Wednesday, June 27, 2007

For real

(c) 2007 Ms. Huis Herself at musenmutter.blogspot.com

It's for real. Our house is sold.

I was waiting to post about this because I didn't want to jinx it, but now that the closing's been set, I feel ok letting you all know.

We got an offer on our house after it was on the market just shy of two weeks, we countered, they accepted, yadda yadda yadda. We're getting about $5000 less than we had it listed, but we figured that'd be the case in this buyers' market. We were just thrilled to have things happen so quickly!

The inspection was last week and the only thing they wanted us to take care of was that we hadn't had the city come out and inspect the new furnace after it had been put in, so we had an open permit regarding that. (That's 'cuz we didn't know we needed to.) Since somebody has to be there when the city comes out, our real estate agent is taking care of coordinating that, then it's all good.

And the closing is happening quickly - in a week and a day to be precise (July 5th)! So for a little while, until we find/decide on a house here in WI, we won't own anything bigger/more expensive than our Blazer. And our bank account will be rather richer, too! *grin*

It feels a little strange. That was the first house we ever owned, and the first big thing we ever purchased together. It's where we found out I was pregnant, decorated a nursery, and brought Pumpkin home. It's where we first learned the joys and sorrows of homeownership, including the truism that any home repair project involves at least 3 trips to the hardware store. It's also where Mr. Kluges did a bunch of outdoor work, including some quirky projects like making maple syrup from our box elder trees. (Yes, they're a kind of maple.) It's where we got, lengthily debated, and finally accepted the offer of a job for Mr. Kluges in Ireland.


And now it's going to be somebody else's house.


We got somewhat used to that idea when we were away from the house for 2 years and had various renters living in it. Since the last ones were our friends Jaysan and Ang, we got to see it with their stuff in it, which was a little weird, but helped me not think of it as our home anymore. And now it won't be.

I hope the people moving into it enjoy it as much as we did. They'll probably use the 4 car garage (2 tandem spots) more than we did since we only ever owned one vehicle when we lived there. I hope they garden, and build campfires on the lower level in the back yard like we loved. They won't know all the improvements we made, but I hope they enjoy them and do some of their own. (But if they put up stupid raised, colored plaster stencilly things anywhere like were in the upstairs bedroom, I'm going to come back and haunt them someday!) I'm sure they'll redo/repaint/laugh at some improvement we made, but that's how you make a house your own.

And soon it will be their own instead of ours...

Which makes me a little melancholy, but also excited and ready to find a house here, and make it OUR own.


9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Congrats to all of you. How exciting that you can look for a new place to start memories. We were sad for a very short time and then when we went back to the new house it seemed all fine and a good thing to move on. We miss things about the old house and the kids remind me of the sandbox and hottub sometimes weekly but we move on. Best of luck.
Turtle

Allknowingjen said...

Congratulations! I am sure it's bittersweet, but it's awesome that it went so quickly. And I know that now we've been through the home-buying thing once, there are a lot of different things I would look for next time. KWIM? Good luck with the hunting!

ShoNuff said...

Congrats! Happy house hunting.

ewe are here said...

Congratulations on the selling.... and wishing you luck on the house hunting.

We've been house hunting furiously lately, and, fingers crossed, may actually get the house we've liked from the beginning. Well, it's a slum, really, but the potential is so there...
:0

Anonymous said...

I've been biting my tounge and not telling anyone since I saw the SOLD sign go up earlier this week. Whew! It was going to be difficult tonight since we're having dinner with friends, so I'm glad you were able to spill the news :-) Congrats again! It will be weird not to think of it as your place when I drive by everyday. And difficult to shake the protective feeling I have for it. Oddly, I'm not at all concerned about what the new owners are doing with our old place...too busy watering the new grass at our new place I guess! Happy hunting for your new place. I know you'll be relieved to be someplace that's actually yours again!

Pusher said...

Congratulations! That's awesome!

I definitely understand the bittersweet aspect of it, but it's the memories you treasure, and you'll always have those.

I hope you find a new home that you all love soon, and meanwhile enjoy that bank account! :-)

DiploWhat said...

Wow! That's great! Congrats on selling in a not as friendly as it once was market!
Maybe some day we will also own a house. But, we either would have to live outside of the city by an hour or more, or we need at least a million dollars (seriously, for like a 2-3 bedroom stand alone house). Lottery still hasn't come through...

Happy Veggie said...

I'm a little sad to think you won't have a place here, but glad that it sold. In this market, that's wonderful! Just promise you'll be back to visit.

Syl said...

Congrats on a fast sell and best of luck finding a new place to make your memories in.