To Sell or Not to Sell?

About two weeks ago, David and I started seriously considering putting our house up for sale.  We knew we wanted to move in a year or two, but several things came up that were making us consider whether we should push that timeline forward.  We researched our fingers off and spent almost all of last Saturday driving around our desired new location trying to come up with neighborhoods we liked so we'd know where to look.  We contacted a realtor and started asking questions about selling.  We crunched the numbers and then looked around for spare change in our couch to add to the numbers we were crunching.  We prayed that doors would open if they were supposed to and close if the time wasn't right.  Finally, after about ten days of wondering and losing sleep, we made an appointment for the realtor to come out and do a "Competitive Market Analysis."  That's just a fancy way of saying, "Here's what I'd ask for it.  Can you swing it?"


Bottom line:  We can't swing it.  Well, we could if we scrapped together every penny we have, borrowed more than we should, and then were content to sit in a new house with no A/C eating ramon noodles in the dark.  Who needs a savings account when you're a single-income family with a young one anyway, right?!  Uh, we do.  So no, now is not the right time.  


The good news is that I'm totally and completely okay with that.  I'd always thought we'd wait until Audrey was closer to school age before we moved, so I'm fine reverting back to that plan.  Besides, the idea that we might not have one more Christmas in our current home almost brought me to tears.  Of course, we may not be able to get as much house for our money when it is time to buy, but at least we'll come closer to what we need for ours.  Let's just hope the neighborhood we're in holds steady until then.  I'm thinking of starting a "For pete's sake, keep your houses and yards up so the Sinyards can actually sell one day" campaign.  It probably wouldn't fly, though.  The title is way too long and it would never fit on a button.

I'm awfully glad to have it settled for now.  Looking for a new place was exciting, but the limbo was getting annoying.  We'll revisit it next summer and go from there.  Until then, I'll just enjoy all the hard work I've done lately.  Between Audrey's party and the prospect of moving, I sorta turned into Psycho Suzy and have been cleaning/organizing stuff like crazy in case it was about to go on the market.  I expect all my frantic hard work will last a solid 3-4 days.  Which reminds me that when it is time to look for a new house, my #1 criterion is going to be a built-in robot maid.  It may actually be easier to find than a school district I feel comfortable putting Audrey in.