I picked the wrong year to stop sniffing glue.
I mean, wow, right? It's been a pretty crazy couple weeks, on all fronts. Hell of a time to be trying to sell a house and blow up our lives and relocate!
As far as COVID-19 goes, impacts to us haven't been too significant. We've always homeschooled, so school closures don't affect us, though it stinks that all the girls' other activities are on hold, libraries closed, etc. Though along those lines, our moving timeline was dependent on Hallie's musical theater show, which may well be cancelled--if that happens, we can move as soon as we're ready! As far as my job goes, I'm still going to the office as normal, though we're doing what we can to reduce the call center population by reducing schedules, sending people to work from home, etc. Definitely an interesting time.
And an interesting time to be selling a house. After the plumbing repair madness, we decided we could basically get everything back to where it was before all that--the kitchen is still dated and ugly, but it's at least functional. I reached out to a couple drywall/paint contractors to get the walls fixed, but the one I heard back from couldn't even send an estimator for a week, so I went ahead and DIY'd the repairs myself over the weekend. Didn't turn out too bad, if I do say so myself, and most of it is hidden behind furniture anyway. :)
So we went back available for showings this week, and had two yesterday morning. So yesterday afternoon our realtor called and said we had two offers! One was a re-offer from the buyers we initially got an offer from before the plumbing fiasco. It wasn't much better than what they offered before, so I'm leaning towards no on that. The other offer was a little better, and would be worth a counter-offer. But since there are competing offers, our realtor was going to go back to them both to let them know that, and get their absolute best offer. So I should hear back with those offers today, and we can decide whether to accept one or keep going with showings.
I'm still eyeing the economy with unease, of course, and wondering what effect it will have on the housing market. I think the Fed interest rate cut will eventually bring mortgage rates down, so that's good for us. But if home prices also fall, I want to sell before that starts! So hopefully one of these offers will come back with something we can immediately accept. The new offer comes with a 30-day close, so that could mean we could move by the end of April instead of May (if Hallie's show is cancelled as I expect). Nice!
We're also waiting to hear from our homeowners insurance about what they'll pay for the kitchen damage--that will basically end up being bonus profit for our downpayment fund, so it's not critical but will be nice!
As for looking for a house in RVA, so far there's really only been one that both Heather and I were really excited about, and it went into Pending Sale status pretty quickly. On a scale of 10, where a ten is everything on our wish list, I'd say we've seen a number of 8's, you know? That house that got away was probably a 9.5. Ah well. I'm almost hoping the current buyer falls through and we can make a backup offer once our own house looks like it's sold. In the meantime we're watching every new house that pops up on Zillow!
For location in RVA, I'm torn. The area that appeals to us most is a large community called Brandermill, southwest of the city. It's a nice woodsy development with large lots, a private reservoir for paddling, private parks, lots of walking/biking trails, community pools, etc. But it's a little further from the city proper than I'd like, and if I ever need to get a new job it would probably mean a longish commute. The Mechanicsville area (northeast of downtown) looks better location-wise--closer to the city, closer to potential jobs, and better positioned for day trips north to DC or east to Williamsburg or Hampton Roads. But the homes there don't seem as good a value, and I haven't seen any neighborhoods that look as nice. At least we have it narrowed down to two main areas, I guess!
So if all goes very well, we'll have our house sold in a month or so, and we'll be ready to move up to RVA with a house to move straight into. If the timing doesn't quite work, maybe we can rent our current house from the new buyers for a few weeks while we wait to close on a new place. Or we can move into a rental up there until we find a house. We have options, at least.
Okay, enough rambling for now. Hope you're all staying safe and taking care of yourselves!