How I did it: We bought our dream home!!!  First, we got our house ready to sell, and sold it.  This house we found close to the time we had our first offer on it.  We were about to put an offer in on this house when everything on our first offer fell through just one hour before making an offer on this house.  We cried.  It was so hard, but we found out from the realtor that this home had a contingency offer on it, and if ours sold, we could bump it.  We kept that thought alive. 

A few weeks later, 2 offers came in on the same day...and we accepted one.  That offer panned out, and we were able to bump the contingency offer on the dream home.  The sellers were fantastic to negotiate with, but the process gut wrenching in this economy watching the market go up and down as you are trying to lock in a good 30 yr fixed loan.  We ended up with a good rate, but had several other hurdles.....the appraisal on the dream home was a nightmare since the housing market had depreciated so much and they were having a hard time finding comparable homes.  When all was said and done, our purchase price was UNDER the appraised value. 

When we went to sign, we even had a computer glitch that prevented the title company from seeing the bank's information....but we ended up signing about 8pm...on time.  We were so close to being "homeless" for a few days it was not funny, but we had two-day move.

Now I have boxes all over, so I need to set up some new goals.  The neighborhood is like I moved to "Who-ville" from The Grinch....incredible neighborhood, full of kids...we were greeted with plates full of brownies, bags of apples, 3 teenage babysitting offers, welcome cards and the like.  Completely opposite of our old neighborhood, and rare in these parts.

Lessons & tips: Don't settle for less.  Find a goal and work towards it.  Your environment CAN affect the way you behave, feel, and live.

For those of you still trying to either get out of your place or who don't quite like your place...don't ever rule out the possibility of a future new home.  The house DOES make a difference.  My stuff looked OK in the old house....it looks fantastic in the new house.  Didn't think that would be the case....as usually you want to buy all new stuff.  I don't think we will be needing much. 

Map out your plan...get a storage unit, fill it, and learn everything you can about staging your home....declutter declutter declutter, and depersonalize.  Accept every request for people to see your home, and have a backup plan ready in case it happens on a regular basis.  Get in a morning routine and evening routine to maintain your "show home." 

Resources: Storage unit
Liquor store boxes
Dr. Bronner's Magic Liquid Soap
Dyson Vacuum Cleaner

Oct 12, 2008, 12:36PM PDT | 5 comments | 5 cheers