Moving to Barbados: Place Your Bets

One task that was not on my original Project Barbados: Sell the House. 

It was on our Project Denver list, of course, but that was slated for spring of 2021. It seems we have an accelerated timeline and a little bit of scope creep. 

Spring is usually the best time to sell a house in the US. The weather is nice, people are looking for new options with the school year nearing its end and in some cases, companies are handing out their bonuses. 

However, in the aftermath of COVID lockdowns, the real estate market was a bit different. Houses were flying off the shelf in the summer, so we opted to take a chance and get ourselves out there.

I had several reasons to doubt that we would sell fast. Despite the stories we had heard, I still couldn't shake that, technically, we chose the slowest time of the year to put it on the market. We had a gigantic house (over 7000 sq ft/ 650 sq m) and we sat on a large piece of conservancy land (50 acres). We had a gigantic koi pond and a pool that my husband had warned me would not help in selling the house because of the maintenance. In my head, we had a house of a lot of upkeep - who would want that?

Well I think this story is best told as a timeline- as that gives you the real feeling of how this all went down.

Monday 8/31 - First real estate agent arrives for a walk through and to assess the property. Agent is impressed with our house and feels it will sell quickly despite the size.

He promises that by the weekend he could have someone come to take pictures if we are ready. 

Tuesday 9/1 - Second real estate agent visits. We were required to review the house with two agents since the company was helping us. The second one tours the house questions the value versus the amount of 'extras' that we have. Second agent says it may take awhile to sell but does say the market is 'hot'. 

I feel she is sending mixed messages but my original concerns, in my mind, have been validated and I start a 'worry' cycle. 

We opt to go with the first real estate agent and spend the remainder of the week decluttering and getting every room picture-perfect ready. I shove things in closets so the rooms will look spacious and not have our normal day clutter. I spend extra time on our closet, which is a hot mess and usually a picture-worthy room.

Tuesday 9/8 - Real estate agent had to delay photo shoot from the weekend and pictures were pushed out to the following Tuesday.

Just a side note here- keeping a house, that is full of kids and a husband, spotless for pictures, for 4 days is nearly impossible. 

In the end, however, after seeing the pictures and drone video completed, it was all worth it. Much to my dismay, my amazing closet didn't make the editor's cut but the house is ready to be put on the Coming Soon list. This list is available to real estate agents only and is a good indicator of the market.

Wednesday 9/9 - Only one request comes in from the Coming Soon listing but then is canceled. I feel a sense of foreboding and my worry cycle continues to ramp up. 

Later that morning, the house is listed officially For Sale and showing requests come in for that evening and Thursday. Feeling relieved that it is getting a response, I  now work frantically to clear cluttered closets so that they can be viewed by visitors.

Thursday 9/10- The Wednesday evening showings wind up getting canceled but there are five showings now scheduled for Thursday starting at 1pm. 

I am less nervous now that we will have people looking at the house, however, now we need to find a place to hang out that is dog friendly starting at 1pm until 8pm and hoping the weather holds out. 

I also place a bet with my husband it will take two months to sell the house, husband says 1 day.

Thursday 9/10 5pm - Real estate agent texts to say the couple from the first showing are very interested and would like to get an offer to us asap. 

He also texts a quote that is double our asking price. We are in shock and text back for him to confirm. He confirms that the offer is good but the number was wrong due to fat finger texting while driving. They are still asking over our original price but only by 50K. 

I am now concerned our real estate agent does not practice safe driving and we won't see him at closing.

Thursday 9/10 7pm - We receive the initial verbal offer for the house. They would like for us to pull it off the market so they can get the paperwork over to us and start the process. We accept the offer and I buy my husband his stupid beer for being right.

Friday 9/11 - Sold. The couple, we find out, had been looking for months but with the COVID situation so many homes kept getting taken from underneath them before they could see them. They finally found one but were out-bidded so thus the reason they were acting so quickly. 

I may have cried a tiny bit out of relief. Second story of me crying, I am getting soft I think.

It was a two-week process but the house sold technically in 1 day. We joke a little now that we don't know what it's like to sit on a house (our last house in Texas also sold in a day) so perhaps the universe knew we needed to go quickly and handed us a bit of luck. 

I think the interesting part of this whole process was the ebb and flow of stress vs. success. 

Stress of having to put the house on the market, stress of finding the right realtor and then stress that the house would sell quickly. 

Success though in finding the right agent, success in getting an offer quickly and success in getting a little over what we asked. 

It was a very active lesson in how the universe is actively trying to balance things (at least I want to believe) but I may need to let go a little so it can.

I don't think this means I go all willy nilly into these things thinking 'oh the universe will balance it all out'.  I am not a hippy for heaven's sake. Perhaps, though, I can go into these things with slightly a little less of the 'worry' cycle and more of a trust that some of it will be me making it happen and the rest I have to just trust will fall into place.