Downsize to California?

Why the title "Downsize to California"?

Good question! Answer is simple... We live in a great house here in North Texas. It is a large home with a game room, media room, four bedrooms and four bathrooms. A comparable home in a similar neighborhood gets us over $1,000,000 in California. Way out of our price range! Hence, the title. We have to go to a house about half the size without a game room or media room. Makes me sad to lose two of my favorite rooms. But the trade-off will hopefully be worth it!

Worked remotely today. We have the flexibility to do that. I am making sure that it is workable to work from home on a constant basis. I am not working completely from home but I want to be able to explain to TN that I have been successfully completing all my tasks remotely so there is no need to fire me! I can just change my home address and keep on working. Hope they go for it. Be nice to keep my job.

My daughters live in Nashville right now. Their mom moved there and took them with her last summer. I gotta say... That sucked. We haven't told them about California yet. We are waiting until we actually sign the offer letter and have a good time line in place. I think our house will be sold before the end of July. They come during the summer for several weeks and may be here when the house is sold. I think it would be fun to have them along for the adventure. Maybe they will love it so much they decide they want to live with us!

Talking to the boss man...

Day one... Well day two, actually. Day one was yesterday, 5/10/2010, when I told my manager, TN, that there was a distinct possibility that my wife was going to be asked to relocate to California.

How'd that go?

Let's see:

"TN, I wanted to let you know that my family might be asked to move to California."

"Really, Jay? Why's that?"

"My wife, Kim, has a great career opportunity there with her current company. We've talked before about how great she is at her job and her reputation. Right?"

"Yeah, yeah, I think we have. Remind me again what it is she does."

(Insert appropriate small talk - Blah Blah Blah - chuckle chuckle chuckle)

"So, TN, I wanted to make sure you understand that I already manage seventy-five percent of my team remotely. Hell, I haven't even met some of them and I would like to stay with the company when I move. You know, manage the whole team remotely."

"Oh. I will have to talk to GP about that. I need to know what he says before we can really discuss it or make any decisions."

"No problem. I just want to make sure you know I would like to stay with the company and I'd like to know what my options are to help me do that."

That was round one. Nothing mentioned today about it. We will see how it goes. On the up side, if I can keep my job then I get a 20% raise for the difference in the cost of living increase in California.

Next steps... Listing the house for sale with our great friend and most awesome Realtor, WH!