And 10 Things We Loved
Our house was built in the late 1800s. The foundation was restored in the 1970s. New windows and siding were added about ten years before we bought it.
Despite how new it looked, the house had old bones. Seriously old bones. And the amount of upkeep required was wearing us down. Dani hated having to pay for the cost of repairs, and I hated doing most of the repairs. (I am NOT a handyman.) The mortgage wasn’t so bad, but it was getting expensive just to maintain the property. We also didn’t like being so far away from our families, our church, and my job. Gas prices were killing us!
As much as Dani and I loved our 4-bedroom home on its 4 acres of beautiful grassy hillside property, we were starting to resent the amount of work it was costing us. And after going through Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University we became convinced that living in debt to our house wasn’t the best place to be investing so much of our finances.
So we made the decision to sell.
Our realtor seemed convinced that the house would be a quick sale. It was in a prime spot. It had lots of space. It was affordable. She expected it to sell within three months.
Well it took almost ten months! Ten months of showings and offers and waiting and things not working out. Ultimately, selling the house proved to be a bag of mixed feelings.
Here are 10 things that we LOVED and 10 things that we HATED about selling our house.
10 Things That We Hated
1. Paying for it.
Dani and I moved in with my Grandma after we decided to sell, and paying for a mortgage on a house that we weren't living in became kind of a drag.
2. The constant showings.
I really wanted the house to be sold before winter, because I knew if it didn’t I’d be making frequent trips to the house to shovel out the walkways and do fairly regular check-ups in case the realtor had a showing. Well, that’s EXACTLY what I ended up doing because the house didn't sell before winter.
3. Never-ending “house” questions.
We were fortunate to have a lot of people praying for us as the struggle to sell our house became more problematic, but that meant answering questions like “Did you sell the house yet?” or “How’s the house sale going?” about ten times a day, more on weekends. My unchanging response of “No movement yet,” got REALLY old.
4. Realtor’s giving us false hope.
I don’t know what other people’s experiences have been like with realtors, but we got the feeling our realtor was giving us a lot of sweet frosting on top of what was, otherwise, a stale cake. Every time she had a showing she’d make a big deal of it. Every time she spoke to potential buyers she made it sound like they were REALLY interested. Ok, well, why aren’t we getting any offers if so much great stuff is happening.
5. Packing and packing and packing.
When we moved to Grandma’s we left a lot of our stuff in the house because our realtor said if the rooms looked like they were being lived in it would make it easier for buyers to imagine their own lives there. Still, every time I’d go visit the house I’d try to pack up some boxes to put in storage—dishes, movies, bedding, office stuff. Bit by bit. Little bit little. Ugh.
6. Hearing what the buyers didn’t like.
Our house was an old house. Old houses have slanted floors, old knob and tube wiring, funky baseboard heating, and many other oddities that you just don’t find in modern homes. And you know what, that stuff is fine. The inspector might throw a fit if he sees old wiring, but that wiring has been there for decades. It's not plugged in and it's not going to hurt anyone. My Grandma’s house is filled with old wiring. So is Dani's parents' house. It’s fine. Ignore it. It’s in the walls. It’s hidden. It’s not a big deal. But buyers would freak out about that stuff, stuff we couldn’t really do anything about. I’m sorry, I’m not ripping apart all the sheetrock to make sure there’s no old wiring.
7. Itty bitty living space.
We went from a 4-bedroom, 2,400-square-foot home to a tiny little one bedroom space at Grandma’s. We shared the kitchen with her. We shared the bathrooms. I had lived with Grandma back when I was single, and she’s the sweetest most generous lady in the world, but being married is different. Sometimes there just wasn’t enough space.
8. Making sure the house was clean.
Every time there was a showing I’d have to go over to the house and clean up—rake the yard, mow the lawn, shovel snow, dust, vacuum, and do whatever needed to be done. Sure, we weren’t living there, but that doesn’t mean that all maintenance had to stop. I began to feel like a maid service.
9. Waving goodbye to opportunity.
Every time a buyer would pass on the house or we’d hear about another house in our neighborhood that sold, we’d get this feeling of sadness because there went another opportunity. We'd say to ourselves, “If only we had done THIS,” or “Maybe if we had tried THAT,” then maybe we would’ve got the sale.
10. Haggling over prices.
Buyers always ask for the price to be lowered. Always. They’ll find any contingency they can just to get you to come down $3,000 or $5,000. We expected that. What we didn’t expect was the stupid reasons they would find to have the price lowered. Our realtor would say, “They’re offering THIS MUCH, but only if the cement slab the old shed is on is removed,” or “They like the property, but they want you to knock of $2,000 to replace the latticework on the porch.” *palms face*
Our beautiful backyard with over an acre of green grass, lilac bushes, raspberries, grapes, and gardening space.
The path leading up to the woods. Another three acres to roam around on, snowshoe, hike, and explore.
Our big old New Hampshire house in spring.
10 Things That We Loved
Living in that house for three years taught us a lot about what we really want out of home.
2. Grandma.
She loved having us live with her, helping around the house, mowing the lawn, shoveling snow, and we loved living with her rent free, which was a HUGE help because we were still paying our mortgage.
3. Having time to breath.
While living at our house we were so preoccupied with leaks in the basement, peeling paint, snow on the porch, and ticks in the backyard, that we sort of lost our vision for our family. Selling the house and living with Grandma for a year gave us the *inhales long and slow* that we needed.
4. Being closer to family.
We were about half an hour from anything—my work, my family, Dani’s family, our church. So moving closer to all of that was a huge bonus!
5. Learning more about each other.
I was the one who complained the most about our old house, but when it came to selling it I had the hardest time letting go. Dani, on the other hand, complained the most about selling it—about having to pack everything up, about the process of moving, about the pains of waiting and wondering and hoping for the house to sell. When it did finally sell, she was the happiest. It was funny how we approached the situation so differently.
6. All of our caring friends.
The same group of friends who prayed with us when we bought the house, also prayed for us as we went through the process of selling it. I was afraid they would laugh at us. “You wanted this house so bad a few years ago, and now you want to sell it?! What’s wrong with you?” But they were all very gracious, generous, helpful, and understanding.
7. Learning to let go.
Selling our home was a situation that was truly beyond our control. All we could do is wait and trust and hope that God and the universe and fate and destiny would bring along the right buyer at the right time. It was truly a practice of patience.
8. Mowing Grandma’s lawn.
I grew up playing in that yard. My Grandpa (who passed away a few years ago) taught me how to use a riding lawn mower in the yard. And I spent many years helping him maintain it as a teenager. Returning to that property and caring for the lawn made me feel close to him again, even though he was gone. I don’t think I ever enjoyed mowing grass as much as I did those two summers we lived with Grandma.
9. Being with family.
Grandma’s house is pretty much the epicenter of the Grant family. All my uncles and many of my cousins pass through that house weekly. It was fun getting to see so much of family. It was like God knew we were going to be moving 4,900 miles away soon and he was giving us that year to spend with them all.
10. Saving money.
After our house sold we lived with Grandma for a while longer. It was nice not having any debt, no mortgage, and no rent. We were able to save our money as we planned for our next stage in life.
I know I may sound like an ungrateful prude. We owned a house. We were very fortunate. I get that. And looking back I can see that I worried and grumbled a LOT more than I should have.
It's life experiences like this that help us appreciate what we do or don't have. Every moment is a gift, every thing we own and every breath we take is a blessing.
I'm excited to see what's in store for us next.
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