Looks like we are going to try and close on both houses the 10th of January. We finally received a fully ratified contract on the new house Wed. afternoon. Not 100% sure we will pull it off, but, we are going to give it our best shot to try and get in the new place the same day as we are out of the old one.
Our current home passed the home inspection, radon, and termite inspection with flying colors. Our new home passed the termite inspection, has a few minor repairs to be made (2 plugs don't work, they put a vent right next to a return and the thermostat, so, we will want to move the vent, there is a small leak under the kitchen sink, and, we will want to redirect the drain pipes in the back yard to make sure the water is heading away from the house)and it will need it's passive radon system changed to an active one because the radon is a little high (We are hoping they will be willing to fix that one, but, it is being sold, as is, so, not likely).
I have been busy with the packing and picking out new curtains and lamps. New appliances were ordered yesterday, for the kitchen. Everything is still coming together okay, so, now it is on to vacation prep and, hopefully, some relaxation before the rest of the moving craziness starts up again.
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Friday, December 16, 2011
Our house selling journey.
Felt the need to share this. Maybe it will bring understanding to a friend or family member, or, maybe it is just beneficial for me to write it down. So, let me go back for a moment to 8 years ago. We were newlyweds expecting our 1st baby. Jim wanted to buy a house, I said, ok, but, I am only moving if it is right. The acceptable location in our price range, Winchester. But, nothing up there was the right fit. And, then, one day this brand new house in Strasburg showed up online. It was surely too far away and at the tippy top of our price range, but, we went to look anyway. And, as we stood outside the lot with only a basement to be seen, we knew it was the one. We made the offer and beat out 3 other offers by a day. And, God has blessed us. There have been many benefits for us to be where we are, but, that doesn't mean there haven't been any drawbacks. The most on-going drawback has been the 1 hour commute, there have been so many occasions when we needed Jim here, but, he was always an hour away. We hoped this wouldn't matter as much when he finished school, but, it still remains and in some ways is getting worse. Jim started mentioning moving over a year ago, but, there were lots of good things going on for us out here and I kept saying "not yet"
That was until the Sunday this past spring when I stood on the front porch saying good-bye to him as he headed off to another church meeting, (we had him home for a total of 1 hour that day) and he said to me "you knew this was going to happen didn't you?" "Knew what was going to happen?" I said. I don't remember the exact response, but, the gist was that he would have callings and those callings would involve him being away from us. After he drove off, I pondered our brief conversation. "Knew it would happen?" Well, NO, I didn't know it would happen, or at least I didn't really know how it would affect me and our kids when it happened. At that moment, I knew we had reached the point where something had to give. And, I also know that refusing church callings was probably not going to be one of them, nor was it likely he could cut his hours down at work. But, there was all that time wasted traveling, that was something that we could change; and, from that day on, I was on his side, let's sell. He was eager to start immediately, I saw our busy summer and said let's wait, I felt much better about waiting until after the 1st of the year. In September, school started, and for the 1st time I found myself disappointed with the teachers and the new curriculum, so, when he suggested we talk to a realtor "just to get an idea of what we need to get ready", it turned into us pushing up listing the house from January to mid October.
We were only able to appreciate how truly brutal the market is, when we found ourselves stuck in the middle of it, but, we left ourselves stuck in the muck with the fairly firm belief that this was what we were meant to do. 2 months into the process, when the price had been lowered and things were going slow, the questions began to arise of whether or not it was really worth this, how were we going to make certain decisions when we have been living in the limbo of, will it sell or when will it sell? and how long should we hold out and how low is too low to go?
Unsure of whether this was just a test from God, if our timing was a little off, or if we somehow read the promptings totally wrong, I decided to take advantage of Fast Sunday and try to earn some added insight or reassurance against the dismal scene and booing we were getting from our fellow church members upset that we were trying to leave. And, the response was so immediate, that it took me off guard. 8:15 Sunday morning came a call to view the house at 12:30pm. We scrambled to get the house ready before church, we hung out after meetings for a while and made use of part of the time waiting and got our tithing settlement done. And, God even held off the hunger pains and light-headedness that I am usually wracked with when I try to fast. We passed the remainder of the day with no word. And, I just took it as a sign that we should keep plucking along with this.
That was until Monday morning, the next call came, they wanted to see it again. So, I grabbed the kids off the bus in the afternoon and we hung out at the park while they looked, 50 min. later, we came back, they were still there, so, we made a trip to Food Lion. Came home for dinner, went out to see Christmas lights for FHE, and then came back and got the kids ready for bed. Then, the call came. They want to buy the house. A moment passed of shock and anticipation, and then the price was named. The offer was $15,000 dollars lower then our current price. My heart sank. I said it was too low, still promised to review the contract anyway, she reminded me we could make a counter offer, the call ended and I broke the news to Jim.
The next 24 hours really sucked. We were both disappointed at the price. I was now conflicted that this was really the prompting I thought it was. We got the kids to bed and began more earnestly hashing out the numbers of our expenses and the house prices where we were looking to go and how much we could afford based on those numbers. It wasn't going to be what we had wanted it to be, but, we could drop the price a little more and still manage to make it work. We countered at $5000 less than our asking price (which was now $15,000 lower than where we started, but, still $10,000 higher than they wanted) and then we waited til morning for the response. We barely slept. It came around mid day. Another counter offer. They had only come up $5000 from their original offer and now they wanted the curtains and the shed. We agreed to concede on those items, but, wanted to hold our ground on the price, until that is, Jim went to tell this to the realtor and he caved to her argument that we would be seen as too rigid and they would walk away. And, there went another $2000. And, I only learned of it after the change was already in. I was even more upset, the bottom had been reached, and now I was a bit upset with Jim too. I scolded for me not getting a say, told him this was it, no more, they could accept it or walk away. And, they accepted it. There was a mix of feelings of fatigue and defeat as we signed the papers that night, but, underlying there was also a relief that it was over and we could move on.
The next morning we were still tired, but, by 9:30am, I was feeling better and acceptance hit and we were both okay with it. We began looking forward to the houses we were going to see in Winchester on Wed. night. Surely, one of those would be the one, right? Wrong. On Saturday we expanded the search to Stephen's City. We liked these much better, but, this really wasn't close enough to work, was it? And, of the 2 we liked one was too pricey and the other was a little pricey and a foreclosure, the realtor had told us we wouldn't likely get a contract on a foreclosure until we had money in hand from our house and that would leave us in homeless limbo for a while (which was unappealing). We had her check anyway, just in case, but, we needed to explore more options. On Sunday, it was back to Winchester. Still nothing in Winchester really fit. We had explored every house we thought might work and the only door that opened for us was the foreclosure in Stephen's City. Their realtor came back with a maybe they would take an offer contingent on our home sale, since it was going to be a cash sale. So, riding on a maybe and a lot of prayers, we submitted our offer at $10,000 below their asking price. And, they accepted it. Unfortunately not at $10,000 below their price, but, it was, at least, $5000 below their price. And, we finally feel excited! God opened the door for us and we beat the odds.
I cannot say this has been a pleasant process that I wish to repeat any time soon, and we are certainly a little sad to let our home we've loved go at such a low price, and it has not been fun to be booed for the last 2 months by our friends who are upset at us leaving and only sort of understand, especially when they here our new place is only 10 or 15 min. closer to work not 30 like we were wanting, and I bet we will have days we are annoyed with the HOA. But, just like 8yrs. ago, when we stood outside this house and knew it was for us. We know this new move and this new house are for us and he will bless us in so many ways, just like he has these past 8 yrs and I am eager for it.
That was until the Sunday this past spring when I stood on the front porch saying good-bye to him as he headed off to another church meeting, (we had him home for a total of 1 hour that day) and he said to me "you knew this was going to happen didn't you?" "Knew what was going to happen?" I said. I don't remember the exact response, but, the gist was that he would have callings and those callings would involve him being away from us. After he drove off, I pondered our brief conversation. "Knew it would happen?" Well, NO, I didn't know it would happen, or at least I didn't really know how it would affect me and our kids when it happened. At that moment, I knew we had reached the point where something had to give. And, I also know that refusing church callings was probably not going to be one of them, nor was it likely he could cut his hours down at work. But, there was all that time wasted traveling, that was something that we could change; and, from that day on, I was on his side, let's sell. He was eager to start immediately, I saw our busy summer and said let's wait, I felt much better about waiting until after the 1st of the year. In September, school started, and for the 1st time I found myself disappointed with the teachers and the new curriculum, so, when he suggested we talk to a realtor "just to get an idea of what we need to get ready", it turned into us pushing up listing the house from January to mid October.
We were only able to appreciate how truly brutal the market is, when we found ourselves stuck in the middle of it, but, we left ourselves stuck in the muck with the fairly firm belief that this was what we were meant to do. 2 months into the process, when the price had been lowered and things were going slow, the questions began to arise of whether or not it was really worth this, how were we going to make certain decisions when we have been living in the limbo of, will it sell or when will it sell? and how long should we hold out and how low is too low to go?
Unsure of whether this was just a test from God, if our timing was a little off, or if we somehow read the promptings totally wrong, I decided to take advantage of Fast Sunday and try to earn some added insight or reassurance against the dismal scene and booing we were getting from our fellow church members upset that we were trying to leave. And, the response was so immediate, that it took me off guard. 8:15 Sunday morning came a call to view the house at 12:30pm. We scrambled to get the house ready before church, we hung out after meetings for a while and made use of part of the time waiting and got our tithing settlement done. And, God even held off the hunger pains and light-headedness that I am usually wracked with when I try to fast. We passed the remainder of the day with no word. And, I just took it as a sign that we should keep plucking along with this.
That was until Monday morning, the next call came, they wanted to see it again. So, I grabbed the kids off the bus in the afternoon and we hung out at the park while they looked, 50 min. later, we came back, they were still there, so, we made a trip to Food Lion. Came home for dinner, went out to see Christmas lights for FHE, and then came back and got the kids ready for bed. Then, the call came. They want to buy the house. A moment passed of shock and anticipation, and then the price was named. The offer was $15,000 dollars lower then our current price. My heart sank. I said it was too low, still promised to review the contract anyway, she reminded me we could make a counter offer, the call ended and I broke the news to Jim.
The next 24 hours really sucked. We were both disappointed at the price. I was now conflicted that this was really the prompting I thought it was. We got the kids to bed and began more earnestly hashing out the numbers of our expenses and the house prices where we were looking to go and how much we could afford based on those numbers. It wasn't going to be what we had wanted it to be, but, we could drop the price a little more and still manage to make it work. We countered at $5000 less than our asking price (which was now $15,000 lower than where we started, but, still $10,000 higher than they wanted) and then we waited til morning for the response. We barely slept. It came around mid day. Another counter offer. They had only come up $5000 from their original offer and now they wanted the curtains and the shed. We agreed to concede on those items, but, wanted to hold our ground on the price, until that is, Jim went to tell this to the realtor and he caved to her argument that we would be seen as too rigid and they would walk away. And, there went another $2000. And, I only learned of it after the change was already in. I was even more upset, the bottom had been reached, and now I was a bit upset with Jim too. I scolded for me not getting a say, told him this was it, no more, they could accept it or walk away. And, they accepted it. There was a mix of feelings of fatigue and defeat as we signed the papers that night, but, underlying there was also a relief that it was over and we could move on.
The next morning we were still tired, but, by 9:30am, I was feeling better and acceptance hit and we were both okay with it. We began looking forward to the houses we were going to see in Winchester on Wed. night. Surely, one of those would be the one, right? Wrong. On Saturday we expanded the search to Stephen's City. We liked these much better, but, this really wasn't close enough to work, was it? And, of the 2 we liked one was too pricey and the other was a little pricey and a foreclosure, the realtor had told us we wouldn't likely get a contract on a foreclosure until we had money in hand from our house and that would leave us in homeless limbo for a while (which was unappealing). We had her check anyway, just in case, but, we needed to explore more options. On Sunday, it was back to Winchester. Still nothing in Winchester really fit. We had explored every house we thought might work and the only door that opened for us was the foreclosure in Stephen's City. Their realtor came back with a maybe they would take an offer contingent on our home sale, since it was going to be a cash sale. So, riding on a maybe and a lot of prayers, we submitted our offer at $10,000 below their asking price. And, they accepted it. Unfortunately not at $10,000 below their price, but, it was, at least, $5000 below their price. And, we finally feel excited! God opened the door for us and we beat the odds.
I cannot say this has been a pleasant process that I wish to repeat any time soon, and we are certainly a little sad to let our home we've loved go at such a low price, and it has not been fun to be booed for the last 2 months by our friends who are upset at us leaving and only sort of understand, especially when they here our new place is only 10 or 15 min. closer to work not 30 like we were wanting, and I bet we will have days we are annoyed with the HOA. But, just like 8yrs. ago, when we stood outside this house and knew it was for us. We know this new move and this new house are for us and he will bless us in so many ways, just like he has these past 8 yrs and I am eager for it.
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