Sold!

It would take a long time to relate the ins and outs of the last few days. In short: we have sold the house. Technically, all we have at the moment is a purchase agreement. There's still an appraisal for the bank's purposes, and the prospective buyer has to finalize a mortgage. However, we have good reason to believe this will go ahead as planned. The closing will be at the end of May, a bit after Hilary's graduation.

The important detail: sale price. Well, I'm not going to post it here. Suffice to say it was less than we paid for the house four years ago.

Unfortunately, without delving into specific numbers, it is difficult to relate the tale with sufficient drama. I had a very long and complete draft post that spelled it out without using figures, but I realized that A) most people would have difficulty following it and B) most people probably don't care. That's OK, I'll try for a short version.

After five weeks on the market, we received our first offer on Friday afternoon. It was rather abysmal - an unworkable closing date in mid-April, and a price that was tantamount to an insult. Still, it was our first and only offer, and we felt compelled to play ball and counter offer over the weekend.

By Monday morning our spirits were low - we were still negotiating, but the likely outcome was still a few thousand below our list price, which was itself a few thousand below what we'd paid for the place. Then we had a showing Monday morning, which turned into a second showing that afternoon, which turned into an offer from a second potential buyer. There was also another person that came to look at the house that afternoon, who intended to come back Tuesday morning for a second look before likely placing his own offer.

All this flurry of activity was pretty exciting. If nothing else, it was gratifying that our house was getting more serious looks. We had been informed by our agent that incoming residents, a demographic we expected to start turning out right around now, had already been looking, and for whatever reason, had decided to look past our house. The fact that we'd gotten zero traffic over the weekend - the weekend after Match Day - didn't give us confidence that we'd get many more serious looks.

As it turns out, the second offer was more pathetic than the first. Fearing a bidding war, the third potential buyer decided to bow out upon learning of the multi-offer situation. The first buyer, however, knew only that there had been a second offer, with the potential for a third on Tuesday. As a result, he loosened his position, and we were able to negotiate up to a purchase price all of us were comfortable with. What a change from Sunday night to Monday night!

In the days since, the purchase agreement has been signed and paperwork is being processed by our respective agents. We will close in late May.

Possibly the best part of the end of this saga is that we can now relax on this front for the next two months, and let our less tidy tendencies reign. Skipping the make-the-house-showable routine each morning and night will be nice in an of itself. It's just in time, too: Brynna just received her foam tiles in the mail today, which along with a safety fence is now taking up a ostentatious portion of our dining room.