were ready to move and made an offer on a house and decided we couldn't leave our current home a little too late. We had to go through with the purchase, but immediately put it back on the market. We lost some money in the process, but it was the right decision at the time.
Over the last few years we would check out what was on the market in the Bridgewater area, knowing that the time to move was fast approaching. Our current home is 4 stories, if you include the walk-up attic which I have used as an exercise room, shipping area for eBay sales, storage, and a bit of a computer lab. As we get older, the layout and size of this house will become a problem. If something happens to either of us that limit our mobility we would be screwed because there is no bathroom on the main floor. And there's nobody to lend a hand, either. We have 3 granddaughters by my stepdaughter - 14, 7, and 10 months. My mother-in-law is also down there at age 81, living alone. It made sense to consider relocating to the area.
In early April, my wife was perusing Zillow and spotted this listing --
https://klinemay.com/listing/VA/Bridgewater/106-Hickory-Ln-22812/170077628It checked most all of the boxes on what we were looking for. We contacted the listing agent and set up a virtual tour of the home. We made an offer and it was accepted.
We Closed on the purchase on the 22nd of May. We have been packing our stuff over the past several weeks and are currently surrounded by boxes! The movers will be here to load our belongings on Monday between 9 and 10. My wife is heading down with our 3 dogs before the movers arrive and will be staying at a local pet friendly hotel we have stayed at many times before when visiting. I will stay behind to oversee the move and to do the final clean out before driving down on Tuesday morning. The movers are scheduled to be at our new house early Wednesday morning to unload and then the unpacking begins!
I am fortunate that I had the means to purchase the new house before selling our current house. The listing is now live for it, but it will not be shown until we are out. Our realtor has scheduled the first showings to be on the 17th. We are hoping for a quick and painless sale. The market is pretty crazy right now with low inventory and most sales are quick and above asking, often with multiple offers!
Here is our listing on Zillow --
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/39-Bartholdi-Ave-Butler-NJ-07405/39396656_zpid/?view=public-steve
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stephen boots Microsoft MVP 2004 - 2020
"Life's always an adventure with computers!" 
