This is the story of two houses, the house we live in now and the house we will soon live in. It is not a particularly interesting story. But in all the hub-bub of preparing to move and all the anxiety I feel on the verge of such a big change, I felt like I needed to take a few minutes to write down the story of the two houses. To remind myself of how the Lord takes care of us and how He blesses us.
When we bought the house here in Verona, we felt peaceful about it. This was back in 2010 when the economy was terrible, the markets were practically frozen, and no houses were selling. It seemed crazy to buy a house when we knew we would have to turn around and sell it in just three years. It was hard to imagine the real estate market ever being back to "normal." It was hard to see how we could plan on being able to sell the house at all, let alone avoid losing a ton of money in the deal. Logically, it didn't seem like the best idea ever. But we knew renting was not going to work, and we felt strongly that buying a house was the right thing to do. We would just have to trust the Lord that it would all work out.
We right away knew this was the house. It didn't have all the bells and whistles of some others. It didn't make us swoon. But it felt like home. We felt comfortable and peaceful, and right away I could imagine our life here. I knew we would be happy here. As we moved forward with the purchase of this house, I felt a confirmation from the Spirit that we would be able to sell it and it would not be a financial hardship. Sure, over the short years we have been here I have worried about selling the house. But it was my choice to worry. God had already told me not to worry. (Yes, I have an addiction to worry.)
Suddenly, when Sara was a month old, we realized we needed to get serious about selling our house. We started preparing the house, chose an agent, and came up with a plan. We decided to list the house at the end of March. There was some debate about it. Spring was late this year, and the market would be slow until the temperatures warmed up. It could perhaps be to our advantage to wait and list the house later, when things were hopping ... if they got hopping. We decided, no, we felt like we should list the house early. Greg especially felt strongly that it was the right thing to do.
We had a lot of work to do. Our house has been well-maintained and we've tackled some projects here and there since we bought it, so there was nothing major to do. But it was important to us that our house be in tip-top shape and show well. After months and months of our lives being in disarray (I wasn't super productive during my pregnancy), there was a lot of sorting, repairing, organizing, cleaning, arranging, donating, and disposing to do. (A LOT!!) Of course, this all happened when Greg was in the middle of the most intense writing phase of his dissertation. And we had a baby who wanted to be held all the time! Miraculously (let me say that again, miraculously), we managed to get our house on the market just before spring break. We got the house as pristine as possible and then took our mess and fled to Texas for 10 days.
Going to Texas was a great idea. We had a million showings while we were gone! I was so glad we weren't there. I couldn't imagine having multiple showings every day while we were trying to live in the house. (Little did I know...) I will be honest: Of course I hoped we would sell the house while we were in Texas. But, alas, not a single offer the first week. (I knew it was a lot to hope for, but I couldn't help it!) It was still the dead of winter in Wisconsin, so, while there were a gazillion buyers prowling around Verona (which is a highly sought-after area), no one felt like biting--on anything. So we returned to Wisconsin and to a house that we would have to keep perfectly clean and organized. Eek.
Once we returned home, we continued to have multiple showings nearly every day. Apparently there were a gazillion more buyers looking in Verona. It was insane. Our house was not our own. Our lives were not our own! My kids couldn't have friends over. My kids couldn't bring home their schoolwork--it went straight to the recycling bin. No laundry could be piled up. No baby paraphernalia left around. Meals could rarely be eaten at home. I couldn't make any plans or appointments lest I need to get the house ready for a showing. I did nothing--NOTHING--except clean my house. Insane, I tell you. And not sustainable. I was going to break. Our whole family was going to break. I had no doubt our house would sell that spring. But I wept at the thought of our lives continuing like that for another month or two. Wept and wept. Would one of these two gazillion people who were tromping around my bedroom and opening my closets just please buy my house?
It was an odd spring, our agent, who has been selling houses in Verona for 20 years, explained. She said there were tons of buyers. But they weren't buying. They all just kept looking and looking and waiting and waiting. Since nothing was selling, none of them felt like they had to act. Even though it would probably end up being a seller's market once the weather broke, for the time being all the buyers felt like they had all the time in the world. Our agent (and Greg) predicted (correctly) that once the first couple of houses sold, they would all get snapped up. But in April it was like everything was frozen in place as we all waited to see who would bite first.
Meanwhile, Greg and I both had the impression that we needed to spend the summer here. Originally, we had thought we'd get out of here as soon as school was out and spend the summer crisscrossing the country, possibly leaving Greg behind to finish up his dissertation. But the feeling was strong that we should stay here until August. We didn't know exactly why ... perhaps Greg would need a lot of extra time on his dissertation, or we needed to continue to fulfill responsibilities and foster friendships here, or our kids needed the time and stability. Whatever the reason, we trusted that God knew best. So we agreed that we would compromise on price to get a late closing date. (If we ever got an offer ... )
So our house was only on the market about three weeks. (I have to remind myself that three weeks is not very long--how fortunate we were. But it felt more like three months! Or more like an ETERNITY! Deep down I felt peace that it would sell, but my surface emotions were all stress, worry, and exhaustion.) When we received the offer on our house, we considered it carefully. And we knew what we should do. Very quickly. Almost immediately the thought of how we should counter popped into my head. It was a clear, peaceful, calm, confident feeling deep inside (in contrast to the anxious, tight feeling in my chest that I often feel but I have learned is not the Spirit). Greg felt good about it too. Countering as we did required trusting in the Lord, but we have learned (sometimes the hard way and sometimes by seeing great blessings) that the Lord knows best! Our counter was accepted, and we felt very fortunate.
Besides the waiting game on this end (lots of waiting--we asked for a three month closing!!), we needed to find a place to live on the other end. With an accepted offer on our house, we could finally get serious about finding a house in Ohio. More stress and worry and despair were coming. But so was a great blessing.
(Now I need to go to bed.) To be continued ...
P.S. Proverbs 3:5
