Saving Money
Stuck in the Middle With You
If you are thinking of selling your home and purchasing a different one, you may be wondering how the timing of everything will come together. You have to find a house, secure funding, make an offer, negotiate a purchase price, agree to a closing date, provide earnest money, complete inspections, and that is only half the picture! For most folks, you will also have a house to sell, and none of that fun can even begin until you have a firm contract on your own property.
The simple reality is that many folks just can’t qualify for two mortgages. This will keep you from truly being able to go house shopping, until your house is sold. In order to purchase a home and take on a new mortgage, you are going to have to close out your old one first. Additionally, you will probably want to use any profits you might make from the sale of that first home, as a down payment on your new house.
But wait, stop the car. The timing of all of this sounds very confusing. Once you do find a buyer and sell your house, the agreement will come with a closing date attached. Frighteningly, this means that you must have a house selected, take care of the items above, and still give the home sellers the standard 30 days notice- all in a potentially very small window of time.
Imagine a scenario where the selling process is thoroughly disruptive and exhausting, and then finally– after some of the longest weeks in memory– you get an offer, negotiate a price, and go under contract. Wheeew. Relief. Hugs. Drinks. And then, you are immediately launched into a different kind of stress, where you have to quickly make a decision on what will be one the largest purchases of your entire life.
If you haven’t figured it out, this is indeed the situation where Michelle and I currently sit. Yes, we sold our house, which is a wonderful feeling. Statistics say that the average time on market for a home in our zip code is 177 days, and we feel very fortunate because we sold our home in only 45. In spite of that amazing news, the situation is now quite tense, because of the timing situation. We are scheduled to close at the end of May, and have no idea where we are going to live after that.
Ever since we made the decision to sell our home, we have been taking a close look at virtually every house that comes up for sale in the area that could potentially fit our needs. Sites like Zillow and Trulia make this easy, and you can find a good reason not to buy almost every house that comes available from the comfort of your own home. During the time that our house was listed for sale, there have been 3 or 4 houses that came available that seemed absolutely perfect. Michelle and I both probably looked at pictures of these houses dozens of times each, even going so far as to plan out what furniture would work well in each room. Of course, all of these houses sold before our home did, meaning that we weren’t able to make an offer on any of them.
As of today, I can say that there doesn’t seem to be a single house available that we are ready to buy. There are a few that we will probably take a look at this upcoming weekend, but all of them seem to have issues that may end up holding us back. We are hopeful that our dream home will pop up out of nowhere in the next few days, as they truly do seem to just appear. In reality, we have about 10 days to get everything sorted out. If we can’t find our home before then, we will likely have to find an apartment for a month or two to get us through the summer months. This is certainly not our preferred route, because it will necessitate a double-move.
In the meantime, we are relieved and happy to have found a buyer for our house, and we are excited to begin the next phase of our life. Until our house sells, we are stuck in the middle, but our glass is certainly half full.
Read MoreOpen House; Definite Dos and Tragic Don’ts
We are approaching the one month mark of having a house on the market. This is the point where one begins to go crazy. Neither my husband or I am very patient, which obviously makes matters worse. Every time we have a showing that doesn’t instantly procure an offer, we analyze and over-analyze everything we did prior to the appointment. Is it possible that something we’ve done in an attempt to make our home more marketable has actually backfired? As I reflect on this question, I think about the homes that I’ve viewed and the open houses I’ve attended.
The Smooth Talker
One of the first houses I fell in love with –this time around– showed like a display home. The homeowners had great decor and taste, and I swooned at every detail. They had candles lit, soft music playing in the background, freshly-baked cookies, all the tables were set and all the pillows were fluffed. Everything was perfect. The problem? I’m not in the market for candles or throw pillows. I’m looking for a house. In fact, everything they did expecting to make their house more marketable left a bad taste in my mouth. It made me question everything. What smells were they hiding with all the candles and cookies? Pet stains in the carpet or worse; mold in the walls. And the soft music they had playing for me? Who doesn’t love Adele, right? While I don’t know anyone who doesn’t think she’s amazing, it was honestly a bit distracting. It also made me wonder if they had annoyingly squeaky floors or if the laundry room was in a bad place for entertaining purposes. Maybe one of the toilets runs incessantly. Although none of these things alone are deal-breakers, as I sat and questioned whether it was the house or the music I liked, I began to realize more of the unlikable attributes of the home. I’m not sure I would have picked it apart in such a way had they just turned on all the lights and turned off all the music. All the unnecessary fluff made it feel as though the homeowners were trying to dupe us into buying a lemon with their emotionally-charged lullabies and the utilization of dim lights.
Besides, music can be very taste specific. My husband, for one, is a music snob who generally loathes anything mainstream. Make fun of him all you like (I do plenty!) but you could easily offend his picky ears even if you played something that you think is generally crowd-friendly. Scents can be just as polarizing, especially since it’s been proven that the sense of smell is most closely linked to the emotional parts of our brains. In fact, there’s an article in the New York Times referring to the nose as an “emotional time machine”–love that! Because you have no clue what emotional ties your buyers may have to any particular scent, clean and unperfumed is your best bet. Save the candles and pillow sprays for your SO.
The Pee Pee Pirate
On the other side of the coin, don’t neglect the most basic of chores when you get the call from your realtor that someone wants to view your home. When we were looking for our current house years ago, we went into a home that had a similar price tag and square footage, but was immediately thrown into the “no” pile because of a teeny tiny bit of, sigh, pee pee on the potty. Even if the buyers only give you 20 minutes to get your house together, don’t worry about the toys on the floor or the unmade beds, but always make sure the bathrooms are clean.
Keeping your home in a fairly clean state while you’re on the market definitely helps. That way, if you do get called with little notice, you can quickly throw any dirty dishes into the dishwasher, wipe down the counters and tables, and clean the bathrooms. Your home may not be completely perfect, but toys or clothes on the floor don’t usually elicit the same negative reaction as seeing someone else’s bathroom mess.
I’ve been inside several more homes, but I think you get the gist.
Breakdown of dos and don’ts (are those really words?)
DO: keep your house super clean. This one should be a no-brainer, but you’d be surprised. Remember the most important rooms first; kitchen and bathrooms!
DON’T: light candles or use a lot of air fresheners. It makes people wonder what you’re hiding, but could also dredge up other feelings.
DO: turn on all the lights.
DON’T: play music. Unfortunately, there’s no such thing as music that everyone likes.
DO: open all curtain and blinds and unlock any gates or child-proof doors/drawers if at all possible.
DON’T: set the tables for showings. For pictures; great! For showings; it just looks desperate and a little too HGTV.
[ETA thanks to a great comment from Kelly] DO: box up your clothes you know you’re not going to wear much. It will make your closets look bigger if they’re not spilling over. And finally DO: remove family photos. Yes, your family is adorable, but give the buyers a chance to picture themselves living in the space.
Good luck out there!
Believe It Or Not.
Looking at the state of our finances today, it’s hard to believe how far we’ve come. Believe it or not, for the first time in a long time, we are in a good place financially. The strangest part is how it is all happening so quickly. Not only have we completely paid off almost $22,000 of consumer debt in a little over a year, but as of late, we have been finding financial gains and genuinely profitable opportunities around every corner…and we’re not leaving any stone unturned! In the last week alone, I’ve received two job offers and I’m not even looking for work! Both of these jobs could be quite perfect for our situation and schedule. Jefferson’s job is very demanding with some long hours at times and of course we have three children who require just a bit of our attention. Speaking of my husband’s job, he did just receive a nice bonus and did well at his annual review. I’m so proud of my hard-working man! All of these things have happened in just the last few weeks, so it has taken us by surprise to watch our savings grow so rapidly. The quick change from red to black (or should I say green?) has given us little time to reflect on the difficult financial year we’ve just recently eclipsed.
I’ve read a ton of financial blogs (shocker!) about how finally paying off your debt can be sort of anticlimactic, but that simply isn’t the case over here! We are feeling very excited about the future of our finances. Let’s take a peek at why. In the past year plus, we have truly put every ounce of energy and extra cent into paying down the burdensome load we were lugging. Our year of sabbatical, as I so lovingly refer, contained no vacations, no shopping excursions (except for the time Jeff accidentally donated my entire Summer wardrobe to Goodwill…whoops!), and no breathing room or savings of which to speak. Though it wasn’t that long ago that we said adieu to debt, it’s remarkable looking at the differences today.
Now together we will learn how to face a different sort of financial questions. For one, how do we properly celebrate our successes in a responsible manner? Our house is currently on the market, and I admit that it’s fun to look at houses and day dream about the possibilities; however, I know that we will not be buying a castle in the most expensive area of town, so why am I finding myself “just looking?” We have decided to sell because our house is a bit too small and has other issues that can’t be corrected without dumping a ton of cash into a house that’s already at its max as far as possible return. It’s imperative that we exercise the same restraint and logic when looking for our next home. We already know that we aren’t going to get everything on our wish list. It’s like anything else in life; there will be sacrifices to make and compromises to sulk about.
Another financial concern will be how to safely enter the world of investing. I’m excited to learn everything I can about this venture of which until recently I thought only rich people dabbled. Apparently, anyone who wants to retire…ever…should probably have a plan for their money that doesn’t involve a shoe box or lottery tickets.
As we enter this new phase in our lives, we will try to share with you everything we know and everything we learn along the way.
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