Friday, July 14, 2017

And then it happened.

2017 has been a real duzy so far. I'm serious when I say that every single month of this year has brought about something life-changing. It started in January with our sweet cat, Bubba, passing away and trickled all the way up until this month.

A year and some change ago now, I wrote a blog post explaining that Kyle and I were putting our house up on the market, sharing how we got to that point and what our tentative plan was. At that time, I truly felt that our home was going to sell quickly. How could it not? We were following our hearts and I believed that God would deliver immediately.

But that's not how it went down.

After over 70 showings, we only received two offers. The first came in May, right before our trip to Michigan, and it was way too low. The buyer wasn't willing to come up and we weren't willing to go lower. And that was that.

God had brought an incredible friend into my life this year. I was feeling content and comfortable here- and on the opposite side- Kyle was feeling some doubt. Wondering if we jumped the gun in listing our house and lowering the price a couple of times...so taking the house off the market seemed like the best plan and the most probable, honestly.
We talked about it and prayed. And we came to the conclusion that if our house hadn't sold by the time our contract was up, early July, we would take the house off the market and reevaluate the coming Spring 2018 and try listing our home again.

I believed whole-heartedly that if God wanted our house sold- it would sell.
And what would you know, two weeks before taking our house off the market- our second offer came in on the house.
Again, it was too low...so we countered, pretty flippantly. We had no wiggle room financially and knew that our counter offer would most likely be declined and therefore, we didn't really discuss it further.

Late on the evening of June 17th- our realtor contacted us to let us know that the buyers accepted our counter.

Our counter was accepted. And on June 18th, Father's Day, we made it official on the contract.

Kyle was at work that evening and so sadly, we weren't able to have that moment. One where you hug and cry and just soak it up. Instead, anxiety ensued. Kyle called and started talking about how he felt we needed to stay past the closing to pay off debt. I felt like we needed to move immediately because God was clearly paving the way.
It was a difficult few days for us as we went through different emotions and figured out how to sort through everything that was to come.

One by one- each step came and each step was completed.

We held our breath has the inspector came to look at our home, built in the 1920's, for THREE hours. We had several things we were nervous about and several things we were sure the inspector would point out- specifically radon. Our radon mitigation system isn't functioning and although we never felt the need for it (nor did the previous owners)- the buyers could see that as non-negotiable and request that we have the system fixed....which could cost a lot of money that we simply don't have.

As it would turn out- they didn't test the radon levels and therefore, we didn't need to fix the system. And aside from 3-4 minor fixes...the inspector found no other issues.
We truly couldn't believe it- and knew God was working.

Next and final step was the appraisal. We were also worried about this step in the process because the buyer's are offering above asking price with closing credit. That could be a problem if the appraiser found our house to be worth much less in our current buyer's market.

We anxiously awaited news.... and today- we received it.

A text came through from our realtor and it read,  "Appraisal hit our number...great news there!"

I'll be honest and say that I cried. The final step before the actual closing! We had made it! There was relief, and nervousness, and excitement, and basically an overall feeling of....WOW. This is really happening.

So what now?

We talked a lot about our options. About our hopes and goals- and we came to the conclusion that we have different roles in reaching the same goal.

Basically, in early August, we'll pack up my belongings and our kitty, Moneypenny, and Kyle will drop us off in Michigan and fly back to Connecticut. He'll live with his parents for awhile, hitting his 9 year mark working as a Judicial Marshal and simultaneously paying off debt.
I will be living with my parents, scouting out apartments and getting myself and Moneypenny acclimated with as little change as possible. (Neither Mp or I handle change well. Fact.)
Kyle will join us in December, right before Christmastime....and stay!

If I'm real- I'm super sad and nervous about being apart from Kyle that long. Since we've been married, nearly 8 years now, we've only spent 1 night apart. ONE. And we like it that way.
But when we weighed all of our options- this one just made the most sense to us.

When Kyle comes in December, we'll line up his new job, whatever that will be, and try and find a nice apartment. We want to feel out different areas to see where we'd like to buy a new home and set down roots. Indiana is also a possibility.

Right now, we're starting to kick it into high gear as we make mountains of lists, book appointments for myself and Mp, debate storage, purchase plane tickets, and tie up loose ends.  We're not completely out of the woods until both parties have signed the closing papers, August 11th, but we're so close.

Through this whole process- I am so, so humbled by how God has revealed Himself. How He has shown that He would work it out in His time- and it would be perfect. I still can't get over how we were TWO WEEKS away from removing it from the market when the offer came in. Or how we didn't have to pay to fix the radon system. Or how we seemingly passed the appraisal with flying colors.
All of this was unexpected- which is silly because, well, we should expect God to deliver.

We would love your continued prayers and "good vibes" as we continue through this process and start the very hard part of saying goodbye to favorite people, places, and memories.

As I've said to many people recently- although this is something we want....there is so much we'll miss about living here, too. Such a bittersweet thing...but I look forward to the day where it simply becomes sweet and we can fully enjoy and embrace this new phase of life we're about to enter.


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