It seemed that the universe was conspiring against us to keep us from moving to TX. Well, maybe just the National Guard had no idea what to do. We were told that we should get our military orders 30 days before the move so that we could arrange movers and get on a waiting list for housing if we wanted on base housing. That 30 day mark should have been July 4th, but since that was a holiday I really didn't expect it to happen until the following week. Trent started working with them in mid June to get the process rolling, no one seemed to know what to do. It wasn't until a call was put in to National Guard Headquarters in DC and Trent took a day off of work to go to Draper to physically get them that they figured it all out and were able to put him on active duty orders. That was July 18th. We were hoping to be on our way the following week.
Then there was the house....Through much searching Trent found a loop hole in Orem City that would have allowed us to rent both sides of our home since we were moving for less than 3 years and were planning to return (I'm sure put in place for those who serve missions). Since the selling of our house wasn't going well it was looking like that is what we would do. Then we got an offer on our house. The first offer came in on July 12th. It was for $15,000 less than we were asking. And we were asking for well below fair market value, about $20,000 less, because we wanted to get it sold and not have to worry about it while we were gone. We countered the first offer and then never heard back from them. Then the following Tuesday we got a second offer. For $35,000 LESS than we were asking! To say I was angry with the process is an understatement, I had no intentions of responding to that offer. Seriously, anyone looking at it could see we had lowered the price twice in two months, that must mean we were desperate. Right? No! And I wasn't about to settle.
Our relator is very good at what she does, she sent out a multiple offers addendum to both of the offers (however the second realtor pretty much called her a liar, wanting proof that there was indeed two offers, he was a jerk!). We immediately heard back from the first offer. They accepted our counter. So we started the process of approving them, as they were looking for owner financing; both offers wanted owner financing. There were a couple of things I didn't love about the first offer. First, the buyer was the agents husband. So we wanted proof that they had the down payment in the bank and they weren't going to use her commission to make the down payment. Second, was his credit. We knew it was bad because he couldn't get approved for a loan. But it wasn't until I looked at it that I realized how bad it was. So I was a little nervous doing owner financing with him.
Then we heard back from the other offer. She took her offer from $35,000 below what we were asking to $5,500 more! What on earth! I was totally stunned. So I started the process of checking her credit to make sure she was a good applicant. She has perfect credit! Why on earth then do owner financing, she just thinks it's easier. Well okay then. We accepted her offer with just a few minor counters (time of owner financing and interest rate). And we waited....and waited...I think that was a Wednesday. We were leaving to go camping with some family on Friday and our relator was headed to Yellowstone on Saturday for a few days, so getting this all wrapped up was important! Friday afternoon, as we were headed out of town, our relator called and said she'd heard from the other relator and he'd have an answer for us that afternoon, just as soon as his client got out of class. She asked us to wait around till that answer came.
The van was packed, the kids were in, but we decided to give it a couple of hrs. So we went to lunch, and then to a few stores...and then finally back to our house as we needed to sign a document and email it back. Hunter was TIRED. I was grumpy, I hate being late, and now we were 4 hrs off of our schedule. And then I was humbled. While we were waiting we got a call from the housing office on Fort Sam Houston, they had a place for us! We put our name on the waiting list the day before (because that is when we got our orders and we couldn't do it until then) and were told to expect up to a 4 month wait. And then it turned out we got to where we were camping the SAME time as everyone else. There truly is a Father in Heaven who knows what He is doing, even when we think it is an annoyance! What a tender moment when I realized what would have happened had we come when we were planning to. About 5pm we got the call from our relator that said our counter offer had been accepted! In 24 hrs we had obtained our orders, found a house to live in, and sold ours. What a blessing!
And then came MORE issues, with the selling of our home. Our relator assured us that not all transactions are this complicated. Good to know, cuz Trent was never going to buy a home again. :)
On Monday, July 22 we found out that indeed we'd be able to have movers come move us, two days later. We were a little worried because we were told that the moving company needed a two week notice, so we were mentally preparing for a do-it-yourself move or having me and the kids stay behind for a few weeks, neither option sounded good. On Tuesday, July 23 the buyer had a home inspection done, we were there for it as we had to get ready for the movers to come, so we heard a few things the inspector was saying. Overall the house was in good shape, the deck needs work however, which we already knew. Then we heard NOTHING from the buyer or her agent for 5 days! We were out of our house, ready to leave, but couldn't because we hadn't heard when she wanted to close. In the original paper work she had said the 1st of Aug, but we'd be gone by then and it just wouldn't work for us, so we were hoping she'd sign earlier, but not take possession till the 1st, if that is what she wanted. But with no communication for them we didn't know what was going on. We didn't know if she was wanting to back out after getting the report of the deck, we were going crazy not knowing. Sunday afternoon our agent got a hold of the other agent, she was putting in a counter offer after getting the results of the inspection, she wanted to take $15,000 off of her offer. Seriously, $15k to repair the deck is what it said! Was she wanting a deck made of gold?! We had someone come and give us an estimate to replace the deck, just to see where things were. His estimate was $3000. So we countered, 300,500 (asking price was 299,900, her offer was 305,500, then 290,000). I was a very grumpy pregnant woman who had no house to live in and I wasn't desperate to sell. I was in no mood for games!
We spent all day Monday wondering if she was going to accept our offer or not, Monday night she accepted. Then we waited to see when she wanted to close. In my grumpy state I finally said we were going to leave Wednesday whether or not we'd signed papers. We'd get a power of attorney for my mom and she could sign for us. I was done waiting. We had to be to TX by Sunday, and we estimated it would take us at least 3 days of driving to get there with the kids. We needed to get moving!
By some miracle she was prepared to sign papers on Wednesday. She had an appointment at 9am, ours was at 11. She didn't show up. She decided to go later that afternoon, she didn't show up. We left Orem at 2pm. Much later than I had planned, but we were finally on the road! An hour into our drive our relator called us to tell us she wanted to change a few things and see if we were okay with that. Seriously! We talked about it and decided it would be okay, until we found out what a process it was going to be to resign papers after we'd left. Print emailed documents, find a notary, pay notary for EACH document that needs to be signed, then FAX the documents back, a per page fee. Why could this not be an easy process! But we'd already said we'd do it, so....It turned out that the documents didn't need to be notarized and the hotel Trent's dad was staying at let us fax them for free. She showed up Thursday morning to sign her papers and the deal was done.
While all the drama with the house was going on we had movers coming, and our stuff going. The movers showed up Wednesday, July 24 to pack up our stuff. When I talked to them two days before I was told that they would arrive between 7 and 8am and stay till 5. When 10m rolled around and they hadn't been there yet we gave them a call to see what was up. They had just left Ogden to come to Orem to pack us up. Seriously! I am a pretty prompt person, when I say I'm going to be there at 8, I'll be there as close to 8 as possible, usually a little before. However, having kids has thrown a kink in that as sometimes right as we are leaving someone has to pee, or there's a poopy diaper, or we can't find shoes....sometimes I'm late, yes, but never 2hrs! They pulled in at 11, worked for 30 mins and then took at smoke break. This pattern went on all afternoon, work 30 mins, stop to smoke. They were very nice to work with though! By 2pm they were out of boxes so they called it quits for the day. They accomplished a ton in that short amount of time.
The showed up late the next morning as well, they brought two moving trucks to load all our stuff into. They finished packing what needed to be packed, and wrapped everything in brown paper and loaded up the two trucks. It only took them about 5ish hours to do it all. They left and we had to call them back, they had forgotten things in the shed. oops! Good thing they hadn't gone very far. They had to take our stuff up to Hill Air Force Base where they'd then pack it into shipping crates. We didn't see our stuff again until Aug 16th! We spent the first 11 days in our house with nothing but what we brought in our cars. I had prepared ahead and brought towels, bedding, air mattress, and a few toys for the kids. It sure wasn't fun living without all our stuff that's for sure! It was an awesome day when it showed up!!
1 comment:
Oh my gosh, what craziness! Selling of the house sounds like ours!! How awful to be without your furniture etc, but glad they didn't lose it for good. Hope you are all well. Miss you guys.
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