The housing situation that has occupied the attention of my wife and I for the last 6 months has been frustrating at times. Twice we lowered the price of the townhouse from $259,900 to $257,500 and finally to $250,000. Though everyone we heard feedback from said the house was great, we always seemed to be the #2 choice of several potential buyers. Just three weeks ago, we were scheduled for a second showing on 1-hour notice, only to have that showing cancelled because the interested buyers decided to go with another house 5 minutes before the showing. That may have been the low point of the selling situation.
When April began, we were getting a little nervous. I kept telling Liz that God would provide a house to live in when we were ready and that our house would sell when the time was right. Apparently, even I didn’t realize how quickly that time would come. After a successful second showing on April 2nd, an offer was made on our house the next night—while we were at the circus. The offer was amazing: they wanted to close in 5 days, and they could considering they were offering cash. They also were allowing us to stay in the house until May 31st, giving us some time to search. The only downside was that they were offering $20,000 under our final asking price. Knowing that we were ready to sell and getting some advice from our agent, I agreed to the offer under the condition that the house would be sold “as is”. The offer was accepted.
With the selling of the house all but completed, our attention focused on getting a new house. For this, my wife would take point, as she had focused on several choices. She visited her top choices and came away disappointed. She also visited some expensive choices and loved those, but the financial reality made it impossible to accept.
On Friday the 8th, we had our closing. The new owners made the process so simple that we completed closing in 15 minutes. But that day was not free of problems. Our agent could not attend the closing due to chest pains. Luckily, his partner did attend the closing. We were also planning to visit 3-4 homes that day. Unfortunately, we discovered that one of Liz’s favorites went off the market. Still, we decided to visit the house, even if couldn’t walk in. That house, located on Pink Lily Court looked terrific on the outside. It also appeared vacant on the inside, meaning once we closed we could move in immediately. We hoped to have a chance to look inside.
Less than 24 hours later, we got our shot. It turns out that the owners were changing agents and had dropped the price. We immediately toured the placed and both Liz and I agreed it was the choice. We made an offer on the house less than 36 hours after completing the sale of the house. The owners countered and explained that they couldn’t drop much below their latest price. Still, we were able to get an agreement at a price Liz and I could live with.
Today was the home inspection. Our inspector looked high and low and produced a complete report. He found very few issues to speak of, and even he was impressed with the upkeep. We do have a couple of things that need to be fixed, but they are not expensive.
May 11 is the tentatively closing date, giving us three weeks to move. And the timing can’t help but convince me that God was in control the whole time and planned this scenario out for us to upgrade to a Single Family House. Like I say in my profile, things happen for a reason.
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