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Back in early February, we had been discussing options for fixing up our house. We looked at remodeling the kitchen, redoing the floors and several other needed updates. The numbers were adding up so we decided to take a look at other options.
I had a week's vacation and we used it to visit several of the new housing developments that were in the area. We saw plenty of houses with features that we liked. Soon it became clear that the best way to go was to buy something new.
We found a new subdivision that had just started and was in a good location. We also liked the styles and layouts of the model homes. Being one of the first to visit the development, we had plenty of lots to choose from. We decided on one with a north/south orientation at the top of the hill.
We thought it would be a great Summer as we took time to prepare to move. At the sales office we placed a deposit on the lot on February 12th and then we learned ... the clock was ticking. First thing the agent, Angel, said was that we had 7 days to list our house for sale before they could move forward. She recommended a real estate agent friend. We gave her a call and she was out to the house in a couple of days.
Becky turned out to be a real dynamo. She came in, took a look around and told us she wanted to list on March 10 and have open house on the 11th. Okay, another clock ticking.
Becky wanted most everything out of the house so she could stage it. Cheryl quickly got organized and got plenty of boxes. We had to empty the library, office and closets. We also needed to get most things out of the other rooms including removing furniture from the dining room and living room. We got a large storage room at a place nearby and began filling it. We also moved a lot of items into the garage. Many things were sold and a bunch went to Goodwill.
Becky wanted us out of the house by Tuesday, March 7th so she could clean the carpets and move her furniture in for staging. She planned to bring in a photographer for pictures by Wednesday, have brochures made by Thursday and be ready to list on that Friday morning. Friday would be for the other realtors and the open house would be on Saturday. Houses for sale in our area were in short supply so she was hoping for a bidding war. We would be able to come back to the house on Sunday evening. What a rush!
It all went as planned. It was like HDTV except we had to do all the hard work. We spent the week at an Extended Stay Hotel in Kent. Not the best place, but it was only for 5 days. On Friday, there were lots of text messages going back and forth as Becky kept us up to date on the sales progress. Later on Friday, she told us about a cash offer for slightly over the list price. We had till 9pm Saturday to accept. Saturday's open house brought more offers, some even higher, but needing financing. Finally, at 8:30 pm on Saturday we accepted the cash offer. Whew, sold in less than 24 hours.
The buyers arranged for a home inspection on Sunday so we didn't get back into the house until later in the afternoon. Now we had a new clock ticking. We had 30 days to close; we had to get everything out.
Cheryl rented another, larger, store room and we began hauling. We hired two young men (sons of a friend from work) to help move the larger, heavier pieces. The last 9 days I was on vacation so we rented a U-Haul van to move the rest. Those were long hard days leading up to the close on April 11th.
At the same time we still had to deal with doctor appointments, new house arrangements and settling into our temporary apartment. We did well with only a few cancelations. Now, finally, we are just waiting for the new house to be built. We'll make weekend visits to the property to watch construction progress. Hopefully we'll be able to move in by October or November. We will see.
Click here to see the pictures.
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