The opposite of bad news

The opposite of bad news is not something you really get on this blog... But...prepare yourself....

WE SOLD OUR CONDO!

Thank you to Margot the Agent for working her butt off to try to understand the whole FHA thing, even though we didn't need it, and THANK YOU to rockstar New Agent who found a buyer, a buyer program (not FHA related) and a bank that would honor it.

We sold. WE SOLD! Without having to go to the condo association board with fists swinging and a lawyer, without having to drop the price, without having to pull it off the market and sit around and wait until the economy got better and without any more stress!

Yesterday we got the news that an offer was in the works via a St. Mary's Credit Union and the Mass Housing Program. A lot of things had to come together, and after this whole process, we had little faith. But... we got a call from Margot the Agent last night....AN OFFER!

It was about $10K under our asking price which was not doable for us. The most we could go was about $5K and that was pushing it. So, we countered and got away with about $4K less than our asking price. We're really happy with that. We know we priced our place reasonably, but it was the high end of reasonable. We ended up selling for just about exactly what we thought, expected and were prepared for.

We still have to use about 75% of our savings just to get out of the place, but that's OK. We knew that might happen and the most important thing was that we did finally sell. We needed to get out! The complex was bugging us, the condo board was jerking us around and we need at least a 3rd bedroom if we ever want a little brother or sister for Kyle.

The new buyer is in a hurry though... the closing is on Friday, August 27! One month from yesterday. Yikes! That really means that we need to be moved out the weekend before so we can clean anything that needs to be cleaned, fix anything that needs to be fixed, make sure all our stuff is out and get everything into storage since August 23-27 is mid-week. So really, our last day in our condo is Sunday, August 22.

We told Margot that we were not interested in re-opening a dialog with Steve the Builder. After how un-understanding (is that a word?) he was, and how he refused to work with us knowing it wasn't our fault the condo board was being lame; how he released our lot before we even fully decided what we were going to do; telling us he would never build without a guaranteed buyer and then building 4 homes on empty lots without buyers and using our house model for one of them, we are done with him. Bad customer service will lose you money, Steve-o.

We also have been looking around and finding that while a brand new custom built home is really great, the price Steve the Builder was asking was a bit high.

So where are we going to go? Well, furniture and unessentials will be living in a nice, climate controled storage unit. Good times! And the rest of us and our clothes will be knock-knocking on Mom and Dad's door! Five adults and a baby in a 3 BR with no air conditioning. Awesome. (really, it will be great!)

Since a lot of our savings will be paying for our condo to be sold, we need an opportunity to build some of it back up. No mortgage, condo fees or utilities for a month or two and we're right back where we started.

We are so lucky to have a place to go in this situation. If we didn't have my parents to help us, we'd either be headed to an apartment and not really saving much money, or we wouldn't have been able to accept that offer since the close was so fast.

We're going to actively look at homes (we already have an appointment to see one tomorrow night) but not put pressure on ourselves. We want our perfect home to find us and we can't rush that. Mom and Dad might have a different strategy, but we'll try not to overstay our welcome! :)

After two months of bad news and stressful limbo, I think things are finally turning around for us. We just needed a few things to fall into place and I think they finally are.