Tuesday, May 26, 2009

For Sale

For Sale. Two little words that represent a YEAR of work and worry and stress and more work. I can't believe it's official...our house is for sale! The realtor was here for about an hour, we signed some papers and agreed on a listing price, and then she stuck the sign in our front yard. It was so easy that it was almost anti-climatic. I mean, we've been working and stressing and wondering for an entire year and in one hour everything comes to fruition. It just seems too easy. We got a rave review from the realtor (and also our neighbors) but we will continue to question the listing price until we start getting calls requesting showings of the house. And if there's not enough interest, we'll just lower the price. The thing about this house is that, if you were to give us a low-ball offer right after a heavy rainstorm, we'd just take it. But on bright, sunny days I look around at all the features of the home and I think that even at full price, this house is a steal. It's hard to stay emotionally uninvolved because we're SO ready to be out of here and to start a new chapter of our lives in a new home. We're listing it below the assessment value in order to generate more interest. We'll know within a couple weeks if it's working. It rained all day yesterday and most of the night, so TJ was up almost all night long again. (Nothing happened, the sump pump is running perfectly, and the basement is thankfully dry as a bone. I think, more than likely, that will be how it is from now on but we just can't shake our nervousness. That's why we need someone to move in who can just ENJOY this house, having no bad memories here because it really is a beautiful home.) But the rest of the week looks dry and sunny so we're happy about that. Whenever I glance out the window and see that white sign in my yard, I feel a swell of pride. It would have been a lot easier to foreclose on this home and walk away, letting it mold and rot. But we continued making our house payments, even when our house was smelling like a sewer and uninhabitable and we were living with TJ's parents. (And believe me, sending that mortgage bill in every month was harder to do than it might sound. We were like, why are we making payments on a ruined house??) And then we just kept sticking it out, one project at a time until the house was gutted, sanitized, rebuilt, inhabitable, and--finally--appealing. We in no way got to this point on our own. It took dozens of volunteers, countless man hours, and more borrowed tools than we can name. This house was our Everest, and I feel like that sign going up in our front yard was like planting the flag on top of the mountain. The view is a lot better from here. --KC

3 comments:

  1. how exciting, a "for sale" sign is such a good sign of moving forward, no pun intended. I wish you guys the best of luck with selling your home and moving somewhere where you can relax and not have any bad memories. Yay!! house for sale!!!

    love
    Tina

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  2. That is SO exciting and wonderful. The house looks just great!
    luvs, aby

    PS - where are you guys planning on moving to?

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  3. We're moving about 15 min south to Ankeny (where Aimee and Dale live now). That's where TJ's office is and he'd love to be able to bike to work, plus it's an actual town with restaurants and stores aplenty (Super Walmart, Super Target, Kohls, Best Buy, Petsmart, etc.) We're very excited since Cambridge has a tiny gas station...and that's about it.

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