Three weeks ago I asked for advice regarding buying our dream house without selling our current house first. The kids were dubious and I was worried that our house wouldn't sell. A lot of the people who responded advised against it, perhaps wisely so. But we went ahead anyway, and I wanted to thank everyone for the advice and give an update.
We went into contract on the new house three weeks ago today. Inspection was great, but we had a lot to do to get our house on the market. In the past three weeks, we repainted four rooms, replaced five light fixtures, powerwashed the house and decking, painted the porch, retiled and painted a bathroom, filled a pod with our decluttering efforts, washed, cleaned and staged. We listed our house at 4:30pm two days ago (Friday). By 9pm that night, after 4.5 hours, we had had two showings and an offer. Yesterday we had three more showings, presented our counteroffer, and by 9pm last night went into contract at our asking price. Our closing on our current house is scheduled for two weeks after the closing on our new house, although the buyers hope to move it up.
There were a lot of cautious people here and a lot of my friends thought it would take me at least a month to get our house ready. I want to thank everyone who responded to my question - both yay and nay sayers.
So, the obligatory question - what have you accomplished that people told you you shouldn't or couldn't?
Oh, and ps - the kids warmed up to the new house very quickly and can't wait to decorate their new bedrooms, so it's all good!
Doris Day - thank you soooo much! It's been a rough three weeks, but so worth it. And it has just felt right all along. There have been a lot of coincidences that just made things fall into place, too - like we couldn't find a tile guy who could come out in less than 6 weeks and then I remembered a friend's husband is a mason and he just happened to be between jobs and did it immediately - stuff like that. Almost everyone said I couldn't or shouldn't do it, and I'm so glad they were all looking out for me. But I'm so glad I didn't listen and just followed my gut! Even on Friday my husband was saying we should work through the weekend and list it next week and I said we'd be ready. When the realtor showed up to take pictures, the floor was still wet - I literally worked right up to the last minute. So glad we listed Friday! So we still just have to get through our inspection and the rest of the process and we'll be good - but because of all the work, our asking price was even 8,000 more than what the realtor predicted she would list it at and what we counted on when we went into contract on the new house, and we got it. So it's all good.
Thanks, Cat! I'm actually good with the local part - so much of our stuff is already in the pod and I hope I have a few days between closings to cart boxes back and forth - it'll be a lot cheaper in moving costs in the long run!
But yes, I'll be plying all my friends with lots of beer and brats!
Forget the obligatory question! You guys are amazing and I'm SO happy for you! I'll bet the pod work has made you feel great - there's nothing like selling a house or moving to get rid of extra stuff you don't need!
I hope everything goes well with this! Again, SO happy for you!
WOW!! Congratulations to you!
Now the 'real' fun begins...the packing and the moving!! Local moves for me are the hardest. Much easier to have everything packed up and driven away, and then returned to your new 'digs' hundreds of miles away.
Anyway, I am glad that all worked out so well.
Best luck
Congrats... you've really worked hard, and it all fell into place beautifully! Sounds like you picked the right weekend to get your house listed.
Congratulations, it sounds like you got all of your ducks in a row and it worked!
The housing market here is very good. The desirable homes are not staying on the market more than 2-3 days and there have been some bidding wars going on as well so a lot of people are getting more than the asking price.
We just closed on a very nice condo for our daughter on July 31. We offered cash at the asking price to start with and that got us the contract because there were no lenders to deal with.. BUT, after we all signed the contract, someone came in after us and offered $10,000 more (not cash offer) and tried to get us ousted from the contract. It was a rough couple of days waiting to find out if the buyer was going to break the contract.
In the end, we got it, daughter is a happy camper living in the preferred zip code of town in a very safe condo to live in while she goes to college. We had no plans to purchase anything at this time... we found out on July 12 that she did not have campus housing as we thought she did. Turns out, many kids did not get housing due to a dorm not being completed. It worked out in our favor but there are a lot of students displaced because of the issue.
Best wishes on your new home!! When you are focused and have your priorities in order... you can accomplish a lot!
Congratulations! I love it when people get offers on their houses so fast!! (Mainly because we had two house payments for a LONG nine months when we relocated for my husband's job).
That is great! You obviously did everything right...deck cluttered, painted, cleaned and most importantly priced your house right. I just love it when everything works out so smoothly!
We too followed our gut when buying a house... We were not looking to move and had just done pretty major renovations on our house...removing walls etc... We happened to drive buy a new development.... Saw a sign and a trailer but no houses yet. Stopped in to check it out and left a check with our deposit money. I think our families thought we were nuts. This was also about 2 months after our son had died and the experts say don't make any major life decisions like moving but we did and it worked out for us. Many years of happiness in your new house!!
Sometimes the planets align just perfectly, contrary to what *should* happen. You had luck on your side, but it does take courage to jump in, even when it could turn out to be a disaster. It's awesome that it's turning out so well for you! Enjoy your new home!
Congrats! How exciting?
Yup all the time. i love the look on their faces. :)
So happy for you. When things line up just right, it seems that the universe is sending you a message. Glad you were ready to receive it!
