The Final Days

Upon our return the final hustle begins.  Several trips where made to the dump, we sold scrap metal and what was left of the building supplies and tools went to Habitat.  It was decided that we would have to have a storage unit...ugh.  There was too much stuff that we just didn't have time to go through and no place to store the kayaks, remaining yard sale items, motorcycle, etc.  Everyday we were consumed with stuff, where to put it, do we need it, can I sell it, will it fit in the caravan, is the room for it in the trailer that we don't own yet!!!  As we went through each room putting stuff in the correct piles on the porch it seemed like little aliens were bringing it back into the house or they were adding more things to the piles.  We both were exhausted physically and mentally.  I would start crying for no apparent reason other than exhaustion. 

During all of this, we still had not got word back on the appraisal (it took 16 days).  I just knew it would appraise for the selling price...well not our luck due to the crazy real estate market.  Six days before we were suppose to close the appraisal comes back 35K below contract price, we were devastated as Mark had already put in retirement paperwork and I had sold all of our furniture.  Selling the house at such a loss was just not possible, what are we going to do?  As expected it was a restless night but tomorrow is another day and along with it came good news.  The couple buying the house was as shocked as we were and knew the home was worth more so they split the difference of the 35K and made us an offer, we accepted and considered ourselves very lucky.  The roller coaster of emotions is enough to make a person crazy especially when one is already exhausted.  That crisis was handled but we then learned that we had to put up railings on the porch or the financing wouldn't go through.  Mark had been working a ton of overtime and that left us a very narrow window to get it done.  So we stopped everything, worked late into the night and got up early the next morning before Mark went to work to get the job done.  The closing is now scheduled for the 20th of June.

Before











After

Welcome to the OK Coral.  We had to put up railings when we built the house because we went 4 block high on the foundation so we had a good crawl space.  In my years as a real estate agent I have not had this be a requirement for financing but the folks were getting a VA loan so up went the railings.  I hate the look of the house with them up but I'm told the new owners will remove them once they get moved in.
Anyway, we worked like dogs trying to manage our stuff. We will never own this much stuff again.  I do want to take a moment to thank all of the neighbors and friends who bought all of our stuff...
I sold my Prius to a neighbor the day we pulled out.

So on the 14th of June around 7pm we pulled out for the last time.  It was a little bitter sweet, I thought I would be a mess but the whole process was such an under taking that it was a relief to finally be done.  What comforts me is knowing that the folks that are buying the home really want it and they have 4 kids, so my beautiful home will provide shelter for a loving family as they create their own memories.  I wish the new owners the best and hope they will be very happy as they have allowed us to follow our dreams...all is good.