Moving on, moving back

Six years ago, Dr. Mara Saulitis and her husband, Jon Liebling, sold their Bodega Harbour home for $1.2 million and bought a house in Vermont for $360,000.

It was a one-way move that turned out right: Today they have two houses, two thriving careers, content kids and no regrets.

Petaluma restaurateurs Lori and Joe Shea, on the other hand, tried leaving but discovered their hearts never did budge. They returned to Sonoma County from Phoenix three years ago, grateful to be reunited with friends, customers and garden dirt they understand. It cost them twice what they had made on their house here to buy back into their old neighborhood.

From 1998 to early 2006, the price of a typical Sonoma County home tripled, dangling the often irresistible temptation to take the equity and run. In a hot sellers' market that now appears to have peaked, many homeowners decided to seize the moment, cash out and put down stakes somewhere where their money went further.

In 2005 alone, about 1,800 more people left Sonoma County than moved here from other states. Statewide, California recorded a loss of 29,000 people to other states, according to the state Department of Finance.

Most who left here during that time went looking for inexpensive property, said Santa Rosa Realtor Mike Kelly, "and some, for sun. Baby boomers are always looking for greener pastures to retire to."

According to the Census Bureau, the primary reasons people give for moving are employment, family proximity, a new or better home and cheaper housing. There are other motivations as well: seeking a change in climate, a safer neighborhood or broader cultural amenities.

Moving is about more than the house, as even real estate people will admit, and it's a lesson better learned in advance. It's about context and culture, values and community.

"Spend some vacation time before you move there," Kelly warns. "Fly in during the winter. Many towns with inexpensive houses can be far from a symphony, the latest new restaurant, a long way from a major airport."

So, how did these equity emigres fare? Did they find their greener pastures? Or did they discover that there are some things money can't buy?

Former Sebastopol residents Heather and Bob Quinn moved to Boise, Idaho, two years ago and ended up with "a bigger house on a bigger lot with open space in a beautiful development for far less money." With their equity they paid off their cars and Heather Quinn's medical school loans and made a down payment on their new home.

Why Boise?

Heather Quinn, a family physician and mother of two, explained: "We wanted West but not hot. No Arizona or Nevada. Someplace that wasn't cloudy and rainy, so no Oregon or Washington. I needed something a little urban, so Wyoming and Montana fizzled. This left Colorado and Idaho."

Quinn found part-time work in a Boise doctor's practice through her Stanford University alumni organization. Her husband made a lateral move with Bank of America.

The 2,700-square-foot house they bought for $350,000 is 20 minutes from downtown Boise, with hiking trails out the back door.

The best reason for the move, she said, is "my kids have a mom."

In their mid-30s with two young sons, Quinn and her husband feel the move enabled them "to breathe financially."

The downside is feeling outnumbered politically.

"I don't want to mess with my kids' play dates by talking politics," said the Sonoma County native, adding that she stopped reading the opinion pages in the Boise newspaper "because they get my dander up."

The outdoor possibilities, with nearby skiing and camping, override the loss of Sonoma County's beaches and other amenities.

"Food for sure we miss," Quinn said. "But fewer people here seem to need the outward trappings of wealth. I haven't seen a Lexus in months."

The Sheas sold their Petaluma house and closed their Italian restaurant, Caffe Giostra, in 1998 to live near Lori Shea's mother in Phoenix. Their adult children followed them, as did Lori's sister.

"I wanted to come back after a year," Lori Shea said.

The children stayed but the Sheas moved back three years ago, opening their new Sugo restaurant, even though they could have stayed in Arizona and retired.

"I'm not a desert person. I'm a gardener and I couldn't figure it out there," Shea said. "I didn't like having to be in AC all the time and I never saw people walking on the streets. It was too hot."

Her children invested in vacation rentals, and Shea believes it was a wise move for them. "In Phoenix, they can have luxury homes and have an upper-class life and not be house poor like they would be here."

The Sheas paid $350,000 for their 2,500-square-foot Arizona house - about the same price they got for their subdivision house in Petaluma in 1998. When they returned to Petaluma in 2003, they paid $700,000 to get back into the same neighborhood.

The costly exchange was worth it, Shea said.

"There's a real sense of community here. We sit outside the restaurant and people stop by and talk. It's like we never left."

Michael McDonald, a plumber, and Gretchen Cooper, a teacher, moved to Port Townsend, Wash., in 2004, buying a house on a woodsy two acres with surrounding views for $282,000 after selling their west county home for $535,000. That Graton house, which they lived in for 15 years, originally cost them $113,000.

In their 50s and parents of three grown sons, Cooper and McDonald found part-time work, which is all they need. Their house is paid for and so are their cars.

"Port Townsend is a much slower pace than California, but we've ended up doing so much more here than there," said Cooper, who schedules teaching hours around biking tours and craft classes.

McDonald said his biggest adjustment is shortened daylight in the winter. "And having to pay $3 for Two Buck Chuck," at the closest Trader Joe's, two hours away by car and ferry.

The third-generation Californian misses people "but not the state," even though plumbers make less in Washington and fresh vegetables are not as plentiful.

Cooper, who grew up in Palo Alto, admits to an occasional pang of Bay Area homesickness: "We watched 'The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill' and it made me almost weepy."

In Manchester, Vt., Saulitis and Liebling have prospered on all levels.

Her practice grew so fast she has closed it to new patients, and his company, which provides custom printed promotional products, retained the California client base and added more.

The couple turned the 1915 house they originally bought for a home into office space for Liebling and tenants. The family moved into a custom home on five acres.

Author John Irving lives in Manchester, and two of the Liebling children attend a private elementary school founded by Irving's wife, Janet.

Back in 2000, Liebling was included in a Press Democrat story about Sonoma County emigrants.

"We decided we had done our California thing," he said then. Six years later, he admits to missing the Pacific, but gets his "ocean fix" at Cape Cod, a four-hour drive.

Ron and Maricarmen Lemley wanted to turn around after less than a year in the Texas hill country.

But earlier this year when they headed home the boom was still on and they found "things were no longer affordable in the least," said Ron Lemley. They ended up buying into a mobile home park in Santa Rosa.

"I'd rather have a real house," Lemley said, "but it's not Texas."

Both teachers, the couple had chosen Kerrville, Texas, near the town of Fredericksburg, which Lemley knew from visiting his aunt.

"It's beautiful, looks like Marin," said Lemley, who grew up in Mill Valley. His wife grew up in Peru.

The couple moved in June 2005 after selling the Santa Rosa house they paid $180,000 for in 2001. After extensive remodeling they sold it for $385,000. They bought a new brick house in Texas for $142,000.

"We had a great feeling for Kerrville," Lemley said, "but socially it wasn't good for us. It was too hot, too conservative and too boring."

He tells stories of cars with anti-war stickers having their tires slashed.

But when they came back to Sonoma County, even the fixer-uppers were out of reach, Lemley said. "Compared to the housing market five years ago, it was impossible."

One plus is that in their moves they were able to pay off their debt and buy their house in the mobile home park free and clear, giving them money to travel.

Recently they headed off to Peru, thinking maybe they'll buy an apartment in Lima for when they retire.