Monday, November 16, 2009

Buying and Selling Real Estate

Well. . .we have been back from Hawaii for about 72 hrs and my stress levels are equally as high if not higher than they were when we left. :( We are in the process of selling our house and buying a new home, which is a fixer upper and in a short-sale process. Lessons I have learned so far:

1. Never ever try to sell a house when you have a new baby and a dog, if you live in an area that requires your home to be picture perfect each day when you walk out the door. Move out before you sell it.
2. Selling a home is not a friendly process. It is every man and women for himself. Do not trust anyone.
3. Realtors only make matters more stressful. They don't take the time to understand the full situation. This creates the worst case of the old game"telephone" you can imagine. Meaning is lost along the way.
4. Do not hire a Realtor that sells everything in your area. Because he is selling everything in your area, he has no time for you--this is especially important if your home is not the most expensive property in the area.
5. Do every possible inspection known to man before buying a property. If you don't, it will come back to bite you in the end.
6. Never buy a short-sale property. The uncertainty of it is horribly frustrating, especially if you are a natural control freak.
7. Remember the advice of your elders who tell you. . ."I got divorced over a project like that." Do everything you can to ensure that doesn't happen.
8. Saying good-bye to your first real home is emotional. Let yourself mourn it for one evening. Then move forward.
9. Finding the strength to not lose yourself in the stress is difficult, but required, especially when you now have a family depending on you.
10. Having a vision of the future and knowing the good that will come out of the long road ahead is what will see you through the situation.

Chin up Shana. . .you've survived worse situations.

And as Derek continues to say. . ."This is for the good of our family."

We're out of our house as of this weekend. And we're off to Derek's moms probably through the end of the year. Wish me luck with the move; and look forward to the day when I invite you over to my new home.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

ya- I sold a house while being pregnant and sick and then moved with a 2 month old- no fun