What is ahead for us? Well, as everyone who is trying to sell a house knows… the economy is in the crapper! The housing market in our town was never really hit by the general slowdown in the economy… until we put our house on the market! Then there were stories about slow downs in the local 
economy, layoffs, less housing being built. You know when we first thought our house had been sold (which caused us to commence much frenzied activity) we were beginning to think all the omens had aligned and we were well on our way to full timing… Then the buyers backed out at the last moment leaving us with… well? A house! Which isn’t a real bad thing since we aren’t retiring until March, 2011… and we still need somewhere to live :)
What’s on the other side? As a result of attempting to be prepare to move out of the house in July we did a lot of departure related things and have now noticed that the days have begun to creep along slowly. Many of the things we needed to do to leave our house have been done leaving us to only contemplate our ultimate departure. Since then, however, we are having a fairly steady stream of folks who want to view the home and even had a couple of people who seemed very interested only to ask about owner financing… Ughhhh! 
What is the picture of our future? So here we are in mid-September where I am secretly hoping the house doesn’t sell until 2011… This would allow us one last Thanksgiving and Christmas in the homestead. But, if it sold earlier we would likewise be delighted… so here we are… one of the many future full timers in limbo...
May it work out heavenly for all of us!
Limbo is not a bad place to be for now. If all you have to do is keep the place tidy and wait, it's OK.
ReplyDeleteI do hope this is the last Holiday Season for you in this House. Best Wishes in advance!
We're in the same situation. Although we have both houses on the market, George can't officially retire until July, 2012. So, technically, we have a little less than 2 years. We both get discouraged that we have no bites at all, and keep lowering our prices. What we get out of his house is what buys the RV! I may end up with an upside down mortgage very soon. *sigh*
ReplyDeleteAnother thought on the "reality" of real Estate. We bought our house 22 years ago for $495K. We have refinanced a number of times to get better interest rates. In 2002 the house was appraised at $1.25 Mil. In January of 2010 it appraised at $730K. Ouch! I expect we will put in well over $100K in fix up costs (considering we have already spent almost $40K and have three bathrooms to do.
ReplyDeleteIf the market continues to go down, we may choose to stay put and become "anytimers" instead of "fulltimers."
I think I'm upside-down, too, but I want to work for a year and a half more, hoping for some appreciation during that time. The 20% I put down sure would have helped with the purchase my RV. But prices are slowly going up, and if I can break even, I'd sell and be done with it. If not,and I've got the RV and am ready to retire, I'll rent it out and see what happens. I'm not going to wait for the house to sell to start living my full-time lifestyle. We can only hope for the best, but at least we've got some time.
ReplyDeleteBarbara
The housing market may not be great, but just remember all you need is one buyer. Have faith that it will work out exactly as it is supposed to. And hopefully the longer it takes, prices will increase and it will all work to your benefit. Hang in there!!
ReplyDeleteMerikay I do have to admit limbo beats the painting you are doing :)
ReplyDeleteWe are not too worried about selling the house because it is paid for so we can be patient... also we have it listed for double what we paid for it so we have room to go down if necessary.