After a 12-hour drive, I made it back to Tennessee in one piece. More on that and the rest of my trip later.
More importantly, I made it to Nashville, where the movers were scheduled to come pack up my possessions and load them onto a truck bound for Knoxville. I’ve been dreaming all week that this would be a fast and painless affair and my-soon-to-be-not-my townhouse would be flawlessly empty as soon as they were done, ready to be turned over to the buyer.
Of course that’s not the case. There are scraps of paper and bits of dirt to be picked up — and no vacuum cleaner with which to pick these things up. I didn’t see the movers load my vacuum onto the truck, nor did I even think to ask them to leave it here so I could use it to clean. Le sigh.
There are items in the fridge that need to be loaded into a cooler. I have two coolers. Anything that doesn’t fit in them is getting tossed. This is so unlike me, but desperate lack of time calls for desperate measures. There are curtain rods to be removed. Man, I wish I had remembered to hold out my electric drill.
There are nails to be removed from the walls. I was planning on patching the nail holes quickly before I took off tonight for Knoxville, but seeing all the stuff that needs to be cleaned up and picked up and loaded, I’m thinking no go. As a peace offering, I’m leaving my crappy water hose, my shovel, some wood floor cleaner and my wine glass rack. Not to mention the beautiful flowers I planted a few weeks ago in the front and back.
Still, I am impressed with how efficiently the movers packed my stuff and loaded the truck. It did take them all day, but that’s still about 13 days fewer than it would have taken me. I really don’t have that much stuff, I just hate packing. Thank the heavens my company is paying for this, even though it means I’m indentured to them for another year and a half.
There was a funny moment when they discovered Matilda, my grandmother’s trusty mannequin used to help construct all sorts of outfits for her and everyone else:
Moving dude: “I had to undress the lady and take her apart. She was dressed up all fancy.”
Poor, naked Matilda.
Speaking of funny things. Let me tell you something funny about selling a house and Facebook. Being the resourceful person I am, I wanted to scope out the potential buyer a couple a weeks ago as soon as I discovered her name. I am a master of Google searches and her name was unusual enough that I knew I could dig something up. And I did: her public Facebook listing.
I found out she and I went to the same college and were on the same Facebook and lucky for me! she didn’t have her Facebook page set to private as everyone should. So I found out all I needed to know: she’s a year younger than me, we have a couple mutual friends, she’s a sorority girl, a marketing director of some company I’ve never heard of, but most importantly she was “In the process of buying a new house, which is really exciting. Yay..now people will actually have room to come stay with me and visit!”
Bingo.
I found all this after I had made my counteroffer, which she eventually accepted, so it was of no use to me in that department, but it did help me not freak out about the rest of the closing process.
She’s been counting down the days until she closes on the house (two more to go) and is really! really! really! excited about it. Her friends tell her they can’t wait to see it — they’ve seen some pictures she’s shared with them and they say it’s really cute.
Ya’ dang skippy it’s really cute — I spent a lot of money making it really cute.
Her status message today was this: “(Buyer) is psyched that she closes on her new town home on Monday, and that the appraisal came in higher than the cost of the place by $2,000 🙂 YAY!”
You know what I call that $2,000? My capital loss. Actually, just a fraction of it. I signed my half of the paperwork today and with all the closing costs and commissions added in I’m losing about two-thirds of my down payment on the house, which is a hella lot. I put 20 percent down on a $177,000 house, so you can do the math if you’re so inclined.
I’m not bitter though. OK, maybe a little bit. Whatever, I’m just glad it’s almost over and am trying to focus on the sunnier days which better freakin’ lay ahead.
Anyway, the moral of these stories are: get a company to both pack you and move you and keep your Facebook account set to private if you’re selling your house.
Possible happy thoughts:
1) You’re officially in Knoxville now, which makes a decent chunk of the population happy.
2) Knoxville housing market is much cheaper than Nashville, so you can bounce back when you want to. I know my builder hasn’t touched a house in months, the market is so slow.
3) Think about the look on her face when she gets her first tax bill. No more gloating about that appraisal. 🙂
Ouch. I did the math. (yep, I’m that nosy) When I sold my house in Tulsa I sold it for $25,000 less than what we’d bought it for. The market was crashing then and we took the loss after having the house sit empty and making payments on it for a year. So really I lost 12 months of $1100/month mortgage payments in addition to the hit I took just to sell it. Sometimes it really sucks to be a home owner.
On the bright side, think of how much fun it will be to settle in to your new place and make it your own!
Was it the appraisal for insurance purposes? I think insurance value is almost always higher than the actual value. I’m not totally sure though. When we had ours, it was about 15K higher than what we paid for the house, but there’s no way we could have turned right around and sold our house for any more than we paid for it. It’s placing a price on the replacement of that exact house, not the actual value in the market (I think, I could be full of it).
Congratulations on moving forward!
A good thing.. Cubs vs Sox .. Cubs winning the series 1-0.
Oh yes.. You did wind up patching up those holes your buyer will be oh so happy. Like I said just check her FB status. You also have good karma.
You have been a very busy lady be proud!
Bittersweet. Not an easy loss to swallow, but think about all the good things coming from this move. All the new opportunity coming your way and how you have grown through this experience. Not comforting for the finances, I know, but this experience has to have benefited you somehow, right? Maybe there is a nice bonus in your future that will balance out your loss?
You’re moving on and that’s all that matters right now!
Jay: Your No. 3 is a very valid and well-received thought. Although it’s not really the buyer I’m bitter at … she probably didn’t get as good of a deal as she could have. Just the whole ordeal.
And I am glad to finally establish myself as a Knoxville resident. And as soon as the Modern Mom is gone (see next post) you and I are going to do some sort of meal, somewhere, with or without the significant others.
CelticBuffy: I was hoping someone would do the math 🙂 I’d heard enough stories like yours to know I just needed to sell the dang thing come hell or high water. I had way too much direct competition.
Allie: I’m not sure why she demanded an appraisal, especially since it was just appraised about a year ago. She and/or her agent have seemed a bit OCD during this whole thing.
K: Booooooo Cubs. I do think the buyer will be happy (or at least EXCITED!!!!), and I hope she is. I am checking her FB page compulsively though and will share any amusing status updates. I’ve also been trying to nurture my karma in the past day, to kind of build it in my favor as much as possible.
V: This whole process has been the exact definition of bittersweet. I’m hoping I can manipulate this whole experience into an idea for a novel which could be that nice bonus in the future.
Jamie: You are absolutely right. Hakuna Matata.
It cracks me up that you found her on facebook, and it sounds a little less nerve-wracking knowing you’re selling to someone your own age. Best of luck with the unpacking!