that I updated!
I wanted to share all the news, but needed to wait until things were a little firmer.
Oh my, where do I begin?
Well, sadly, we are still moving.
Happily, our house is as good as sold -- to the very first people who came through the house. We only had 4 showings -- 2 for the eventual buyers, and 2 for other buyers who wanted to see it. At the end of the week, we received an offer, and after a little negotiation, settled on a price all were happy with.
Our buyers have moved from South Africa and had money tied up there, which held up the sale process a little. That of course has made things easier for us, as we would have been in a bind to have had to get out too early. As it stands, closing should be on 23 August, and we will need to be out of the house by noon on the 24th. We are still waiting for a structural inspection and for the buyers to come through the house before closing to make sure all the electrics, plumbing, reticulation, etc. works. This morning we had an interesting fellow come to do the termite inspection; we passed with flying colours. YAY!
So things have gone as well there as we could possibly have hoped for. There are few things quite as stressful as having to have a show-ready home with 2 homeschoolers, a toddler and a baby underfoot! Thankfully that part was very short!
Now for the even more amazing part:
The week we were selling the house, a friend of ours from the US was here in little old Perth on business with Proctor and Gamble. Unusual in itself...anyway, he had a little free time and we made arrangements to go into the city and out to dinner with him. That was a stressful day: we had to go to the US consulate on passport business, and they closed after I got my paperwork in, but before my hubby could find parking and get in with the kids. I'll blog about the process of getting into the US consulate some other time 8-0.
Anyway, we finally did go out to this rather unusual Chinese restaurant, and the food was not so good, and the kids were feral from being out all day, and it was WAYYYYYY overpriced...but we all tried to have a good time anyway. Our poor guest had quite a time of it in Perth. I've always said it's a great place to live; lousy place to visit (or do business). Again, more on that another time.
During the dinner conversation, our guest inquired how the house sale was going, and whether we had looked on the internet at real estate in the US. We had, and not only had we been looking (for a long, long time), we had narrowed our search down to two DEFINITE must-see houses. One was in the price range we were looking for, and one was out of our price range but still affordable considering the size and location. Both houses are close to the city and have acreage. When we told our guest about the houses, he mentioned he might be familiar with one of them. Well, of course we left it at that, said our goodbyes, and off he went to China.
Next morning we had an email from our guest's wife. She said he had called her that night and happened to mention these two houses. She inquired if the cheaper one was at XXX Ave? If so, she knew the owners -- was in Bible Study with the wife, and their children knew each other through homeschooling, etc. The Bible Study had been praying for a year for buyers, and nothing had happened. She passed on the email address, just in case.
Of course, it WAS the house we were looking at! The one in our price range. Not only in our price range, but WALKING DISTANCE from hubby's parents, with almost 3.5 acres and a creek, and six bedrooms, and a mudroom. It's in a neighborhood which we know extremely well!
We immediately contacted the sellers. As it turns out, they are the parents of eight children, who had to relocate to another city. They had arrangements for the VERY NEXT DAY to lease the house to a renter. But they were so excited and amazed to hear from us, and that we would be interested in purchasing the house, that they offered to lease with option to own TO US! Somehow, it all worked out -- they will receive their money and hand over the keys to hubby's parents tomorrow.
It was such a delight to talk to these people! I am still in awe as to how this all came together. In the meantime, our buyers received their money from South Africa and everything looks good on this front too.
I've been very upset about this move, for my own reasons. It is wonderful to have confirmation that we are doing the right thing, even though it is so painful for me, and a very difficult move.
So now I am just trying to figure out what to do! I'm so overwhelmed with all the stuff. We have a car to sell, and are getting rid of pretty much everything we own. I should not doubt that everything will turn out fine, though -- we certainly seem to have the blessing of our Heavenly Father.
