A couple of years ago, Kristie's parents sold their house...finally. We had been casually suggesting for years that they sell it, but the combination of her mom's unwillingness to let go of "her" house and her dad's obsession with getting the last dime out of the house prevented it from happening. In hind sight, he probably could've sold it for more, or at least faster, if he had sold in early 2000, instead of waiting five years and dealing with Denver's messed up and depressed housing market. But after weeks and weeks of garage sales and general nonsense, they moved out and into a lovely little 2 bedroom place located in a nice senior's high rise. Now it was time to really work on my parents.
The thing that really worked on my parents to finally sell was hearing about Kristie's parents woes. My mom still really wanted to hang on to the old house, but intellectually she knew that my dad isn't getting any better and it was time. So they worked and worked, de-cluttered and put their house on the market. And they had a few lookers, including one very "serious" offer that ultimately fell through. I say "serious" because I truly doubt he was. Denver's real estate market is definitely a buyers market, but apparently this guy thought it was a thieves market. Luckily it fell through...but it did kind of scar my parents a little. So earlier this week they received a real offer from a real buyer. Now a couple days later, we're post-inspection, post-appraisal and all indicators are go.
The new buyers only wanted a couple of things done, plus their inspector found some reading about radon in the previous inspection that needs to be remediated. My parents got jittery during their "thief" offer about their wiring in the house and went ahead a spent a grand on some improvements without anyone really driving it. The new buyer's inspector actually wanted things done differently, so somewhere between half and 3/4's of the "improvements" were going to get redone....a valuable lesson: don't do anything that you don't have to.
Now we're getting ready to start the packing...I was up there on Sunday and helped my dad go through some of his tools in the garage and we cleared out his shed. I suspect he's hanging on to way too many tools...but he's not ready to admit "defeat" yet. I'm taking back my table saw that I gave him when I moved to Maine...he's never used it (as I suspected would be the case) and a few other things. I'm really trying not to just take stuff to take it. As much as I appreciate the sentiment of his dad's mechanics creeper...I'm not working on my cars anymore and it would just take up space.
Greg is coming out the last weekend of July to help with the final pack up. They close August 1 and hopefully they will be able to move right away into their new place, located about 24 blocks north of where they are at. Kristie and I were really hoping that they would move closer to us, but they really wanted to stay in Broomfield. It's apparently a nice townhome, brand-new and really nice by what I can make of the floor plan. Smaller than their current house, but not much. It simply "had" to have a basement (where will they put all their "junk") and it has 2 bedrooms on the main floor and a bedroom/loft upstairs with it's own bathroom. I'm calling that Cindy's room now to beat the rush. I think they are going to be very surprised when they finally start putting furniture in the new place. I'm afraid that 2 computers & desks, 2 big filing cabinets, a hospital bed and a couch simply aren't going to fit in a smallish 2nd bedroom. And their new family/living/TV room isn't going to have space for the 6 or 7 end tables that are allocated. And don't ask me about the deck...it's going to look like a warehouse for patio furniture if they make everything fit somehow. But they're grown ups and they're going to figure it out...they always do.
I know my parents will be emotional leaving the old house that has been their home since 1972. I get that. But being incredibly shallow, I have no such emotion. It's a house, a building that kept their stuff from getting wet, nothing more to me. I really only "lived" there for 7 years...then I went to college and never really came back. Sure I passed through there a couple of times, the longest being right after college before I got married...but it's really nothing more than a building to me. Same with my current house and my other 5 or so houses that Kristie & I have lived in. We really liked them, some more than others. But the bottom line is that their just investments to me...investments that I have to constantly work on, but nothing more. Someday, hopefully sooner than later, we'll move out of our current house, and there'll be no emotion from me on the topic.
The thing that really worked on my parents to finally sell was hearing about Kristie's parents woes. My mom still really wanted to hang on to the old house, but intellectually she knew that my dad isn't getting any better and it was time. So they worked and worked, de-cluttered and put their house on the market. And they had a few lookers, including one very "serious" offer that ultimately fell through. I say "serious" because I truly doubt he was. Denver's real estate market is definitely a buyers market, but apparently this guy thought it was a thieves market. Luckily it fell through...but it did kind of scar my parents a little. So earlier this week they received a real offer from a real buyer. Now a couple days later, we're post-inspection, post-appraisal and all indicators are go.
The new buyers only wanted a couple of things done, plus their inspector found some reading about radon in the previous inspection that needs to be remediated. My parents got jittery during their "thief" offer about their wiring in the house and went ahead a spent a grand on some improvements without anyone really driving it. The new buyer's inspector actually wanted things done differently, so somewhere between half and 3/4's of the "improvements" were going to get redone....a valuable lesson: don't do anything that you don't have to.
Now we're getting ready to start the packing...I was up there on Sunday and helped my dad go through some of his tools in the garage and we cleared out his shed. I suspect he's hanging on to way too many tools...but he's not ready to admit "defeat" yet. I'm taking back my table saw that I gave him when I moved to Maine...he's never used it (as I suspected would be the case) and a few other things. I'm really trying not to just take stuff to take it. As much as I appreciate the sentiment of his dad's mechanics creeper...I'm not working on my cars anymore and it would just take up space.
Greg is coming out the last weekend of July to help with the final pack up. They close August 1 and hopefully they will be able to move right away into their new place, located about 24 blocks north of where they are at. Kristie and I were really hoping that they would move closer to us, but they really wanted to stay in Broomfield. It's apparently a nice townhome, brand-new and really nice by what I can make of the floor plan. Smaller than their current house, but not much. It simply "had" to have a basement (where will they put all their "junk") and it has 2 bedrooms on the main floor and a bedroom/loft upstairs with it's own bathroom. I'm calling that Cindy's room now to beat the rush. I think they are going to be very surprised when they finally start putting furniture in the new place. I'm afraid that 2 computers & desks, 2 big filing cabinets, a hospital bed and a couch simply aren't going to fit in a smallish 2nd bedroom. And their new family/living/TV room isn't going to have space for the 6 or 7 end tables that are allocated. And don't ask me about the deck...it's going to look like a warehouse for patio furniture if they make everything fit somehow. But they're grown ups and they're going to figure it out...they always do.
I know my parents will be emotional leaving the old house that has been their home since 1972. I get that. But being incredibly shallow, I have no such emotion. It's a house, a building that kept their stuff from getting wet, nothing more to me. I really only "lived" there for 7 years...then I went to college and never really came back. Sure I passed through there a couple of times, the longest being right after college before I got married...but it's really nothing more than a building to me. Same with my current house and my other 5 or so houses that Kristie & I have lived in. We really liked them, some more than others. But the bottom line is that their just investments to me...investments that I have to constantly work on, but nothing more. Someday, hopefully sooner than later, we'll move out of our current house, and there'll be no emotion from me on the topic.