I wrote the following post approximately 12 weeks ago, but due to the red tape at my place of employment, I could not share it. Why would this matter, you ask? Does she work for the CIA? Is she an undercover officer? A double agent? You'll never know. But here is a spoiler alert: a lovely couple did buy our unlisted house, we did find a place to live in our new city, we LOVE our new church and community, the dog has not eaten anyone's face off, and our belongings made it, too. They can be found in various boxes strewn about the house, as I am boycotting unpacking. But that's for another post...
We're moving. Again. In the last 10 years, Ryan and I have each moved 8 times. Sixteen moves in 10 years. You'd think that we would be a lot better at it by now.
Ryan recently accepted a job at a new church about 75 miles away, and while we are SO excited, if I'm totally honest, I'm completely overwhelmed. The church we're leaving holds a very special place in our hearts (we met there, we said our vows there, and we started our life together there), and the people have been wonderful to us, so it is very bittersweet.
Additionally, on our 16th collective move, we took the plunge and bought a house. Well, technically, the bank bought it and allows us to live here so long as we continue to pay them. So unlike our previous moves, we can't just tell the landlord what day we're leaving. Being that we have only "owned" our house for 22 months, we would owe a licensed real estate professional more than twice the amount of equity we have built.
So, we're selling it ourselves. How hard could it be? I mean, realtors just go to a specialized school, know all of the laws, and have years of experience....pssshhht, easy peasy! Is there a pro bono program for realtors? If so, we'd like to apply. We're young and poor and desperate and exceptionally nice!
After explaining all of the above to people when they give us the look of dismay after finding out that we think we can sell a house by ourselves, the next question is always, "Do you have a place to live in your new city?" Ummm, no. No, we do not. Buying is not all that it is cracked up to be, so we would like to rent a house with a 60 pound dog. Landlords aren't exactly forming a line outside of our door hoping that we'll choose them.
Also, stop asking me if our dog is coming with us. Yes, she is coming with us. I know this analogy irritates people with kids, so I apologize in advance, but she is our child. I get that humans and animals are not the same. And I also get that once we have tiny humans, our dog will move to second place. But for now, she is our child, and for always, she will be a part of our family. Short of actually eating someone's face off, the dog stays. And to any future landlords who may be reading this, she is also young and exceptionally nice, so she wouldn't eat the face of any nice human being. A murderer, though? She would totally eat a murderer for lunch. Think of the money you will save on security systems!
I am a planner, and like to have all my little duckies in a row. In addition to being in the busiest 3 months of my full time job, Ryan is currently commuting 75 miles each way every day, and we are spending most of our free time gathering up those figurative ducklings and putting them back in place. I have an excel sheet detailing the contents of every box, the room it will be moved from, the room it will be moved to, and its respective number. I have moving expenses (house updates, listing fee, closing fee, movers, etc.) budgeted for each coming month. We are ready to go.
Except that we haven't listed our house yet (budgeted for the next round of paychecks/winning lottery ticket - whichever comes first), nobody has bought our unlisted house yet, and I am finding it increasingly difficult to pack when we don't know how long we will or will not be living in this house the bank is renting to us.
You don't realize how much stuff you use on a weekly basis until your choices are to pack it up, keep it out and accessible for an undetermined amount of time, or donate it. We've been subscribing to the latter two options lately...Goodwill sees us every day. To date, I have exactly one box packed - comprised of a punch bowl, two muffin tins, and a cheese tray. Everything else we own will come standard with the purchase of our home.
We're moving. Again. In the last 10 years, Ryan and I have each moved 8 times. Sixteen moves in 10 years. You'd think that we would be a lot better at it by now.
Ryan recently accepted a job at a new church about 75 miles away, and while we are SO excited, if I'm totally honest, I'm completely overwhelmed. The church we're leaving holds a very special place in our hearts (we met there, we said our vows there, and we started our life together there), and the people have been wonderful to us, so it is very bittersweet.
Additionally, on our 16th collective move, we took the plunge and bought a house. Well, technically, the bank bought it and allows us to live here so long as we continue to pay them. So unlike our previous moves, we can't just tell the landlord what day we're leaving. Being that we have only "owned" our house for 22 months, we would owe a licensed real estate professional more than twice the amount of equity we have built.
So, we're selling it ourselves. How hard could it be? I mean, realtors just go to a specialized school, know all of the laws, and have years of experience....pssshhht, easy peasy! Is there a pro bono program for realtors? If so, we'd like to apply. We're young and poor and desperate and exceptionally nice!
After explaining all of the above to people when they give us the look of dismay after finding out that we think we can sell a house by ourselves, the next question is always, "Do you have a place to live in your new city?" Ummm, no. No, we do not. Buying is not all that it is cracked up to be, so we would like to rent a house with a 60 pound dog. Landlords aren't exactly forming a line outside of our door hoping that we'll choose them.
Also, stop asking me if our dog is coming with us. Yes, she is coming with us. I know this analogy irritates people with kids, so I apologize in advance, but she is our child. I get that humans and animals are not the same. And I also get that once we have tiny humans, our dog will move to second place. But for now, she is our child, and for always, she will be a part of our family. Short of actually eating someone's face off, the dog stays. And to any future landlords who may be reading this, she is also young and exceptionally nice, so she wouldn't eat the face of any nice human being. A murderer, though? She would totally eat a murderer for lunch. Think of the money you will save on security systems!
I am a planner, and like to have all my little duckies in a row. In addition to being in the busiest 3 months of my full time job, Ryan is currently commuting 75 miles each way every day, and we are spending most of our free time gathering up those figurative ducklings and putting them back in place. I have an excel sheet detailing the contents of every box, the room it will be moved from, the room it will be moved to, and its respective number. I have moving expenses (house updates, listing fee, closing fee, movers, etc.) budgeted for each coming month. We are ready to go.
Except that we haven't listed our house yet (budgeted for the next round of paychecks/winning lottery ticket - whichever comes first), nobody has bought our unlisted house yet, and I am finding it increasingly difficult to pack when we don't know how long we will or will not be living in this house the bank is renting to us.
You don't realize how much stuff you use on a weekly basis until your choices are to pack it up, keep it out and accessible for an undetermined amount of time, or donate it. We've been subscribing to the latter two options lately...Goodwill sees us every day. To date, I have exactly one box packed - comprised of a punch bowl, two muffin tins, and a cheese tray. Everything else we own will come standard with the purchase of our home.
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