The Transition

Okay, I’m back from the DL, retroactive to June 27th. That was Moving Day.

And it was a hell of a weekend--highs and lows galore.

We’ll start on Saturday. The movers arrived a little after 8am. We answered their questions and gave them a little direction before I headed to QuikTrip to buy us all some hydration. You may recall that it was ridiculously hot and humid two Saturdays ago, and I was incredibly thankful that we made the decision to hire help. Of course, their job was made that much more difficult by Time Warner Cable's ineptitude because the movers couldn't get their truck into the driveway (they did not move the "temporary" cable they installed years ago during the internet installation debacle, instead clipping the one that wasn't in the way at all--another story for another time, but I just wanted to make the point that I hate Time Warner).

At 9:15am, I got a call from ReMax’s central operator saying an agent wanted to do a second showing on our house. I told them no because we were moving; I don’t know how impressive the house would look with all the doors open and boxes strewn all over. A few minutes later, MY agent called back and said we really need to show it because the party was REALLY interested. I asked if they could reschedule for late this afternoon. He’d let us know.

My mom called from the new house to let me know they’d delivered the washer and dryer (at the very end of the 2-hour window, of course). I called my agent back for an update; he said the potential buyers probably couldn’t reschedule, but they’re checking.

The movers loaded up the truck, and we found out all our stuff wouldn’t quite fit. It was a little disappointing, but not too big a deal—we’re moving all of 15 minutes away. Packing complete, I went to the new house while my fiancee cleaned the place up a bit in case the showing happened.

I directed the movers where to put things for a bit, then the Dish guy arrived. I have had Dish network for 5 years and LOVE it. The prices almost never change and I rarely have the reception issues the cable companies always try to scare you with. However, he said he couldn’t install it without running a wire all the way around the outside of the house. That didn’t sound too appealing; are you sure there isn’t another way?

I talked to my agent again, talked to my fiancee again. The agent said the buyers couldn’t make the afternoon showing…but they submitted an offer. Really? Wow. Put that over there. No, Dish guy, I’m not running a wire around the house I just bought. Baby, you don’t understand—I mean all the way around the back of the house. It’ll be ugly; even the tech is saying so. Yes, Mr. Agent, come on over to show me the offer. Okay; this looks pretty good, but I won’t make any decisions until after I eat because it’s 3pm and I haven’t eaten all day and I'm exhausted.

And that was just Saturday. Sunday was mostly unpacking and picking up a few more necessities from our now-former house. Seeing the place made us sad, because WE made that house what it is. There are so many memories there, and so much of our sweat equity there. The flooring, the garden…it was US. We cried a lot, wondering if we made too hasty of a decision.

Monday, I signed the contract on the old house at work. We close July 30th. I thought we’d have more time… I had to shut my office door when I was done because I broke down again.

Shortly after that I found out about Chris. I had to leave work. Then I got a voice mail from my agent, congratulating me because the buyers agreed to the minor changes in the counteroffer.

Everything was final. That hit both of us really hard. We know in our heads that we made a sound decision in every way. But the new place doesn’t feel like home yet. It feels like we’re living in someone else’s house. As a good friend put it, we need to buy some paint and head to IKEA soon (m.v. and Bull, get your order forms ready).

That said, we’re starting to adapt. It’s getting better. Yesterday, we walked out our front door…down an actual sidewalk…through a quiet, tree-lined neighborhood where people actually made eye contact AND smiled…to a nice, well-kept park.

That was a first for us. I think we can get used to that.

Done Deal

The house is officially ours; more accurately, neither party can now legally back out of the deal. We signed the "Inspection Notice" and "Resolution of Unacceptable Conditions Amendment" yesterday, which basically confirm that yes, we had the house inspected, and yes, we have a couple things that could stand fixing if you would be willing to take care of it Mr. Seller (he was).

All we need is to get CapFed up to speed and get our loan cleared, and we close on June 25.

We're really excited. The discussions of our pending cargo van adventure to IKEA have already commenced. There's obviously a long list of stuff we have to do, from getting utilities set up to getting an insurance policy, but those are probably small potatoes compared to the biggie:

Selling our current house.

My optimism regarding what we can get for the house waxes and wanes on a near-hourly basis. We have a couple family members who might be interested, which would save us agent commission but they probably wouldn't pay us full price. Of course, what the hell is full price?

It's going to be tough to tell since there are few good comps for our house. The quirks: Our house is at least 20 years newer than any 2BR/1BA house in the area. It's next to an interstate (yay access, boo noise). It's got a very large yard. It's has better landscaping than a lot of homes. It's better decorated than almost anything I've seen in the area. It's in a convenient location. It's not in a great location.

We can just list it with an agent and not worry much about it until we get an offer, but I always fret about how much my best interests would be taken into account by an agent (I thought I was the only one who felt that way until I read Freakonomics).

Now, add the fact that the real estate market in KCK has taken a nosedive much worse than most surrounding areas. Too many foreclosures and derelict properties have made my "blue collar" (read: poor) hometown a sporadic jungle of overgrown yards and broken windows.

Should be interesting.