The kids got bigger and the dog doubled, and the house shrank. With only one living space, everyone was literally tripping over each other. So, we started checking into add on ideas. Turned out, to do it right would be too expensive, and to do it cheaply, it would look like what Mike and I would refer to as an 'ass-factory' (AF for short).
Since historically we do not make the best decisions whenever finances are involved, we really decided that we'd be careful and pray for God's will. We'd only move if we could be financially responsible about it. (What does that even mean?!) First call was to the mortgage broker. She advised us as to what we could afford for the payment amount we could do. She told us how much we'd need to put down, and then could figure out what to sell the house for etc. She referred us to an expert realtor for Woodinville. At the end of all that and looking up some houses on the MLS to see what our options might be, we were like "Wow, we can do pretty well here!" We would have no problem getting a bigger house in a nice 'hood just a little farther north of Woodinville, for very close to the same payment we currently had!
Enter Cydny, our realtor. We were still trying to stay non-committal about the whole thing so we wouldn't rush and be stupid. She came over to look at our house, and went through each room and told us exactly what to do to prep it for sale... down to the interior paint color. "Crisp Khaki" from Benjamin Moore. This was in December 2009 - when the housing market was still swirling in the toilet.
We started packing anything we didn't need to have out. We started on cleaning up the yard (1/3 acre of overgrowth, old fencing material, dog poop and mud), filled a 1800Junk truck, took several trips to the dump ourselves and to donate stuff. Mike did most of the work. He laid new bark over lots of the yard after hours and hours of raking.
Inside, he spent a lot of time painting. The stupid paint required about 3 coats for good coverage, and there were lots of windows in that area to paint around. He did all the trim too. We replaced the carpet, put new linoleum and toilet in the bathroom (Steve helped get the toilet working on Christmas Day). Phew... TONS of work, but eventually it was done. Cydny came over and staged the house (sometime in January, I think). It looked pretty good! Unfortunately, in "computer crash horror 2010", I lost any other pictures I took of the interior.
Now it was listed! Since the market was low, it was listed for less than it would have been a couple years previously. We were not concerned with making profit, just getting what we needed to be able to move.
Enter hell. 3 kids, 2 dogs and a cat in a staged house that can't SMELL like dog (Febreze was my friend), animals couldn't go upstairs on new carpet (EVER), and anytime there was a showing, we had to clear out. Pets too. Talk about stress! Especially when Cydny called during the day about a same day showing, and I had to leave work to get it ready ASAP. I totally burned through my whole entire 'good smelling' candle during that time.
I don't deal with stress well, and this was a very stressful scenario for me. I really did want God's will though, and was praying that IF we were to move, that the house would sell for what we needed. We had really tried to cover all our bases and do our research and be smart about it, while praying for God's will, and going step by step. At this point, it would have really sucked if it didn't sell and we had to move back in. At least we'd have new carpet and paint though...
Now we wait.
...to be continued...
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