We put our house on the market at the end of May. Our experience in home-selling consisted of one previous house. When we first moved to Richmond, we knew where we wanted to live, and we were ready to buy our first home. We spent several months of going through open houses the day they went on the market and they would be sold that day (sometimes even before we left the house)! It was a crazy time! The house we ended up buying we just happened to be driving by. We stopped and flew through the house. It was right, and we knew we had to act fast. We called our agent from the phone in that kitchen to tell her to draw up a contract! We lived in that house for a little over three years. We decided to sell it ourselves and advertised our open house a week before it was scheduled. We had a contract in hand as opened the door.
So this time it took a little longer. After months of getting all worked up about our house not selling, I had just settled into the idea that it might take a long time to sell. That was okay, I thought, I still liked our house and we had great neighbors. It wasn’t so bad (except for the perpetual show-ready standard). Literally, a couple of days after a conversation about just that with Max, we received an offer on the house. The buyers wanted to close in just under three weeks! Yikes! We had to scramble around to buy a house then too! We had had our eye on an old house in the neighborhood we wanted to move to. Everything really just fell into place. We took a last look at some other homes for sale in the area, and nothing really measured up. So we put an offer in, and the owner was willing to go for an aggressive closing date too. We hit some big stumbling blocks along the way, but I was (and still am) pretty amazed at how all of the big doors were opened at just the right time. This house needs a lot of work, but it is wonderful! We are all already in love. The front door has an enormous fairy-tale lock and key. I can’t get the boys out of the trees! In the afternoons, we walk to school. It is such a sweet time with my littles. As my pickle says, we chat while we walk. But I have also developed friendships with the bug guy, the critter-control guy, the phone guy (who knew there were once 4-pronged phone jacks?!?), the HVAC guy, the chimney guy, the crawlspace guy,…ugh! It is a new adventure every day! The sweet woman at the bug company has such patience with me, and she probably recognizes my number on caller-id by now! Let’s just say I don’t do bugs! Ick!
I’m sure I’ll post more as the renovations begin (hopefully soon!). If you are in need of a realtor, give Jason Hester a call! 
This is my favorite part of the new-old house. I smile when I come in this door!
And the front:
Happy weekend!
-S
