Last we left off, I think we had just decided to put our house on the market. We were hoping to avoid a short sale but had pretty much resigned ourselves to a long, drawn out process and the fact that a short sale couldn't be avoided. We were sort of looking forward to living rent-free for a few months.
That's why we were shocked two weeks later when my agent/friend called to say, "I regret to inform you that we got you full asking price for your house." Now, full asking price still means that we walk away with absolutely nothing. In fact, we have to pay a couple thousand out-of-pocket to cover fees and whatnot. Our down payment and everything we've put into this house are gone, but our credit is in tact, so I suppose that's something.
Suddenly we found ourselves in a rush of paperwork and a scramble to figure out where we were going to live. Would we stay around here for the next year, or would Steve pull the plug and retire early, meaning we could head out to Illinois or wherever the hell we're eventually going?
At first things didn't look promising. There weren't a lot of rental houses in our immediate area within our price range, and those that existed were kind of scuzzy. We wound up increasing our radius, though, and found a very nice little house on an extremely quiet cul-de-sac in Laguna Hills. The landlord was pleased with our great credit, and we're moving in...tomorrow!
We have a lot of emotions--mainly sadness--about leaving this house, which I'll probably leave for a separate post later on, when I feel like thinking about it. Right now we're pretty much in denial.
Must get back to packing...
I agree. Leaving your house is hard. We waited too long to try to sell and the bank got ours. It feels like a punch in the gut when you realize that you are homeless with 5 kids. That is how our adventure started. We are happy it happened now but, while it was happening it was hard.
ReplyDelete