I listed my house today!

[1918ColonialRevival]

That's true - a lot of people from high cost of living areas retire to Tennessee. If they sold a house where they are moving from, they have quite a bit of buying power compared to most of the native population.

Hopefully the offer review went well. Were you able to get a contract started?

[awomanwithahammer]

I know it's been a while since I updated. It's a done deal! We ended up with 10 solid offers, most over asking. It was a truly awful experience in one way, however. With many of the offers, there were personal letters that broke my heart. One woman wrote about lying awake the night before, mentally placing her treasures in the corner cabinets in the dining room. Another young woman, a special ed teacher, did a lovely watercolor picture and enclosed it with her offer. My real estate agent and I both sat and cried over these letters. And then I had to choose only one. I chose the cleanest offer, which was cash with no appraisal. And it was $16K over asking.

So we closed almost 2 weeks ago. It's a very odd feeling and I'm not sure what to do with myself.

I made a slideshow of the before and after pictures. Here's the link if you're interested in seeing it:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/ ... sp=sharing

[mjt]

The cynical part of me knows that the letters are designed to do exactly what they did; tug at your heartstrings to get you to pick their offer instead of someone else's. We did the same when we bought our house, though. We knew the other offer was from someone who intended to flip the house and we intended to raise our kids here, just like the seller...

BTW, love the slideshow. You did a wonderful job!

[awomanwithahammer]

Oh, believe me, I know that. But it didn't make it any easier. I really appreciate my agent helping me see past the emotional appeals.

And, thank you for the kind words.

[Gothichome]

Well good for you Bonnie. Take the money and run. We will miss your project updates though.

[GinaC]

Congratulations! This must be so bittersweet. And thank you so much for your before and after shots! They really inspire me and give me ideas on what to do with my house.

I really hate this letter writing trend, and I'm hoping that the next time my house will be up for sale is when I'm dead so I don't have to deal with it.

I don't know what to do with myself, either, because my basement is full of stuff that I want to donate, but nobody is taking donations due to the pandemic! I really need to clear it out so that I can put together a little workshop down there. I may have to rent a storage place in the mean time for all this perfectly fine no longer used stuff that I do not want to throw away.

[awomanwithahammer]

Thank you, Gina.

If the thrift stores won't take your stuff, do curb alerts on Craigslist and FB Marketplace. Or just set the stuff on your curb and wait for it to disappear. I've done that often, especially with stuff that's too big to take to the stores.