The Thrill of the Hunt

My husband (who grew up in Washington state and is an avid hunter) equates listing our house for sale with the beginning of an elk hunt.  It's a thrill to start out on the hunt, to glass the ridges (use binoculars to try to spot elk high up on the mountains), to walk in the woods for miles (BORING!), to see the elk, to shoot it, and to breathe the sigh of relief that an elk is yours.  Then, he says, the fun stops and the work begins.  You've got to find the elk that you shot, and then drag its massive body out of the woods.

So, the process of house selling involves thrill, boredom, excitement and then loads and loads of work!

We are at the work part, my friend.

On Saturday at 9:00am, we received a text that someone wanted to see our house at 11:30 that morning.  We knew we were already taking the dogs to the vet for their 10:00am appointment, so we were planning to leave the house at 9:30.  We quickly changed our plans and rushed around to straighten everything up and vacuum well.  Aaron decided he'd take the dogs to the vet by himself, so that I could stay behind and clean some more and then take the boys to my mom's house.  He'd then meet me at my mom's house after the vet appointment.  So, we rushed around and cleaned. It was a hot, humid day and I didn't blow-dry my hair after my shower, so it was curly and wavy and frizzy and Michael looked at me and said "Um, mom, you look a little crazy."  Noted.

We successfully got the house ready and everyone out of there by 10:30.  We had a nice visit at my parents' house while we waited for 12:45 to roll around so we could go back home (we were told the people would be looking at the house from 11:30 to 12:30).  We walked in our home and didn't find a realtor card. We thought, perhaps, no one even came by.  However, I purposely turned on every light in the house before we left, and when we returned-- the lights in the spare bedrooms were off, so I knew someone had been here.  Although I patted myself on the back for getting the house looking really nice, I wandered into our master bedroom later that night and saw that I left a bra out of my drawer and when I was cleaning the sinks in our bathroom, I forgot to unplug them again, so there was standing water in them. Shoot, I thought. What if I ruined this showing?

The next night  (Sunday night), I was folding laundry and Aaron was standing in the kitchen. I had been texting my mom and one of my sisters-in-law, and I heard my phone go off, so I assumed it was one of them. Aaron was holding his phone, too, and said "whooo. We just got the same text message." I thought for sure it would be about a family member being pregnant or something. But instead, he said "we just got an offer on our house." I gasped and we both ran to our computer to check my email so we could see the offer.

It was full price.

We are so very humbled and blown away.

We immediately accepted, and officially signed our paperwork on Monday. We are under contract to sell our house! The home inspection is scheduled for this week, and the new buyers want to move in the middle of April.

So......

We got our elk, the thrill is done. Now we've gotta drag that gigantic elk out of the woods. So..... let the hard work begin. I've got an entire house to pack up in less than 27 days. Eeek!

We're limited in where we can look for a new house since we have to have cable Internet so I can work at home. Satellite Internet won't do. This shouldn't be an issue but it totally is! I don't know if cable Internet is getting phased out or what, but SO many new subdivisions do not offer cable Internet. It's frustrating sometimes. We actually found a beautiful home online in a great location, but darn that satellite Internet! We're going to look at a house this afternoon that says it has cable Internet, and the cable company says they service that area, so I'm hopeful.

Keep us in your prayers during this process!

Until next time,
Much love, Reba