Moving On

I hate hate hate, no loathe moving!!! Last week I had to assist with the relocation of the organization for which I am the Chief Administration Officer, and in two weeks I must move from my current residence as well as move my home office. Let's start with the home first.

George and I were leasing to purchase a home. The first home we attempted to do this with, the owner (who was a real estate investor) purchased the home through a 1031 exchange. She released this information to me 1 year into our 2 year contract, not knowing I knew what she was talking about. I then let her know she would have to pay the penalties of selling the property early. Unwilling to pay the penalties, and us unwilling to extend our contract another 3 years, we decided to move into another home. 

They new owner seemed desperate for anyone to rent, purchase, or just take the property from him. We negotiated to purchase the house from him, and he agreed to use a portion of our monthly payments towards the purchase. Somewhere around month 4, he stopped paying the bank the mortgage but he continued to take our monthly payments. So once the notice came that the property was in default we spoke to him about it. George being a man of his word, wanted to continue paying the owner the $2,000/month we originally agreed to pay him. We did for two months, but then we got a notice the house was being sold in an auction. The owner became furious (of course, who wants to lose their $2,000/month spending change) once we stopped paying. He paid us an unannounced visit, to which George made it very clear he no longer owned the property. The bank informed us we would have to move in order to purchase the property from them like the rest of the public. So here we are to date, packing and searching for another place to move. All the while still having the responsibility of school, businesses and community obligations. Which is a great segue into having to move the ministry in which I am the Chief Administrative Officer.

Prior to my having become a part of the organization, they entered into an annual contractual agreement with a school district to rent an auditorium at one of their elementary schools. The contract had problems from the beginning. First off, it was an hourly contract, and without anyone to monitor the actual usage the cost began to vary as the school district faced financial woes. After advising the head of the organization to move their operations they decided to find a permanent home. During the negotiation process of the permanent location, the school district began to apply pressure for the organization to pay an increased monthly amount. The school district threatened not to allow access into the building if the organization did not bring in a check to their offices for $7,600. The non profit ministry, being unable to pay the amount decided they would have to pull together their resources to relocate with less than 48 hour notice. We not only pulled it together, but we turned the day into a celebration, and worked aggressively to make sure all of the members and associates knew of the new location. The relocation was not only successful, but the members and associates were excited about the new location and the organization was able to save more than $2,000 per month while waiting on their permanent location.

While moving is a pain, there is definitely a way to make certain the process is a smooth transition for those involved. If the ministry survived the move with less than 48 hour notice, I'm certain I'll survive the relocation of my residence.