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SOLD

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We sold our house!

We actually got the offer 2 days after we moved out here so it’s been driving me crazy not to share but I didn’t want to say anything until it was final.  Because you know how things can turn around on you and that would have been anticlimactic!

Anyway, we been going through the motions of negotiating back and forth, waiting for the inspection then the inspection report and then the buyers letter asking for every little possible thing to be “fixed”… which is actually just a reason to negotiate for more $$ back- or off the price of the house.   You know the drill!

So we’ll be heading back in a couple weeks so the movers can pack up all our belongings (the ones we don’t have here anyway) and store it…because we can not find a house to purchase here!

I’m not kidding.

We’ve been looking for houses here for 2 months essentially (looking at listings and actuall houses for 3 weeks) and my “listing report” is just the same 15 houses every week.

It’s sad.

We are thinking of expanding our search to other areas of Knoxville even though that would defeat the purpose of  moving out here for the last 5 weeks of school here.  Maddie  wanted to meet some friends to hang out with during the summer and start the next year with.  Also, we chose this area because we wanted her in this school system.

Oh well.  What-a-ya-do?

We really want to find our next house soon.   Really soon!

Apartment life is something. You forget after 12 years of home ownership.

Some people complain about home ownership, that there’s always something to fix.

That’s true, I suppose but…

I’ll take it.

It sure beats twiddling my thumbs!

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Comments

  2. CONGRATS!!!! Oh Im soooooooo happy for you guys. And the perfect NEW home is just waiting for you to get everything settled first :0)

    • I like your positive attitude. Maddie keeps telling us we are being too picky and we aren’t going to find a home thats “perfect”. Honestly, I’d settle for “in the ballpark”.

  3. Congrats! your perfect home is out there, believe me it took a while to find my perfect home in an area of massive foreclosures and short sales.

    • I wonder if the foreclosures and short sales are found in a different place than the regular old fashioned “for sales”. Maybe that’s the problem. I’ll have to ask my Realtor about that. Here’s hoping we find something.

      • Foreclosures should be listed with the regular MLS since banks hire them to make the sale. Short sales would depend on who the owner got to represent them, but usually it’s on the regular MLS as well.

        • Find a realtor who specializes in foreclosures. There are lots in Knoxville that aren’t listed on the KAAR MLS website. The REOs are the foreclosed ones listed by a realtor. I live in Knoxville too and am trying to find a new home with at least an acre. There’s only 5 available on the MLS but I’ve found more that the banks aren’t listing. Good luck!

    • I have no idea what the buyers thought. Obviously they liked the house but I’m not sure our built-ins will survive. We kept getting notes from our Realtor asking if there is wood floor under the built ins. They don’t want the craft island at all. We’re taking it with us because I don’t want it to end up having a sledge hammer taken to it like in all the “Home Improvement” shows on TV. I can’t even imagine what they were thinking when they went into the basement and saw the craft room. “What in the world is this big “table” (that’s what they called it) doing in the middle of this room? What a waste of space. I’d much rather have a big open space in the middle of the room.”

      Maybe?

      Of course, I’m biased because I designed MY perfect space. I don’t care what they do with it when it’s theirs. Whatever!

      • Congratulations! If I were buying your house it would have been because of your craft room!! 🙂

      • Oh, that breaks my heart… really! I can’t imagine someone not walking into that AMAZINGLY BEAUTIFUL craft room and saying, WOW! I can’t wait to spend ALL of my time in here. Sigh. I wish I had found your site sooner, I may have begged my husband to let us move and buy your home. Even though he’s a Marine and stationed at Quantico, VA – I would have worked hard to get my way! What a gorgeous home! Can’t wait to see what you do with the next one!

        We just bought a home here, our first actually… and I have no experience in remodeling/redoing anything. Well except bedroom furniture that I once refinished and loved it. I love to craft and I can’t wait to redo a lot of our home but I need inspiration and your blog/site is JUST that!

        Thanks!!

  6. Super!
    I am so glad you are house-free, and while you still have not found your glass sleeper, I hope that very soon you will find the one. Good luck for Maddie, I know how hard it is to make new friends, my son is still made at us!

    • Morgane I love your Frenchiness! I will keep in mind that I am looking for my glass slipper and hold out for the one that fits. This is a very hard age to have to make new friends. Finding a place inside circles of already developed friendships is difficult. She’s holding her own here but if we can’t find a house in this little town and have to expand our search and she ends up in a different middle school in the fall she will be mad at us. VERY MAD and it doesn’t take a whole lot to get that emotion from her anyway at this age so we’ll be in real trouble. It all builds character, right? haha

  7. Congratulations! 🙂 Happy for you!!
    Do you have an agent? Look at the MLS, HUD list and F/C Default list. On the default list you may find a short sale.
    Best of luck! Don’t settle. You will find what you are looking for in the area/school zone you want. If all else fails, drive around and the house you fall in love with… knock on the door and make an offer. Everything is for sale. It happened to us. 🙂

      • A doctor from Idaho. He said i want your house. Husband; It’s not for sale. My wife wold kill me. Dr.: Here is my offer.
        Husband: Honey I will build you a new house. Me: What the?

        1 1/2 years later we have a new house. LoL! I would do it again.
        There is a house I adore and I have always wanted to knock on the door and say “How much?” Maybe one day.
        Hugs & Best Wishes on your new adventure. Looking forward to all your new projects and designs.

  8. Congratulations! Your buyers got a great house!

    My name is Sandra also, and I lived in Knoxville for seven years. I absolutely loved it! We were in Cedar Bluff, but if we had stayed, would have ended up toward Farragut. I still have wonderful friends there. It took us a bit of time to find a house but I was so glad that it worked out the way it did – had the world’s best neighbors!

    • Hi Sandra! hehe

      Farragut is where everyone moves when they move in from out of state isn’t it? That’s where we’ll be looking if we can’t find something here. Glad to know you had great neighbors. That is never a consideration when you buy a house but always a huge factor in how much you love or dislike living in your home.

  9. Congrats on selling the house. That whole process is a HUGE pain! Glad that part is over for you.

    Just find some land to build. We would love to follow you on that journey. Just think of all the posts!!

    • I would love that journey also but seeing as it took me 5 years just to remodel an already existing house can you imagine how long it would take me to build one? I’m guessing about 20 years! Seriously, we have considered it but we never know how long we’ll be anywhere so it doesn’t ever seem like a good idea. We’d be one of those stories you hear about where a family builds their dream house and then has to move before they even move in. That would stink!

  10. Sandra Congratulations – I’m so happy for you that burden has been lifted and now hopefully your search will turn for the better. You need a real ‘needs some TLC’ pad to get your thumbs busy again. Sending buyers lucky dust your way.

    • Haha. Thanks Jaime, I definitely need some “lucky dust”. I found a great fixer upper but the family just wouldn’t go for it. I guess it was just too ugly and scary. And the fact that hubby and Realtor kept saying that someone had died in the house didn’t help much in helping Maddie to see past the ugly and scary. Darn Boys! (and it was probably not true anyway)

  11. Congrats on selling the house… with that off your mind, I’m sure you will find your new home soon. Maybe people are waiting to list in June…

  12. Congratulations!! It must feel so great to have that off your back! And so exciting to look forward to new possibilities. Here’s hoping you’ll find the best place very soon!

  13. Congratulations! Although I am a little jealous of you buyer. They got a great house. Good luck looking for another house. Its the hardest part of moving.

  14. YEAH!! I am so thrilled for you! I am sure that is a huge relief knowing that is now sold. At least you don’t have 2 things to wonder about now. As mentioned, you can just focus on one thing at a time. As for the buyers not liking the island? What’s up with that? Seriously, how can they not like it?! Smart move, bringing it with you!

    • Thanks Chantelle. I just hope we can find a space for it. I have a friend that would take it off my hands (probably a few) but I put too much work and money into building it to just give it away. Anyone want to buy an island? haha

  15. You’re a woman after my own heart! I just bought my first house in Savannah GA and am slowly beginning to fix it up myself. I came across your blog when googling for “craft table” as my soon to be craft room is approaching demo-ing soon. =) I look forward to reading your future adventures even if it’s apartment style for a while.

    • Hi Megan. I fear it will be apartment style for a while. But, you know, that might not be a bad thing. It’s all the attitude isn’t it? I just have to adjust mine. (constantly) 🙂

      • If it makes you feel any better… I walked nearly 30-40 houses with my realtor before finding my Gem! Just closed at the end of Feb and now living amongst the chaos!

  16. Congrats! Can’t believe you can’t find anything. What a bummer. Around here there is a surplus of homes needing a buyer at all entry levels.

    • It’s so unlike anything I’ve ever experienced before. Where I sold my house there was a surplus too, which is why we lost so much money on it. Everyone kept saying it was that way everywhere and we’d make it back on the flip side. Ha. I think the joke’s on us. And I’m still excited to start over again! What’s wrong with me? 🙂

  17. It took us 4 months and 115 houses to find the one that we wanted. I normally love going to look at houses, but I was 5-9 months pregnant (we bought our house just two weeks after our son was born), it was summertime, and most of the houses had been shut up without any AC so I was pretty miserable.

    Good luck on your search!

    • That sounds miserable. Although, if there were 115 houses to look at I’d be pretty excited about that. It’s been 2 months since we started looking in this area and we’ve visited 8 houses! The odds are not in our favor but I’m clinging to the positive energy that’s coming my way (from all of you) and holding out for a great house in the area we want to be.

  18. Hooray! I am so happy for you guys!

    Best of luck with the new home search. I hope you get exactly what you’re looking for.

  19. Congratulations!! What a relief. Those buyers are getting quite the house!
    I’ll keep my fingers crossed the perfect house for you comes on the market very, very soon!

  21. I think maybe you should secretly buy the fixer upper that you like work on it nonstop until school get’s out, let Maddie in on the secret and put her to work, then surprise your husband. I sometimes “surprise” my husband when I am not sure whether or not he is on board. You know like “Surprise I bought a new dining set, curtains, and painted the kitchen while you were at work today!” Or “Surprise we are fostering three puppies for a few weeks!” I am sure that when you get started on the renovation he would like it, Wes just doesn’t have your vision, right? 😉

    • I think that they would like it after I put 100k into it but unfortunately, I don’t have that kind of money in a secret stash. Darn it.

      I wish I could buy that house and fix it up as a side project. Unfortunately, it’s more in the price range of what we need to spend for a “live in” house instead of a little project on the side. Sigh!

      Maybe I’ve surprised Wes one too many times and he’s figured out when I’m scheming and so he’s able to say “Absolutely not” before I Dive In without even warning him what’s about to happen.

      I need to develop a new strategy!

  22. Congratulations on selling!! This gives me hope — we’ve been on the market for six months with no luck and everyone keeps saying “It’s just a bad time,” but at least someone somewhere is able to sell. Good luck finding a new place!

    • Nancy, there’s always hope! It’s just are you hoping to sell? Or are you hoping to sell and still make a little $? Or, are you just hoping to “SELL” not “GIVE” it away?

      We sold our house because we kept lowering the price and then accepted even less. I hate to think about it, it’s depressing.

      We basically could have put a sign in our yard that said, “For free by owners, gratuities accepted” and come to the same place financially at the end of it all. Maybe.

      I hope that 1 person comes through and falls in love with your house and you can get out from under it and on with life. It sucks to be stuck in a holding pattern while on the market. Good luck.

  23. hey girl! I’m sure it’s a huge relief to have sold your home. Have you checked out zillow.com? It’ll let you know what things are going for at least. You basically type in any city, and it pulls up all the houses for sale in any given area. You can see the pictures, what it was last sold for, etc. It will also pull up some forclosures too. Give it a try!

  24. Congratulations!!! I hope you find your new house very soon. Can’t wait to see what your amazing mind and skills can do. BTW- husband has been installing the bookcase in the living room and working to make it look built in. I keep referring to your posts to get that look. Thanks again. It’s fabulous to have book cases and all that great space.

  25. Congratulations!!!! I have a hard time believing they really found things that needed to be fixed. That must have been a pretty flimsy excuse for a list.
    I am sure you have already thought of this, but have you thought about building a new home? We looked a lot of houses and realized we weren’t going to find what we what unless we knocked down walls. So I found a builder with a floor plan I love. A new home is still a lot of work :). Good luck. I can’t wait to see what you find and what you do with it. (I am kinda hoping it looks horrible so you will have tons to do and tons for me to read. j/k)

    • I’m really trying to find something Uhh-gly but that has good bones and is structurally sound…

      I’d love to knock down walls and all that if the price is right. We’ll see. We just don’t have time to build new. It’d be time to move again before construction was complete (with my luck) so I’ll keep looking for something that I can take on a project at a time (who am I kidding? I always have at least 3 at once) so we can finish up and move again when needed. Just like we did in IL, and TX, and AZ, and LA, and …

      Someday!

  26. Great news! I’m sure that is a big relief for you guys. I hope you have some luck finding a house. Foreclosure can be found elsewhere. There was a bidding site, which I can’t remember right now, that we used to look them up in Atlanta. I’m sure it’s nationwide.

    • I’ve tried looking for foreclosures but all the sites I can find want you to register and I don’t want to register. I just want to see what’s available and then go see the properties with my Realtor. I don’t want to sign up for anything and give out my contact information.

  27. Congratulations on selling your house! I know the feeling of reverting back to an apartment after owning a house. I’m flying down to see my husband this weekend in Colorado and the apartment above him has a kid that runs non stop. No joke I have never heard a kid that has so much energy and they are hardwood floors so you hear everything! I’m just grateful I don’t have to live there full time right now, but it is nice to call someone else to fix anything that goes wrong!

    • If “they” can fix what needs fixing – it’s really nice. 🙂 Hardwood floors in an apartment complex? Fancy! (But not so good with sound muffling.) I feel your pain. Wes was on the bottom floor in the first apartment he lived in out here and there was a 3 year old in the apartment above him. It sounded like a herd of elephants when she would run around.

      Hang in there!

  28. Congrats! Like others have said here, I feel sure that once school is out there, many more options will spring up on the housing market. I am excited at the prospect of following your improvements once you do find your dream house. I absolutely love your blog, and have been inspired to try many DIY projects because of you. Thanks, Sandra, for sharing what you do so skilfully with us!

    • Thanks Janet, that’s sweet of you to say. I hope I don’t disappoint you buy buying a house that needs absolutely nothing done to it! What would I do with myself? It’s somewhat tempting though. I’m all suspense and mystery! 🙂

  29. Yay Congrats! That’s got to feel good. Sorry to hear you are having a hard time finding a new home.

    I just finished your intro for Monday. I hope you don’t mind but I included that picture of you licking, I think, a huge jawbreaker. Ha…you seriously crack me up.

    So…I am amazed at your hidden sewing talents. I can’t wait to see your project for the series! Thank you again for being such a star and guest posting for me.

  30. Just found your blog and am catching up with where you are. I love your talent and your attitude towards DIY stuff. I feel the same way, but am not as young and agile as I once was, so it’s a bit harder for me to try some things. What does your husband do that you move so much? We did that for awhile with my husband’s job and it was tough on the kids (3 girls) but they are all grown now and able to look back on the good and bad of the experiences they had moving around so much. Just love Maddie and support her. She will be okay in the end. Good luck on the house hunt. I will be following you too now.

    • Thank you Charlotte, I know Maddie will be fine but I feel for her having to move in middle school. I think that’s the worst age but what do you do? We go where the job is!

      p.s. My hubby is a “Customer Experience” executive – whatever that means, right?

  31. Yay on selling the house!!! I’m sure that was a HuGe burden lifted. Just take a break for a while, come out here and we can go makeup shopping and do makeovers…after the pillow fight of course =D.

  33. So exciting! I live in Greeneville Tennessee (about an hour from Knoxville.) You can totally come stay with me! I’d be really happy for you to try out some of your nifty designs out on my house while you’re staying here… with us… just saying 🙂

  35. Congratulations and good luck on your house! My husband and I looked at houses for a whole year before finally finding one that worked for us (and we looked at a LOT of houses). But I’m glad we didn’t settle, even though we were picky. You may not have that luxury (it’s hard to go back to apartment living!) but I hope you find your perfect place soon.

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