So Slow and Then Really, Really Fast!

Waiting for a very important milestone - like hitting the road full-time - makes the time seem like it is crawling by. Both Bill and I have several countdowns - from the number of Mondays he has left to work, to how many months until Richie graduates, to how long until we can buy the rig. Looking back, the time seems to be moving at a pretty good clip, but looking forward, the finish line has always seemed very far away.

Until now. 

 

Here we go!

With the loss of our potential buyer, selling the house becomes priority number one. Timing the sale to put us in the right position at the right time with the right price becomes "the great juggling act of 2014/15".  Buying the rig is dependent on the sale of the house, and the sale of the house must happen before Bill's retirement date. 

Also between now and then are the Holidays and Brian's wedding - all considerations when timing a move. If we sell early we will need to rent an apartment for 4-5 months, and if later, then the move will be directly to the motorhome. A few weeks in the rig with a 17 year-old boy seems reasonable - more than that seems like a recipe for homicide.

Do we want to spend our last big Christmas with the kids in an apartment? No. Do we want to risk not selling the house in the first quarter of the year? Bigger No.

So the realtor came over on Tuesday. Do they ever walk in and say "We should list it at thousands more than you were thinking."? Not in my experience :-(. I've been paying attention to the flat-line of housing prices since the big 20% jump last year, and to the increasing inventory of listings in our area - not a positive trend for sellers. That's the reason I wanted to know the status of our potential buyer now, rather than later.

Which is why we've decided to list the house in two weeks.

And why now things are moving really, really fast!

In addition to all the fixes and staging (so thankful we have purged all the extra stuff already!) that have to get done in two weeks, are all the "timing" scenarios running through my head. The earlier the sale, the less stress about all the other pieces for next year falling into place. I know all too well the misery of having a house on the market for an extended period of time.  But an early sale also means one additional move between the S&B and the rig, and celebrating Christmas in a very temporary place.

Of course the gods could be smiling on us and the early buyer will want a long escrow, or will want to do a rent-back, and then we'll have the perfect scenario. I've told the realtor to look for that buyer. He wrote it down.

The Home Depot and Honey-Do lists have begun. Small-job contractors have been contacted for estimates with quick-turn-arounds. The family has been assured that the "drill-sergeant-from-hell" will leave as soon as the projects are completed (no better incentive for quality work at a rapid pace), and that she still loves them :-).

After so many slow months, the next few are going to fly by. Here's hoping for a smooth flight, ending in the exact place we want to be, with a landing that we all survive.