Door # 3 is a winner!

The first offer I got was from a nice lady with two kids.  It was for $15, 000 under the asking price and she needed me to pay 3.5% closing costs and wanted to close in 4 weeks.  Too little, too much, too soon.

The second offer was from a young couple with a baby.  It was $10,000 under the asking price and they needed 3% closing costs and wanted to close in 5 weeks.  Better, but still too little for the house, too much for closing, and too soon to get out of here.

Enter offer #3...
$1,100 OVER asking price, no closing costs needed, and closing in 6 weeks.  BINGO!  I told you God's blessings sometimes make me dizzy.  How overwhelming is this?  Wow.  And the really great thing is that it's a family that will fit nicely into the neighborhood.  The dad is a Navy veteran and there are other Navy vets just up the street.

I sign papers tomorrow.  Now all that needs to happen is that the bank accepts my offer on the townhome I want.  If they do, it means I will save approx. $300 a month on mortgage and probably about $30 to $50 a month on utilities.  With that, I can save more for kiddo's college, sponsor another school-kid in Haiti, and maybe sock some away for a downpayment on a vehicle with better gas mileage.

Thanks for all your prayers and well-wishes, it has been an interesting roller coaster ride!

Sunrise/Sonrise

"But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings; and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall.  Malachi 4:2   NASB The view from our sunrise service this morning.  The fog was at the base of the hills, nicely accenting the rising sun. Happy Resurrection Day!

But wait...!

Did I say TWO offers on my house?
I meant three.

(Sometimes, God's blessings make me feel a little dizzy.)

This house selling stuff...

I don't have one offer on my house.




I have two.




Updates as they come in.





Have a good Good Friday!

Tin Grin

I never had braces.  I have no idea how she feels.

But, she handled it with her usual aplomb and apparent stoicism.  No pain pills, no wax for the wires, and a solemn commitment to diligent brushing and water-picking.  She'll keep it up for the whole two years, of that I am sure.

Of course, she still needs to have 4 teeth extracted during spring break.  She requested "funny gas".  That will be interesting.



HOUSE UPDATE-  9 weeks on the market, 35 showings, no offers.   Everyone likes the house, but they don't like the way the neighbors park their RVs, boats, trucks, and work trailers.  Picky, picky.

Shamrock Stride 5k

Yesterday, we took part in Portland's Shamrock Run.  It was our first time.  We did the walking part- the 5k.  For you non-mathy folks, that's 3.1 miles.  It was quite the party- there were 34998 other folks there participating in one of the runs or the walk.

It was 42 degrees out, with a pretty good wind.  We layered, but next time we'll include gloves with our gear.  We saw some gloves and jackets that had been tossed to the side of the road along the route- not because people were littering but because it's tradition.  The discarded garb gets taken to homeless shelters.  It's their way of donating.

Portland prides itself on being weird, and that is what we saw during the event.  I didn't get photos of it all, but there were outlandish costumes, musical groups playing us through our work-out, and dogs of every size and color.

We did the route in less than an hour- about 57 minutes, I think.  That's better than my usual treadmill time of 3 mph.

Afterward, we looked around Portland Saturday Market for awhile, had some lunch, did some shopping, and then took MAX back to our car.  It was a great way to spend a breezy spring morning and I think we will do it again next year!




HOUSE UPDATE-  2 months on the market, 33 showings, no offers.  Everyone says that the house shows really well, but the freeway is too visible and too loud.  Well, duh.  Why do you think I want to move???

Of Open House showings and such...

I am not a good multi-tasker.  In fact, during this time of trying to sell this house, I have really not thought of much else.  No blog posts come to mind, my emails are mostly to my realtor, and I haven't phoned any friends.  Even at work, my thoughts are about the house I want to buy.

I've had my eye on that house for 4 years.  When it was newly built in '08, it listed for $239,900.  Someone bought it, and then this summer had to give it up.  It was then listed as a short sale at $199,900.  I watched it online every day.  In December, the price dropped to $149,900.  I contacted the listing agent and the plan was put into motion.

My house was cleaned and organized from top to bottom and then showings started.  Every week- one or two showings, but no bites.  I asked my agent if we needed an Open House.  She agreed.

We held the Open House yesterday.  No one came to it.  So I had a pity party all by myself and sulked a bit and polished off the red and green M&Ms that were left over from Christmas.

If I don't get this house sold soon, I won't be able to put in an offer on the foreclosure.  My plan of downsizing my house and my mortgage will have to morph into Plan B, which doesn't really exist right now.

So there you have it.  Not terribly tragic, and certainly not something God would have me throwing a pity party over, but frustrating nonetheless.  I think I'll just take a little blogging break while things get sorted.

The Chinese New Year celebration starts today- it's the Year of the Snake.  Happy Chinese New Year to those of you who celebrate it.  And Happy Valentine's Day on Thursday!

Later!