Selling off the American Dream

For more than 4 weeks I did just about everything I could to make the house look good for the impending open house as, with the holidays just around the corner, I wanted to sell it quickly. It did :) I baked two apple pies and the Finnish secret weapon, Korvapuustit [ cinnamon ears ], brewed some coffee and got the hell out of dodge for 6 hours. When I was informed by my broker that we had 3 offers from the open house I was amazed since I was prepared to wait a while given that the market around here had cooled considerably after the buying frenzy over the summer.

It is a strange experience when you sell or buy a house as it resembles an arranged marriage because the real estate agents insulate you from the other party while assessing the suitability of the match and only allowing you to meet each other at the consumation cum closing. Of the three offers, one was a single woman, one was a newlywed couple who weren't working with an agent and attached a rather naive note onto their bid about how I wouldn't have to pay broker fees since they weren't working with one and an older couple who noticed the house was wired with cat5 and have a 13 year-old boy who wants a dog but can't have one in the apartment they are renting. You know, I'm a grumpy old cur but the bit about the kid wanting a dog yanked all the right strings. It may be a complete fabrication but I admire the craft and care with which it was conceived.

The catch of selecting an older couple who had been looking for a house they liked and in their price range for over a year was that they had the house inspector from hell. It's not a large house but they took 4 hours combing through every last detail. My agent called me and let me know that it was going to go very long. Needless to say the next 4 days of waiting was pretty nerve wracking and when they came back with insignificant nits I was relieved but also a little annoyed. After spending $8500 to get the house painted it seemed absurd to offer them $200 off the price. This is New England though and Yankees just aren't satisfied until they feel like they've gotten a deal, no matter how insignificant the sum.

So, now we're just waiting for the radon test results to come back since the first set was rendered invalid due to it not being left out long enough. Our movers show up on 7 January, we move to a hotel for 2 weeks on 9 January, the closing is on 10 January and we take a one-way trip to .fi on 23 January. The thousand or so little other details that need to be taken care of before then seem trivial now that the most important one is done.