Hooray! It's official...we sold our house!
Back in December we put our house on the market, expecting the worst. Even though we weren't set to move out of our current house until the end of March, we figured we should just list the house before all the military families in the neighborhood start listing their homes in the spring.
We actually didn't have that many showings...maybe 6? And the first 2 showings were "ghost showings" because no one actually showed up! (We have a motion detector in the kitchen, so we knew no one had been in the house.) Showings got quite annoying because it was really hard to make the house look spotless with 3 little kids around, especially one like Evie. I would literally have to keep her contained in one bedroom in order to clean up the rest of the house because she would just go around reversing everything I did!
It was not a fun time in our lives. If we got a call for a showing the night before, B and I would be up late just cleaning everything in the house. Then the next day, I would have to stay out of the house with the kids until after the showing...otherwise, I'd just have to clean up the morning mess again! Sometimes we didn't get as much notice for a showing and that's when I would lose it. Luckily, B would always make an effort to come home from work for a little bit to help me tidy up the house. We would just quickly pick up toys, stash extra things in baskets, clean counter tops and mirrors, make beds, and vacuum the main areas. We also learned to just stash extra things in the van to take with us, to make the house look less cluttered. One time I had dirty morning dishes in our trunk with us! It was a real nightmare!
But then in mid-February, this couple made an offer and we accepted. Unfortunately, after the inspection, they also had a long list of things they wanted us to take care of...including ridiculous things. For example, they wanted us to install gutters. And they wanted a brand new back door. Seriously?? B and I wondered what other upgrades they also wanted us to take care of for them. They finally narrowed the list down to just the basics. B took care of most of it on his own, but it was just a lot of busy work for him.
We're glad that this whole thing is behind us. I didn't enjoy being nervous about cleaning the house all the time. I didn't enjoy trying to have the house show-ready. I didn't enjoy it, period. BUT I am thankful that we were able to sell relatively quickly.
Now, the bad news...our new house won't be ready until the middle of April. So for now, we're leasing-back our house until the end of March (that was the latest the new owners could give us). It's funny that we're now renters of our old home. Ha! Then we will be homeless for 2 weeks. We might stay with J in Austin for a week and then come back and stay with RT (and her 4 kids!) at her house for another week. It's going to be SO much fun...living out of a suitcase...in other people's houses...with 3 kids...yay! It's going to be crazy, but we're lucky to have awesome family and friends offering us their homes to crash in.
So we're busy packing up our lives in this house. Boxes, bubble wrap, trash bags everywhere. It's amazing how much stuff we've accumulated over the years. As you can see, we have one of those PODS on our driveway. Now all we have to do is fill it!
Elina's super-sad about leaving our house. By the time we move out, she will have lived here for almost exactly 6 years. She's had a lot of wonderful memories here and she really doesn't want to leave. Eli's excited about our new house, so he doesn't mind as much. Evie is just going with the flow. I'm sad to leave, but at the same time, I know it's time for us to move on. Now that B isn't in the military, it's senseless for us to live in this part of town. We're far from his work, far from stores and restaurants that we normally go to, and far from Elina and Eli's school. Once we move, I know we will save a lot on gas...and save a lot of time!
Plus, there are things we definitely don't like about this house, now that we've lived in it for 6 years...just certain things you would change about a house after you've lived in it. For example, I will be thankful that the AC and heating units aren't installed right outside the master bedroom! Can you believe that the builder of this house thought it would be ok to put 2 loud units right on the other side of the master bedroom wall? To make matters worse, they are less expensive units and they are SOOOOO loud....so loud that I have to sleep in the guest room when I know the units will go off in the middle of the night. That is definitely the biggest thing that I will not miss about this house!
But, overall, it's been a good home for us for the past 6 years. Lots of memories and lots of fun times.
Now, let's get back to packing...
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