On the market

So, as I talked about in my last post, we decided to put our house on the market.  Josh and I bought our home 3.5 years ago in November of 2009 when it was just the two of us.  We had only been married 4 months and hadn't necessarily intended to purchase at that time, but then that whole 'First Time Home Buyers' $8,000 credit came along and we felt like taking advantage of that was right for us.  We bought a zero lot (share a wall with another person but have our own yard/driveway/etc) which are extremely popular in our area.  At the time, our 1700 square feet seemed like a huge mansion from our previous small apartment and we couldn't imagine needing more space.

Well, 3.5 years and two babies later, we are dying for more space.  The bedrooms of our current home are really good sized which is nice but we only have one living room.  We have said many times that if we just had a basement to play in, we would be able to stay here for at least a couple more years.  The toys, the dogs, everything feels like it is everywhere and we just need more space.

After slowing losing my mind for the past few months, we recently decided to put our house on the market.  When we bought our house, it was only a year old and we actually got into a bidding war over it and probably paid a bit more than we should have.  But such is life I suppose and at the time, we really wanted the house.  Our hope and prayer, is that we will be able to find a home with more space that is perhaps a little older so we can stay in a similar price range to what we are at now.  We shall see. 

Let me say though, putting a house on the market while having a toddler and a 4 month old at home is not an ideal situation.  I do NOT recommend it. We don't have any family within a 30 mile radius, so we've been mainly preparing the house for selling with the little ones home with us.  Not an easy task.  Every morning we pack up all the scattered toys, throw them in the back of the car, and head to work.  It's really all we can do.  We've moved a lot of the clutter and a lot of the kitchen stuff that we don't use on a regular basis to a storage unit, and have more we should actually move over tonight.  Our realtor is bringing the rest of the realtors from her company through tomorrow and then she is having an open house this weekend.  We pray for some interest and some good feedback. 

I've never sold a house before so maybe I'm not as informed as I should be, but I was pretty shocked with the rule that everything that is 'screwed into the walls' stays with the house unless we reserve it on the listing.  So for example, we had to reserve my decorative curtain rods in all the rooms of the house and also, my PHOTO GALLERY WALL.  Seriously??  Who thinks that family pictures and pretty curtain rods come with the house?  I realize I may be one of the few, but I would never think that.  I also realize that I sound like a 3 year old when I say, those are MINE.  I picked them out, waited for them to go on sale, and hung them with my two hands (that is a straight-up lie, my husband hung them with his two hands) and they are MINE.  And you can not have them.  So there.