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Monday, March 15, 2010

A House: the Long Story and the Short Story

Time it took to prepare the house for sale while he worked his usual 14 hour day and I was an hour and a half away on the farm: 7 months

How much bickering and disagreeing and fighting we did in that time: more than the previous 18 years of marriage put together

How many times I told my parents and kids this would be the last time I'd have to go back to the house for a week to get it ready: Twice

When we put the sign on the lawn and the listing hit the internet: Last Wednesday

First showing: Thursday

Number of showings in total: lost count at 22

Number of days on the market until we looked at offers: 4

Number of offers presented: 5

People who did not win our house: the family with the slick smarmy agent who tried to butter up ours to get in first; the couple with knee surgery who wanted a bungalow so she wouldn't have to navigate stairs, who were stupid because why would you buy a house with such a beautifully finished basement if you'd never go down there plus their agent pestered ours the whole afternoon and was a general pain; the agent who lowballed us; the guy whose offer would have been perfectly okay in any other circumstance but just wasn't good enough

The family who did win our house: A man and a woman with thick Eastern European accents; she has a pretty face and a shy smile, he has a big grin and is built strong like a truck; two teenage boys who tower over both their parents and upon seeing the house for the first time that day looked like they'd just won the lottery.




Someday I will try to put into words how I feel about all of this...

The sadness over leaving behind the home I raised my babies in and created so many memories.

The relief of having gotten this over with.

The excitement of starting the next phase of our lives.

The worry that I won't be able to see my ol' town friends as much.

The belief that this is another step in my master plan to get the kids, the horses and the husband all onto the same property.



But now, I just want to relax for a few days.

9 comments:

Unknown said...

OMG-- I'm so glad for you. You are so lucky it sold so fast. Ours was on the market for 8 months-- after we worked like dogs to get it ready too, and we had to lower our price to the point that we're going to be tight for a long, long time. It was super stressful. I'm very glad it's over, and despite your mixed feelings, I bet you are too.

Bunny said...

Congratulations!!

jules said...

Yippee! Know that all your hard work (and fussing too) will have paid off when the papers get signed! And can you ask for better folks to pass on your well loved home to? Hopefully they'll get many, many years of happiness in it as you did. And just think of the karma going around!

Congratulations!

mugwump said...

yahoo!

Heidi Willis said...

I'm so so happy for you!! What a great story post this is... one you can look back on for years and know, when it was right, it was right.

Take some deep country-air breaths. And start the new journey. Just think how exciting this new chapter is going to be!

Paul Tee said...

Congratulations. Great news! I know it has been a challenge. In spite of all the good years, in the end, the house became a millstone around your necks.

It also good it went so fast, saving you the impatience of waiting and tons of worry.

I agree with Ms. Willis; you closed one chapter and started a new one. Yeah! Relax, rejuvenate, then get up and kick the heck out of the world.

JKB said...

I'm so glad this worked!!!

I am having an hour to read my blogs courtesy of hubs! I am so glad to see you blogging again!

<3

Xtin said...

I feel you. And my heart is squeezed by the thought of those two boys looking like they'd won the lottery.

I'm sure that's a little bright shard of karma for you, right there.

dilling said...

whew