Hidden Treasures: Selling Our Home

Here I sit, on my bed, hot coffee in hand, and I am paralyzed because of the insurmountable amount of tasks I need to complete in the next 20 days.  If I start to think about the things I need to do my eyes involuntarily roll back into my head and my body slips into a state of comatose... okay, maybe it's not that extreme but that's kinda how I feel.  (*wink*)

I have shared with you before that we live in an itsy-bitsy-teeny-weeny house.  We tried to sell it before Dutch was born.  It was on the market for 3-4 months, and it just wasn't the right time for it to move.  The market was bad, we had a few serious lookers but no one would commit to a contract.  I was discouraged.  We took it off the market so we could have our third little baby and bring him home to the same house his brother and sister came home to.  It was a bit sentimental to look at that sweet benefit.

Well, after the whip-lash of having a newborn, Denver changing jobs and Daxx starting REAL school, the thought of cleaning my house to show it, and keeping it clean made me want to stick a needle in my eye.  (okay, again... that's an exaggeration)  But, really, I would rather live in this tiny house than go through the trouble of listing, showing, cleaning, pack the kids up-ing... blah.

We had discussed doing a "For Sale By Owner" because we have had some friends and family successfully sell their homes via FSBO different times.  One Saturday in April I had to run to Ace Hardware to get some lawnmower oil.  While I was there I stumbled on the For Sale By Owner signs for $15.00... I thought to myself, "Well, $15 is cheaper than the $8000 we would spend in realtor fees"... so I chucked the sign in my cart.

That afternoon I jammed the sign in the front yard, listed it on Zillow/Craigslist Monday, we had our first showing Friday, and an offer the following Tuesday!!!

We were both speechless by how quickly the entire process went.

What was so AH-MAZING was that I NEVER HAD TO CLEAN!!!  Friday morning after we listed it, I happened to have one of those rare days where I cleaned the house TOP-TO-BOTTOM... clearing out piles, hanging up coats, sorting through toys...  As I was making my bed I said, "God, wouldn't it be nice if we could show our house today.  It's so clean and the kids are gone for the night, so it will stay clean for more than 10 minutes..."  Then I felt compelled to pray for the special couple who was going to buy our home.  I prayed for the Holy Spirit to lead them to our house, and I had full faith that HE alone would do so.  I put the information out, and He would lead them to it.

After an afternoon of enjoying a kid-free/clean house...we got a phone call from a couple.  They called and said, "Is the house still for sale?  Can we come over and look, tonight?".  Denver was the one who was talking and he told the couple to come right over, leaving me 10 minutes to tidy things up for a "real showing".  It was quite funny,  below you can see some of my hiding techniques.

Hiding an avocado snack in the lego bin... brilliant idea.  

No time to wash all the bottles?  No problem, stick them in the dirty dishwasher and close it up... hide now, clean later. 

After showing the house, they came over again to walk through and then made an offer that week.  In less than a week of having the house listed we had an offer!!!!  God is so good.  

The neat thing too, was that the couple who is purchasing our home goes to our church.  They were unaware the house was ours until they contacted us about it, finding it through Zillow.com.  The next Sunday we had 2 people come up to us in our church and tell us how they were praying for the couple to FIND a home, and for us to sell ours!!!  Never did they think that their prayers would coincide.  :)  I felt so honored to be prayed for and also to be a part of answered prayer.  

God is good and His timing is evident in this situation.  We close on our home on May 24, and hopefully we will close on a new home shortly after that.  This little house has offered us so many gifts.  Being tiny in size and price, our decision to live here made it feasible for me to stay at home these last 5 years while our children are small.  It has taught me great lessons on being grateful for what I have, and has convicted me of my selfishness.  Our situation has humbled us, and strengthened us, and showed us that love grows big in small spaces.  All three children have shared one room out of necessity, and are closer because of it.  They don't have a concept of "my room" or "my toys"... because they all 3 share everything.  We have had to live simply because of our lack of space, not allowing room for hoarding clothing or other bulky things.  The lessons that we have gleaned from this little bungalow have exceeded the struggles.  

I am thankful for the opportunities it has provided me and our family and knowing that anything is possible, and even if I had 1/2 the space this home provides, I still have more than most of the world's population.  

We are sad to close this chapter of our lives, but excited to live the memories that the next home will contain.  We don't leave behind a house, but we leave behind a home.  One of love, laughter, and peace.  

Thanks for reading, friends.