Moving to New Richmond, WI

Over the last 3.5 years my family has enjoyed a cabin just north of Star Prairie, Wisconsin. Since then we absolutely fell in love with the area. My wife and I wishfully looked at real estate listing here and there while owning the cabin. Basically looking to live in the area once the nest became empty.

We really had no intentions of moving before then, but unfortunately Covid 19 came along which accelerated our plans to leave the Twin Cities area. Since the kids were attending remote public school, and with no end of that mode of learning in sight, we started to seriously look to western Wisconsin for a home. I’m no stranger to Wisconsin, growing up in the Minocqua and Hazelhurst areas, so in a way the move was something like returning home.

It’s one of those things. I was at the cabin and my wife called asking if I’d meet her in New Richmond to look at a place just a couple blocks off main street. I was a bit reluctant to say yes. The whole thought of moving was daunting to even think about. I’m a bit wishy-washy in that regard and not spontaneous. So after some convincing that I really had to see the place, I grabbed the bike and left to meet her and the agent.

The place was pretty expensive when we saw it first listed in the summer and didn’t even bother to look based on price alone, but the price dropped significantly mid-fall. From the moment I rode up to the place I was in awe. A tour of the inside solidified the decision. It’s a charming double-gabled home built in 1920 in great shape, very plumb, and not showing of its age at all, other than in style of build. The inspector we hired put it this way, “If I were 100 years old and looked this good, that’d be saying something!”

From that point on we were swept up into a purchase agreement with our house not even on the market yet! It pretty much became a sprint to get our home de-cluttered and freshened up to sell in a matter of two weeks – a lot of work! We then listed the place a couple weeks later selling it within a day, topping out with 18 showings and 3 interested parties, plus getting money over our listing price – always a nice bonus. Shortly after, the buyer of our house lined up an inspection. There were a few nitpicks, as well as a some electrical work to get up to code (GFI outlets), but we worked through it. We closed on our New Richmond home with two weeks of overlap against our old home which made moving so much easier. There was no one day effort to be out of our old house, and the weather cooperated nicely for a January move.

So here we are in New Richmond. Below is a bittersweet drone video I put together leaving the place we called home of 20 years.