They Spent 36 Years in That House. Here's What Finally Made Them Leave
One Sioux Falls couple, a chaotic summer, and the neighborhood they almost didn't find
It wasn't one moment. It was a lot of small ones. A yard that kept growing. Equipment that kept needing maintenance. A house that had served its purpose well, and a quiet recognition that it was time for something different.
Jim and Karen found the Maple Rock neighborhood the way a lot of people do: through someone they trusted. Friends had downsized into the neighborhood first, and once they saw it, the idea took hold. Maple Rock is that kind of place. Tucked away, easy to miss if you're not looking, and exactly what you hoped a neighborhood could feel like.
What followed was, by their own description, a chaotic summer. They spent six months selling a home they had lived in for 36 years, purging, packing, keeping the house showing-ready, and somewhere in the middle of all of it, learning their way around Facebook Marketplace.
Making selections for a home you haven't seen yet takes a certain kind of trust. They had built before, and not every experience had been a good one. This one was different.
Dawn guided the selections from start to finish, keeping a steady hand on the budget without making it feel restrictive. When Jim and Karen pushed back on a suggestion and went their own direction, she let them. It worked out. It usually does when the process is run well and the people in it are easy to work with.
They came to the job site almost every day, just to look. What they found, every time, was a crew that welcomed them. The cabinet installer, the electrician, Igor the tile setter. "We were never treated like, oh, here you are again," Karen said. They were the homeowners, and everybody treated them that way.
"We didn't have any complaints about any of the people that did the work," Jim said. "If there was anything we said, eh, we don't like that so much, can you do something different — they did it."
Before they moved in, one question sat in the back of their minds. Will we hear our neighbors? It's a fair thing to wonder in a twin home. Two months in, the answer is no. The shared wall is there, but the sound isn't. It's one of those things you stop thinking about once you realize it isn't a problem.
Jim mows grass three times a week at the golf course, so it isn't that he minds the work. It's everything that comes with it. The gas can, the maintenance, sharpening the blades. They left all of that behind. The mowing gets done and nobody has to think about any of it.
And then January comes. Jim and Karen are snowbirds, and Arizona calls every winter. This year they'll lock the door and go. While they're gone, the snow gets cleared, the driveway stays clean, and not one shovel gets touched. From a thousand miles away, they can pull up their phone, check the temperature inside the house, adjust the thermostat, and if a package shows up at the door, their best friends happen to live right next door and the garage is open for them in seconds.
"You don't always know how it's going to come together," Jim said. "You make your selections, you hope for the best."
He paused and Karen agreed, "it all worked out very good."
Two months in. Right where they're supposed to be.
If you're thinking about your next chapter, we'd love to talk. Call Joshua Homes at (605) 359-9905 or send us a message below.
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