Going, Going… GONE!

As of Friday, July 12, we are officially back to owning a single home. Our other house has finally sold.

After working with one realtor for six months and having no bites, we switched things up and went with a different one based on a recommendation from our friend Patty. There are so many variables in real estate that it’s hard for me to say any one change made a difference, but some combination of things (the new realtor, the time of year, another price drop) finally worked. We changed realtors in the middle of May; seven weeks later, the house has officially changed hands.

As is customary, prior to the sale the buyer had a home inspection performed, and imagine our surprise when the final report we received was 42 pages long. 42 pages! The gentleman who inspected the house missed his calling as a crime scene investigator! The (very) detailed report included pictures of every crack in every exterior brick, every place a screw was missing from a wall plate, and every spot surrounding a sink, bathtub, toilet, or counter top that could use some caulking. There were a few things in the report we were aware of, and many things that simply made me laugh — like the fact that our 14-year-old sidewalk was no longer perfectly level. My favorite was the part where he pointed at that in certain places on the second floor, the floor creaked.

After receiving the report, the buyers only asked that we have the HVAC system professionally serviced, and have the house sprayed for ants and spiders. I can only assume they figured we weren’t going to spend thousands of dollars on repairs after dropping our asking price $50k, (and they would have been correct). Both tasks were performed last week prior to the final walk through. On Tuesday, Susan and I signed our half of the paperwork; on Friday, the buyers signed the other half. Done and done.

Whenever I sell a car, I’m the guy that will go on (and on) pointing out every single flaw (usually to my own financial detriment). The last thing in the world I would want to do is hide any serious issues from a future owner. There was no massive looming bill or repair that prompted us to sell the house. We just wanted more land, and a little less house. The new owners, from what we’ve been told, were looking for a little more house. We hope they love it as much as we did.

On to the next adventure!