Seventeen Months Later We're Still Here

A lot has happened over the past 17 months.  We sold some land out back but still have not sold the lot next door.  As we updated our house, we found we liked it more and more.  Mom passed away last May and we put the discussion on hold.  We are again talking about moving but the more we discuss it the more we realize financially we can't swing it.  We toss around ideas of moving to Carmel or Newport where I can commute to my current job making trips to Southern Maine less timely, but then add in the additional mileage to get to work and financially it isn't going to work.  So we look, we talk, we weigh the pros and cons and still we can't make a decision.  For now, we're still here!

Still waiting for land to sell

It's now December and we haven't sold the land yet.  With winter coming soon I doubt we will get any activity on it so we wait and wait and wait.  We still have the property listed with Dottie Boynton at Realty of Maine hopefully when spring comes someone will make an offer and we can move forward with our plans to move to So. Maine.  And with each week that goes by we have a little more set aside in savings to do home improvements to the new house that we buy later after we sell the land and get our current house sold too.

Happy Holidays!

http://www.realtyofmaine.com/index.php/listings/view/Land/1074595

No longer for sale by owner

I'm not a patient person and when I set my mind to something I always move right in and take charge to get things done.  But selling our land and our house is beyond me.  We should have started this process last spring then by now, our goal date, we could be packing and moving. 

We give up on selling by owner.  We need more exposure and assistance and have posted our land for sale with a realtor.

For more info and photos click here: http://www.realtyofmaine.com/index.php/listings/view/Land/1074595


I'm excited about moving and the new adventures that await us and hope that we will be happy with our decision because there is no turning back.  I love this house and the property that surrounds it but I miss that there is no longer a house next door and coming home from work each day seems empty.   

 I am not excited to get back  into the job searching mode again.  I'm getting older and question if anyone will want to hire someone my age.  Employers seem to want younger people with college degrees. There was a time when I was confident that my skills and life experience were enough, now I wonder.  I think that's  just my fear talking, I am a marketable person and will be an asset to once again another company.

So for now we wait. The phone no longer rings, I'm not sure if that's a good thing because at least when we were selling by owner we could receive the calls that came in. Now we don't know if there are any interested parties.

Waiting, waiting, waiting. I hate waiting.

Land for sale

The first step is to sell the 2.5 acre piece of land.  It's a nice lot in Bradley, situated on the main road about mid way between Eddington and Milford with an easy commute to Brewer, Bangor, Orono, and Old Town.  We are asking $24,900 which is well within the selling price of comparable property.

We wanted to keep all of the land with the house but financially that's not feasible. We're going to be cutting our incoming funds and expenses close on this adventure! Besides there's still 23.5 acres that remain with the house.

Before we put the land up for sale there was an interested party but he decided against it because he thought the acreage was the 23.5 that includes the house.  Then there were several callers asking how much, is there a well, septic system, etc.?   Another caller, extremely interested who went to six financial institutions but could not get quite enough funds to cover the costs of what he wanted to do.  Another caller who was going to call back after the results of the soil test arrived-no, she didn't call back and yes, the test passed.  Another caller, "Sounds good, looks like my wife and I need to have a serious talk." He hasn't called back either.  So we are on the real estate roller coaster.

Tom is handling all of the calls. Thank goodness. I don't think I could handle working full time and then having to deal with callers at night.  Yes, we could have saved ourselves this aggravation by going through an agent but as I've said before, we are cutting it close with the finances and need to save every penny we can. So we start by doing For Sale By Owner.  Probably not the best idea but one we need to consider at this time. 

We'll see......

We've decided to move

Tom and I have decided to sell our house and move to Southern Maine.  After having this house built and living here for 35 years this is not a decision we have taken lightly. 


We love this house and the updates we made to it.  The beautiful sunroom. The hardwood floors.  A comfortable size living room.  Expanded dining room. First floor laundry. The "man cave", work shop, home office, and the "woman cave" in the basement. Oh gosh, I love this house. 

But a house or home can be made anywhere as long as there is love and the occupants are happy.  There have been so many changes in our lives the past seven years.  Ben passing away. Having to move Mom out of her home then donating it to the fire department for training so now all we see is an empty lot next door.  Owen and Cora being born. Mom's failing health. My retirement from AGSC, Tom's retirement from BMHI.  So many changes and many "ghosts" are still in my life.  I need a change.  A change to be closer to the kids, to see Owen and Cora more often. Change of drive to work, change of scenery, change in places to picnic, hike, visit.  A change to be able to do things without driving 3 hours and using my spending money to pay for gas! 

For the past two years I have been cleaning and sorting in preparation.  Thinking of my life in another home. Will it be bigger? Will it be smaller?  With the price of housing my guess it will be smaller and we will need to down size.  What would I do with all of my stuff?  Clothes, furniture, dolls, craft supplies, memorbelia, etc.  The first thing was to start cleaning. Clean the closets, dresser drawers, the basement, overhead in the garage.  Have a yard sale, which I can say was successful netting almost $900. Sell some doll and hobby stuff, netted me another $600.  Did that first before making the decision all the while saying, "If we decide not to sell the house at least I cleaned and reorganized."  So with the decision about 75% made I started packing (or should I say Mom started packing) the stuff I want to keep.  Carefully wraping all of the tiny miniatures, dolls and memorbilia that I kept.  Trunks cleaned out and re filled, boxes packed and stacked.

We found more items to get out of the house. This time donated to the Brewer Federal Credit Union for their annual feed the hungry yard sale. Donations twice to The North Brewer Eddington United Methodist Church rummage sales.  Boxes of stuff given to two women at work for their church yard sales. And bags of clothes donated to the Shoestring Thrift Shop in Brewer.  Tom said with awe, "I have seen all of the stuff you have sold, donated, etc. What I want to know is where did you keep it all?"  That's my secret. 

Now we begin the waiting game.  The decision has been made not to sell the house and all of the land.  Instead we will sell a 2.5 acre lot and then the house and rest of the land separately. This way we will realize more cash flow to use for the purchase of the new house and moving expenses.  

The soil test on the land has passed, we're ready to sell.  The first week we received quite a few calls and one person in particular wants the land however, he is having trouble with financing. Isn't that the way?  Got to play by the bank's rules.  So now we wait for someone else to call.

I'm not a patient person.  I want the land to sell yesterday so we can move forward with the house. 

But for now, I think I'll make a cup of tea and enjoy my some free time in the sunroom.