Relief

After months of waiting, we finally have an offer. In the meantime, we have definitely learned a lot about patience and waiting for answered prayer.

Waiting doesn't come naturally. It is so much easier to have what we want right now. But waiting shapes us for what is to come... 

In April, we put our house on the market. We hoped we would sneak in before the First-Time Home Buyer's Credit expired. We welcomed the showings. We averaged five per week. It felt good.

And then April 30th passed. Our only offer, dead on arrival. So we waited. Days creeped by. No showings. It was awful. We had passed through a month of plenty and found ourselves in one month... two months... of nothingness. Not a single showing in almost two months! Desperation became a heavy burden. Separation became torture.

We began to hatch a plan. We would live in an RV. It was doable. Right? We could do it for an unknown amount of time. It would mean we would be together. We visited campgrounds. We learned that Daniel's aunt would be willing to rent her RV to us. We plotted and schemed. We looked into how living in an RV and owning a home would effect our Home Owner's insurance. We found a campground that had all the ammenities we would need (most notably internet). We discovered the earliest we could commit to full time life in an RV was July 30 and we booked our spot at Raccoon Mountain. We started making lists of things we would need to live full time in an RV. Our friends and family told us that if anyone could live in an RV, it was us. We grinned and kept making our lists.

While we were focused on our RV plans, a funny thing happened. We had a showing. And then another. And then one this past Saturday. Then a follow-up on Sunday. And then an offer Sunday afternoon {with a request to make a decision by 9PM}. We counter-offered and our counter was ACCEPTED! We had ANOTHER showing today {our realtor told us to go ahead, just to be safe}. We signed papers today and a check is in escrow. They want to close July 26... just in time for us to move into our RV!!!

God really surprised us with this one. A tremendous weight has been lifted. Relief. There are no words. Now there are new lists to be made. Things to be done. But we will really be together at the end of the month and no house payment to tie us down. It is an amazing feeling.

Radio Silence

That is what we have heard since our five showings in three days last week. The deadline for the first-time home buyer tax incentive came and went. And we have had no showings since last Wednesday. We can't really regret not accepting the offer that was $30 grand under our asking price since we technically tried to negotiate and they were the ones that walked away. AND we made the best decision we could with the information we had at that exact moment.

But that doesn't make this week any easier. I know there is a buyer for our house, they just haven't connected with us yet. It is hard to know what to do at this point. I believe the real estate market was artificially inflated for the month of April while everyone tried to get a last-minute deal. Now it is May. After 25 showings in four weeks it feels abnormal to have no requests for showings. The dust is settling and it will be interesting to see how things pan out. Surely there are still people looking for homes. Right?