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It has been just over four years since we bought and sold a home. Moving from Chicago was difficult, but we were thankful we had the help of a corporate moving package.
It was our first corporate move. What a difference to have movers pack our things and load them on a truck!
When we reached our new home, the moving company unloaded all our precious treasures. Commissions and closing costs were paid with the corporate move. It was as smooth, easy and cost-efficient as a move could be.
When we were settled into our Huntersville home, we vowed it would be our last move until retirement. Our little blue house on the corner with the wrap-around porch was where we planned to watch our son grow from third grade through high school.
With the housing market at a record low, we find ourselves thinking of moving again. No corporate move this time, so we will have to make it happen ourselves.
It's not that we have to move. We hope we can find other possibilities that would work better for our family, now that my parents may be living with us.
I empathize with those of you who are selling your homes or are entertaining the thought of buying and selling. The de-cluttering and purging process is exhausting, yet liberating.
The thinning of belongings seems endless, and the boxes in the garage keeping piling up. Trips to Goodwill and the Salvation Army are uncountable. The expense of making a home sellable can break the bank. Cleaning, painting, shampooing and organizing can take weeks.
Our home is ready to put on the market, but now I am not sure I want to sell it. It is the cleanest and most organized it has ever been, and the work is not yet done. But we have realized we should have been living like this the past four years.
I have learned about myself in putting my home on the market. I now think I'm a borderline hoarder. I keep so many things for no other reason than to keep them.
When I look at those "things," I wonder why I felt I just had to have that.
My husband and I look at our ready-to-sell home and ask each other, "Why have we waited for four years to make our home beautiful? Why would we prepare our home for everyone else but ourselves? And where did all this unnecessary stuff come from?"
If our house sells and we find another place to call home, I aspire to make it a place we keep beautiful for ourselves. If our home does not sell, then I hope we can continue to work on our little blue house on the corner with the wrap-around porch, make it beautiful for ourselves and keep it that way.
Good luck to Huntersville home sellers!
