This is part 2 of 2 of our summer update. If you haven’t read part 1, click here to catch up.
In our disappointment, we scrambled to figure out what to do.
Our agent put our house back on the market, and we planned to have an open house that weekend so that we could encourage more lookers.
We had already locked in our rate with our mortgage broker so we only had a couple of weeks to find new buyers if we wanted to close on time and avoid being penalized for the transaction falling through.
And then something unexpected happened —
The original buyers called back.
We learned that they were a family with six kids. In their attempt to line up other houses in the area that could accommodate a large family, they found that there were none around the $400,000 price range. The lowest price that we found was $425,000, and the prices went up from there for large houses in nice neighborhoods.
They asked if we could work something out and agreed to pay for half of the repainting costs.
Since we were in a bind we needed to come to an agreement with them so we asked if they would pay half of the cost to re-caulk and paint, and luckily, they agreed.
Moving forward
On July 21st, our house went pending again and so did our dream house.
Our close date on our house was Wednesday, August 12th, and our close date on our new house was Friday, August 14th, so we had a lot to do in a short amount of time.
I scheduled the contractors to replace the trim, re-caulk and paint the house, and refinish the floors.
And Mike’s parents graciously agreed to let our family of four move in with them for a week.
Here’s what happened over the next few weeks:
- Thursday, July 23rd – The trim was replaced.
- Monday, July 27th – We celebrated my birthday at the zoo while the painters pressure washed and re-caulked the house.
- Tuesday, July 28th through Friday, July 31st – The house was painted.
- Friday, August 7th – Mike took the day off work so that we could pack.
- Saturday, August 8th – Mike’s friends and brother came over to help us load the U-Haul that we would park at Mike’s parents’ house for a week until we got the keys to our new house.
- Sunday, August 9th – Mike and I spent all day cleaning our big house. We vacuumed every floor and drawer, wiped down every shelf and counter, scrubbed every toilet, and cleaned every mirror and window.
- Monday, August 10th – The wood floor guys came to refinish the floors. The job took a day and a half. We signed the paperwork at the title company for the sale of our old house and the purchase of our new house.
- Tuesday, August 11th – The wood floor guys finished up, and Mike, the kids, and I said goodbye to our old house. The buyers arrived from out of town and signed the title paperwork for the purchase of our house.
- Wednesday, August 12th – The buyers did their final walkthrough of our old house that morning and got the keys that afternoon after the sale was recorded with the county.
- Thursday, August 13th – Technically homeless and temporarily debt free (!), I took the kids and Mike’s mom to the zoo. Mike and I did our final walkthrough of our new house while the kids napped at Mike’s parents’ house. One of the owners met us there to welcome us.
- Friday, August 14th – The sale for our new house was recorded with the county by noon so we got the keys earlier than expected. My dad came up to help us unload the U-Haul, and Mike got our beds set up so we could spend our first night together as a family in our new home!
Here are the kids hanging out with the U-Haul on moving day.
Jennifer to the rescue!
We’re super fortunate because we had the most amazing real estate agent. Here’s just one of many examples of how great she is:
For the most part, everything went smoothly those last few weeks, but there was one exception —
When the buyers did their final walkthrough of our old house on Wednesday, August 12th, they went into the crawl space and discovered that even though Mike had pulled the existing plastic over as far as he could, there was still a little bit of dirt that was left uncovered.
Our agent Jennifer called Mike to find out how much dirt was left uncovered, and we looked at the inspection report again. The inspector did in fact note to cover the dirt with the existing plastic and/or install more plastic to ensure the ground was completely covered. Doh!
Moments later, Jennifer called us back and said she had “taken care of it.”
Later we learned that she didn’t want us worrying about the sale falling through or running to Home Depot to buy more plastic on closing day so she called in a favor. She had a contractor come out to take a look, and he happened to have some extra plastic on hand. He cut the plastic to fit the parts that were uncovered and sealed the deal (so to speak) for us!
Here we are in front of our new house on closing day!
Getting settled
Ever since, we’ve slowly been settling in.
We’re loving our new place. Our new neighbors are friendly, and our kids and our dog, Rajah, love playing in our new backyard.
We’ve even gained some new members of the family.
As soon as we moved in, we noticed a bunny that seemed to call our yard his home. We would see him hopping about from time to time, and Rajah had fun playing with him (i.e. chasing him).
And then we learned that “he” was in fact a “she.” For she had given birth to three little baby bunnies in our backyard!
We’ve been enjoying watching the babies grow, and Rajah loves them too.
2015 Financial Goals Update and An Unexpected Surprise
With the sale of our house, we have met all of our financial goals for the year and then some!
- We paid off the home equity line of credit,
- Reduced our mortgage balance to $200,000,
- Changed the term of our mortgage from 30 years to 15 years, and
- Put $40,000 into savings!
Plus, we’re now in a home that fits the needs of our family better that we can really make our own.
Not too shabby!
One of our goals for the year was to increase our emergency fund from $5,000 to $25,000 before the end of the year so that leaves us with $20,000 to put toward some projects we want to do around the house, including adding an office and a bathroom to the unfinished basement.
A surprise bonus for us was when the appraisal on our new house came back $25,000 over the purchase price! That means we already have $120,000 in equity!
Our agent and our mortgage broker were blown away. They said that NEVER happens!
I’ll break down the numbers in more detail when I post our Debt Freedom Progress Reports for June, July, and August in the coming weeks.
Mike captured this picture of the sun setting from our front porch on one of our first nights in our new house.
Going forward you can expect posts from me every Tuesday.
My goal is to help you move forward with your own financial goals. I am hoping our story inspires you on your own journey to financial freedom.
I’ve got a lot of great information coming your way, including more debt free interviews and Monica’s Two Cents articles where I answer reader questions. To make sure you don’t miss any updates, click this link to get email updates and receive your free copy of my guide, Jump Start Your Way Out of Debt.
Thank you so much for reading and for all of your support.
Now I’d love to hear about you!
What have you been up to this summer? How did you make progress on your financial goals? Please share in the comments below.
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