On Buying and Selling Our House, Pt. 2

Despite my sudden change of heart, I kept mostly quiet about my hesitations and things still continued with the listing of our house. Friday morning at 12:00am, our house officially went on the market and by Saturday morning, we had already received several calls from realtors wanting to come see it during the weekend. In the meantime, Jeremy had submitted all of the paperwork for a loan on  the new house. So along with listing our house, we also heard back late that Friday that we were fully approved and could move forward with making an offer on the new house. It was all sort of surreal, really. The very things that had us scratching our heads just a few weeks earlier were slowly coming to fruition: 

• Getting the house ready to list-check. 
• Listing the house-check.
• Getting approved for the loan-check. 
• Making an offer-on the table.
•  

So with the help of our realtor, Hadley, we went ahead and drew up the papers for our offer. We submitted it late Friday afternoon knowing that we would not hear back from the bank, who was presiding over the short sale, until Tuesday. 

Over the weekend, four different people came to look at the house. We were optimistic but not  overly hopeful. Hadley had forewarned us that the average length of a house on the market in our neighborhood is sixty-five days. So we resolved to be patient and accommodating figuring that a lot more people would have to pass through our house before we could expect an offer. 

Tuesday rolled around  with yet another showing, this time though, was different. We had found out that the potential buyer was still at our house thirty minutes past the window of when they were supposed to be there. Very good news, in our opinion. To add to our conclusion, when Hadley called their realtor late that afternoon, he expressed great interest on behalf of his client and all but said to expect an offer. Things seemed promising. We had submitted an offer on the new house-one we felt the bank would gladly accept-and it seemed like the house might have sold. Now it was just time to wait to hear back for sure. 

Late Tuesday evening, Hadley called with some unsettling news. The realtor for the new house had called him back and told him that they received another offer on Friday. The bank had countered and the people had not responded to the counter but for what reason, she wouldn't reveal. Whether or not it was because they were only interested in the house if it was a screaming deal or if it was because they were trying to scrounge up a few thousand dollars  more before they could accept, would be left unsaid. What we did know; however, is that if we wanted to still have a shot at the house, we would have to submit a new offer and for higher than our original offer and higher than the bank's counter price. Our offer would also have to be non-contingent {which was totally not in our plan!} because, unbeknown to us, the house was going into foreclosure the following Saturday. Offers submitted later than Thursday at five in the evening would no longer be considered and the house would be essentially lost. Now this is an inconvenience when you're looking to buy a house and the one you find in the process ends up selling or falling through BUT when you're selling your house ONLY for the purpose of buying one specific house, it's a little more intense. Here we were, expecting an offer on our house and we're not even sure if the very house that motivated us to move will even be available  to buy anymore. We had a an important decision to come to, make an offer regardless of the fact that our house hadn't sold and hope that we sold it in time for closing or let the house go. 

The decision was mostly an easy one for us. After a few phones calls with some of the men that Jer holds in high esteem, a notable absence of any "talking donkey's" and much prayer, we felt led to submit an a non-contingent offer. We submitted early Wednesday morning and by lunch the bank had accepted. The house was ours-in a worldly sense-by a hair. But we knew differently. This came as no surprise to the Lord, who had ordained these events before the foundations of the earth. We had just been waiting for His will to be revealed us. 

So here we were, new house in contract but waiting  and praying for our house to sell and all the while wondering what the Lord had in store with the way these events had unfolded. Wednesday night, Hadley called our hopeful buyer's realtor again. This time he didn't sound so elated and rather communicated that his client's were no longer serious about making an offer. We were disappointed but with several showings on the horizon, we continued to be hopeful that the Lord would bring the right person.

I woke up Thursday a little {lot} put out by what the day had in store for me. A call late Wednesday night had told me to please be out of the house from 10-2 so a realtor could bring their clients. Four hours?! Really?? If a four hour window was needed, I knew that the people were looking at several houses that day and that we'd just be one more among them. Nevertheless, I packed up, bad mood and all, and headed out for the day. After our four hours out of the house, we returned exhausted at a quarter after two. I barely had time to put my kids in bed, rinse some dirty diapers, and put my purse away when the door bell rang. When I opened the door, I found the realtor from earlier that day standing on our step. She apologized for the inconvenience but asked if her client's {who were waiting in the car} could come in for just one more look. Apparently they had narrowed it down to three houses and wanted to walk ours again. I agreed, provided I could leave my napping babes, and slipped out the kitchen door to give them a little breathing room. I think they were in the house for seven minutes. It's hard to say for sure but it was fast. 

As soon as they came out, I knew that they had their answer. Anyone who's been married for more than ten seconds would know that a debating married couple requires a bit more than seven minutes to make a decision on something as important as buying a house. They either knew it was THE house or they knew that it wasn't. I, on the other hand, had no idea which way they were leaning.  Nevertheless, I offered to answer any questions they might have-after all, it's not often that the owner and potential buyer get to meet. Then I poured out our love story over how we found our house and how it was the very house that Jeremy grew up in. I shared with them how we've poured our money, our time, and our dreams into making it what it is today. I told them how we love it. How we've grown our family here but that our family is the very thing that is leading us in a different direction. Then I shook their hands and walked into the house. 

As soon as they left, I immediately called Jeremy at work. We talked about how she probably loved the kitchen and the garden, and how he would have definitely loved the garage. We also agreed that it would be a total blessing if they did buy the house because there was such a sense of peace in knowing who would be moving in and loving our little house with the pistachio green garage door. 

We decided to go to Wendy's for dinner that night and there in the car, amongst hungry kids and fast food bags, we got the call that they had made an offer on the house. It was less than what we were asking but more than what we needed. And at that point it was completely and with a doubt 100% definitive that the sweet house in the mountains is where the Lord wanted us to be.