I have mentioned before that we found some land and decided to build a house earlier this year. We were planning on living in our house until the new house was built and then sell. The market for selling houses has been crazy high and houses sell fast the past few months. We have been watching it and it hasn’t started to go down but it has definitely plateaued. That started making us nervous that by the time we were ready to sell our house next Spring our Fall the market would have dropped and we wouldn’t make as much equity as we wanted to. We talked about it with our realtor and thought about it for a few weeks. We decided we would regret it if we didn’t at least try and sell it this Fall and get what we want. If we didn’t get our asking price we wouldn’t sell and could try again in the Spring. If prices drop we at least tried. If we got what we were asking then we make a nice profit and finances are a little easier for the next year.
So September 6th we officially decided to put our house on the market ASAP. Pictures were scheduled to be taken on the 14th and it would list on the 16th. I immediately started ‘staging’ the house. We got a storage unit and packed all the clutter and things we won’t need for awhile away. About the second day into my week to prepare I got sick. It ended up being COVID. The first time I have had COVID to my knowledge. I would say my symptoms-flu like- were moderate. I didn’t really have time to be sick so I would clean, pack, and organize until I had to rest for bit then lay down for 20-30 minutes until I could work some more. It was pretty miserable. My family helped a little but Ryan was traveling a lot, the kids were at school and had after school activities so most of it was left to me. I got it done and pictures were taken and turned out great. We went live with our listing on a Friday. We had three showings schedule for that day. The night before Emilee said she wasn’t feeling well so she stayed home. She was much better Friday but I kept her home just in case. Friday when I was going through and making sure the house was ready to show to the people coming in less than an hour, I went into Matthew’s room and found him still in bed. He said he was sick. He had caught COVID from me like Emilee did. I told him he had to get up and we could go sleep at Grandpa’s for the day. He said he couldn’t move and he would just lay their quietly while people walk through. He was disappointed that was not an option. The two sicko’s and I made it to Grandma’s house. They were put in bed and confined to the basement. We got two good offers Friday. When one of the offers heard we had gotten another offer, they countered their own offer and raised it to an even better offer. We decided to accept it and took the house of the market and cancelled the rest of our showings that weekend. Keeping a house ‘show ready’ with three kids and a big picture not detail oriented husband is not easy. It was a huge blessing to sell it so quickly. I can’t imagine having to do it for weeks or months.
It was mid September when we sold it. We had until November 1st to move out. I had looked at a few apartments and houses to rent in anticipation of selling our house. Ryan and I went and looked at a few of them that same weekend. We wanted to stay fairly close to were we were at and pay less than our current mortgage. We were a little concerned when we saw the first few in the price range we wanted to stay. We ended up finding one that was three miles from our old house and had just had a lot of updates and you could tell the owners take good care of it. We applied to rent and by the middle of the following week we were approved and could move in October 1st.
We decided to stay in our home as long as possible. When I wasn’t working or doing the usual kids activities or maintaining our own house, laundry and meals I spent the rest of my time cleaning the rental and taking car loads of things over. It was helpful to have more time to go through everything and really get rid of things that we didn’t need or box things up in storage that we can live without for a year. We had some friends help us load the smaller items and boxes in a U-haul a week before the movers came and brought the bigger furniture and heavy items. Ryan was traveling a lot for work so most of it I did on my own. It was very stressful and I was exhausted non-stop. I wanted to enjoy the last few weeks in our house too. I did my best to remind myself to not be grumpy when I was tired and help the kids enjoy their last month too. It was a good house for us. Despite the builder ripping out the staircase the day before we moved in and taking a year to fix things that were screwed up on or never finished in the first place, it was a great home for us. We lived there 7 1/2 years. Lots of memories and growing up with our kids happened there. We put a lot of work into it. We didn’t think we would ever move so we made it our forever home.
All of our belongings were moved in on Friday October 28th and we started sleeping at the rental then. I also had the Primary Sacrament Program to practice and do that weekend so we didn’t get much unpacking done. Ryan had the idea to eat one last family dinner together at the house on Saturday night. It was a really nice evening. Allison and I got Subway and everyone else got sushi. We met at the house and had a nice meal together. Ryan had told everyone to think of some of their favorite memories to share with each other. Once we started sharing we started remembering more and more things. We talked about Christmas mornings, nerf gun games we played, Easter egg hunts, things that got broken (some that Ryan and I knew about, some we didn’t), funny moments-Allison ‘accidentally’ calling 911. Allison evacuating the family including the guinea pigs when the fire alarm went off. Dad responding to a question of Emilee’s over the Alexa and farting, Alexa catching it and announcing his answer and his fart to the whole house. Matthew hiding under his bathroom sink in the cabinet for over an hour and the rest of us not being able to find him. We had a really nice night reminiscing and remembering the good times and memories we made together.
We still owned the house until November first so we decided to do one more of the traditions we had started in our home. Each year for Halloween since we moved in the McDonald family has come over on Halloween to celebrate with us. We have pizza and witch’s brew (home made root beer with dry ice) for dinner. Then the kids get in their costumes, we leave a bowl of candy on the porch and we go trick or treating. The past couple years Ross and Lauren have joined us as well. Over the years we have had 2-3 groups that form based on how fast they move between houses. This year the older girls went on their own. The dads followed the faster group of middle aged kids, and the moms went with Linnea the youngest. She makes it around the little block of streets and then is done. We can then go home and hand out any candy that is left and warm up and relax at the house until the other groups make it back. As they trickle in there is a giant candy swap in the living room. Sometimes we play a game, or sometimes we just visit until its time to go home.
There was no furniture (or kitchen supplies) in the house this year so we ate pizza but bought root beer instead of making it. The empty living room was loved by all of the kids because they could really spread out for the candy swap. It was a fun night and a good way to have our last night in that house. When we loaded the last few things into the car to leave for the last time Ryan and I walked through the house one more time and turned off the lights for the last time. It was a little sad but we are excited to start the next adventure in our lives.
We have 11 months left on the lease at our rental. They are pouring the foundation for our new house any day now. Hopefully between now and then we have a finished house to move into. We hope it will be our last move- EVER and we want to make it so that it will fit our lives from now, until we are empty nesters, until are kids come visit with their own families and until we are old and want to just stay at home, until we don’t need a home anymore.