How to sell a house

I am by no means an expert. But here is a little bit about my experience with selling a home.

We put our house on the market in March of 2008 when we found out we would be leaving Ft. Polk and headed to Ft. Stewart - 2 moves ago. It was basically a new house - we bought it in May of 2006. We LOVED this house. David put up this LONG fence around our awesome yard.

It was a LOT of work. . .

Our lot was more than an acre, and we LOVED the big yard.

Wait, did I say yard?

Well, it started out as a big mud pit,

but with lots of blood, sweat, and tears, David turned it into a gorgeous yard.

He even needed a lawn tractor to keep it under control.

Spencer tried to help. . .

He planted trees.

David also screened in the front porch.

And built a pergola.

This house was OURS.

And it had 4 bedrooms and 3 FULL baths.

And the kitchen. Ah, that kitchen.

And my bathtub.

Did I mention that we LOVED this house?

But as in most army assignments, it has to come to an end. So we were ready to move on. And today, December 9, 2010, after 2 Realtors, 3 signed contracts, 2 Early Occupancy Agreements resulting in 2 sets of renters (1 set for more than a year while we waited on them to sell their house and close on ours), 2 Home Inspections resulting in 2 sets of rather expensive repairs and improvements, countless faxes, e-mails, and phone calls, getting our hopes up more times that I care to remember, and 5 scheduled closings, WE SOLD THE HOUSE. For real this time. It still has not sunk it with me, I don't think. This has been hanging over my head for so long. I have hired plumbers and dishwasher repairmen long distance. I have sent checks to landscapers to keep the grass cut. I even bought a new hot water heater over the phone from Sears in Louisiana! You name it, it went wrong. But FINALLY, it is OVER.

We did not sell the house for nearly as much as we wanted to. But in this day and age, and with all the seemingly endless trouble, I can honestly say that being finished with this chapter is worth every penny that we did not make holding out for a better offer. I am not a wheeler dealer real estate type. But I did learn a new term this week, "upside down."

Apparently in "home selling," if you sell your house and end up owing money then you are "upside down."

I am thrilled to say that this chapter is now closed

AND

we are right side up, baby!

Whew!