Sold!

I've wanted to say this for nearly two years and I finally can. We SOLD our house! Call us insane in this market, but we feel good about it. I have mixed emotions about leaving our house (I brought my 2 babies home to this house), but in general I'm very excited (hello backyard)!

Listing our house kind of took a leap of faith for me. In this hot market, contingent offers don't fly and we haven't had any success with the offers we've made so far.  Our chances will  really increase once we've closed and can remove the contingency. (We'll be able to offer a 10-day close and we'll have the cash equity we made in our bank account.) After hearing that the lot we wanted to build on was out of our price-range, we asked ourselves what we were waiting for. Initially, we were considering waiting to list until Memorial Day, but once we made up our minds, I was far too antsy to wait an instant longer. Our house hit the market on Thursday, May 13.

Keeping our house spotless with 2 messy babes was no easy feat, but we survived. We only had to have our house on the market for 1 weekend. Hallelujah! We spent most of the time at my parent's house. Andrew teased me because I went a little over-board and was a bit obsessive in my cleaning/staging. It was hard to have the garbage can in the garage, our hampers in the basement, the toilet paper and soap hidden under the sinks, and no appliances out. I'd say our hard work paid off though. We ended up having over 25 showings and getting 8 offers!

All 8 offers were over the list price (439k) and we feel very blessed that we had so many options to choose from.  I've struggled with  inquisitive neighbors throughout this process and am sick of being asked personal financial questions. I try to remind myself that people are only trying to be nice, but it feels like people just want the latest neighborhood gossip.  Here's as much as I'll give you and shhhh, I haven't told the neighbors this, but we will make over $250k on our house, which is a big part of why we decided to sell it.

When the bids first started coming in, our realtor, Deea, kept saying, "This isn't the offer that I'll come do cartwheels in your yard for." That offer finally did come though and I was nearly doing cartwheels myself. The offer was much higher than the list price and much more than we anticipated that we'd get. Additionally, the buyers offered to let us rent-back the house for free until August 7th and they waived the appraisal which we were thrilled about. Apparently appraisals have been coming in quite low and aren't quite keeping up with the market, so we're relived not to have to worry about that. I was pretty stressed about our inspection because I know there are some things that need to be replaced in our house soon (water heater, AC, windows), but we were able to negotiate with the buyers.

Today, we officially have $10,000 in earnest money from the buyers, so if they decide to back-out, we'll get to keep that. We close on June 8 which can't come soon enough! I'm ready to pull out aggressive Jenna and bid my heart out on a new house. I have been holding off writing this post because I wanted to be able to have our ending figured out. Just this week, we offered on some beautiful land in a prime location, but we just found out we didn't get it. Oh well. We don't know where we're going yet, but we do know that moving is the right thing for us and are anxious to see where we end up.

Buy It!

Have you ever been on the fence about a purchase and decided to pass it up? I still remember a time long ago when I was debating whether or not to buy a pair of shoes. I ended up talking myself out it (frugal me) and left the store. I instantly regretted that decision and later had a dream about the said shoes. Sadly, the shoes were nowhere to be found and I missed out on the opportunity of owning those lovely purple flats. 

Last summer, I brought up the idea of buying a bike trailer. I thought it would be a wonderful way to tote the kids around but when I saw the price-tag, it was easy to pass. Nearly a year later, I was still thinking about the bike trailer. It was time. I took the plunge and purchased one. Lesson learned... The bike trailer was worth every penny and I'm kicking myself for not buying it sooner.

Our kids are hyped up about the trailer. James has mentioned it in several prayers. It's the highlight of every day. While out on a ride, I get demanding instructions from the kids such as: "Go faster!" "We're not ready to go home yet. Longer, longer!" James is about maxed out weight wise, so we'll utilize it with him while we can. 

Isabelle likes to wear her helmet around the house after returning from a ride to reminisce about the good time she had. James was so torn about missing out on a trailer-ride home, so he threw a colossal fit and wouldn't leave the bike trailer to go to preschool. The little cuties aren't the only ones who are pleased with this new toy. I get my workout in and don't have to deal with any complaints. Oh, and I also sometimes get to listen to my book along the journey. (Only on secluded roads. Safety first!) 

I made the mistake of promising the hooligans that we could take the trailer to a park play-date. We went to Hill Park. What was I thinking? It was the most intense workout I've had in a long time. Picture a killer hill that only people in pristine shape can climb and add 70 pounds tugging along behind you. I was dripping sweat, and ended up walking the bike and trailer up the majority of the hill. At one point, I even made the kids get out of the trailer and walk because it was too heavy to push. For the record, this was a busy street, so many fellow PG residents got to witness my demise. I was exhausted and defeated and showed up stinky and late to the playdate. Let me reassure you though-- the ride home was smooth sailing and the breeze in my face as I sped downhill almost made up for that gargantuan hill.

In order to get a bike trailer, we needed a bike. We've had a bike sitting in our garage with a flat tire for FIVE years now. Andrew tried to fix it twice recently with no luck. We finally took it into a local bike store and they replaced the tire tube within 5 minutes all for $20. Why did we wait 5 years to do this? I wanted bike rides to be a family thing, so that meant we also needed to purchase another adult bike. Whew, big spending spree for us! Andrew ordered a bike sporting a color scheme he loved and a price-tag I was ok with. In James' words, Andrew's new bike is "flashy." Andrew rode the bike to work this week which was pretty impressive. He works in Lehi and it was a 26 mile round-trip adventure. He plans to bike to work again, so I'd say it was a success. We live in such a gorgeous place that has many bike trails. I'm glad we get to utilize them more and see us spending many future Saturday mornings cruising along the Murdock trail!

Now, what's the purchase you've been wanting to make and put-off? I've learned from experience... BUY IT! You won't regret it! And, you can blame me for making you do it.