This has all been in the works for a LONG time, but it is all official and he is just about finished at BB&T so now I can share!
Here is our little timeline of how this all panned out...
December 2012 - Keith started talking with his now boss...we went up to PA a day early, on our way to Rochester, so that he could interview then. That went really well and they asked him to come back again a couple days after Christmas, which obviously he did!
Early January 2013 - A few more phone interviews, conversations with his boss...things looking good, but we are trying not to get ahead of ourselves!
Mid-January we started to have a good feeling that this was going to pan out, so we met with the realtor to talk about how she thought how house would fare in this market...
January 28, 2013 - (my birthday!) Keith got the OFFICIAL offer and OFFICIALLY accepted the job!!!
February 4-8, 2013 - My mom came down to help with the kiddos while we started some packing...unfortunatly not too much packing was done at the beginning of the week, but the day of my root canal I did take down ALL pictures and most things off of the walls and bubble wrapped. Keith stayed home from work that Wednesday to do some mulching to get the landscaping looking all pretty :)
February 9, 2013 - BIG CLEAR OUT! Jeff was kind enough to come over and help Keith load up his car and our van with boxes of STUFF! We packed up toys galore, bins of clothes that the kids have outgrown, just everything that was extra stuff. Needless to say we pretty much filled up a whole storage unit!
February 12, 2013 - New carpet was installed in the family room...looks great, but there is nothing like having sofas overtaking your kitchen!
a last picture of my red dining room
February 15, 2013 - Well Valentine's night was SUPER romantic seeing that pictures were being taken of our house on the 15th...SO once the kids went to bed, we SCRUBBED and cleaned!! It was a super busy morning before dropping Reagan off at school that Friday to make sure everything was as good as it could get. After I dropped her off, my main helper :), and I finished up the rest of the cleaning and then headed outside to avoid him getting anything dirty! The pictures turned out great and those would be used for online advertising.
(I must note that I have since bought a Shark Steam mop...if you have hardwoods, you MUST get! It's amazing and cleans the floors in NO time!)
February 16-19, 2013 - We made a trip to PA to do lots of house hunting...Mum-Mum and Pop-Pop got serious bonding time with the kiddos while Keith and I were gone a lot out looking at houses. We went to 3 new construction neighborhoods and looked at a couple existing homes...we didn't find anything that was "it," but it was good to look around. We are leaning towards building again...we will see!
February 20, 2013 - Our house was OFFICIALLY on the market!
February 22, 2013 - Got our first text notifying us that we would have our first showing tomorrow from 1:30-3:00! We were SO excited!!
February 23, 2013 - This morning we got a text of ANOTHER showing! We were PUMPED! (turns out the original people cancelled, so it was just one showing, but still we were happy!) The weather was gross, but I SCRUBBED this house like it hasn't been scrubbed in a LONG time. Keith and his dad took Landon out and Reagan went to Jumping Beans with the Davis' so I could just CLEAN. The house was PERFECT, seriously not a footprint on the carpet, not a mark on the hardwoods, it looked great! I even made homemade chocolate chip cookies so the house smelled good and for them to munch on.
February 26, 2013 - We got a text for a 10am showing on 2/28...we were so excited about the interest!
February 27, 2013 - The realtor delivered the special feature cards and placed them around the house, pointing out different features and what was included, and she put up a "text for info" sign on our for sale sign...love those! We also got feedback from the Saturday showing, that they thought our house was "lovely," but didn't care for the floorplan...this totally bummed us out and made us get a little nervous!
February 28, 2013 - We had a showing at 10:00...keep in mind this was a Thursday morning. Thankfully Keith helped with vacumming that morning, but everything had to be in tip top condition by 8:30ish because Landon woke up with a croup-y sounding cough that morning and Reagan was working on pink eye, so I had both kids at the doctor by 8:40 that morning. To say it was a busy little morning is kind of an understatement! (we later found out that this "showing" was just a realtor that came by herself to preview a couple houses for her clients, I was NOT thrilled about that...if someone schedules a showing, I want it to be actual people that are interested...it's too much work to just have a "preview!!!!")
March 1, 2013 - We got an email letting us know a showing was requested for 10am on 3/2...yahoo!
March 2, 2013 - 10:00 showing, we are starting to get the prep down to a science! We were out of the house by 9:30 and went to run a few errands that morning. We got home around noon. Gave the kiddos lunch, I unloaded all of the cold groceries, but the pantry stuff was still on the counter. I had just run the dishwasher because I had filled it to the BRIM that morning but didn't want it running during the showing. At 1:15 we were about to put Landon down for his nap and my phone rang with an Allentown, PA phone number...my brother lives in Allentown, which of course got me nervous at him. I quickly answered and it was the centralized showing service...she let me know there was a family in the area that was interested in looking at our house at 1:30!! 1:30!! That gave us FIFTEEN minutes to get the house back together...thankfully it wasn't trashed yet! The dishwasher was running, I had to shove lunch dishes in a cabinet, literally threw the pantry groceries into the pantry, wiped down the counters, and tried to get it looking good again. I tried not to panic about the footprints on the carpet or on the hardwoods...it just as good as it could be. All other extra items were just tossed in the van with us :) We were out by 1:30 and just circled around the neighborhood a few times. 15 minutes later we checked and there were still cars in our driveway, 15 more minutes passed...still there! We were starting to think that MAYBE they were really interested! Finally 15 more minutes later they were just leaving. We came back in got the kids down for their nap/rest and just wondered what they thought of our house.
March 4, 2013 - We recieved feedback that the family that came at 1:30 (also known to us as "1:30 family") was very interested!!! Yahoo!
March 5, 2013 - We got an OFFER ON OUR HOUSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
**For the next several days we countered back and forth because the price was less than what we were hoping for, but with the market being what it is and the comps in our neighborhood, we really did pretty well and "1:30 family" really loved our house and are apparently very excited, which makes us feel so good!**
March 8, 2013 - We are OFFICIALLY under contract!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We are SO relieved being that there are SEVEN houses for sale in our neighborhood and we are competing with new construction, such a blessing to have had such a short "for sale" time period!
March 9, 2013 - All paperwork signed and we found out our closing date is May 7...hard to believe and I know it will be here before we know it. Our "SOLD" sign was also placed in our yard!!
March 10, 2013 - We were scheduled to have an Open House today from 2-4, but now that we're under contract that didn't have to happen. Keith said he noticed several cars drive down though, obviously only to see the SOLD sign. (We don't get any traffic at our end of the street, so when an unfamiliar car comes down, everyone stares :) )
March 11, 2013 - Keith hands in his letter of resignation! BIG, BIG day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Very bittersweet, that is for sure!
So all of that brought us to this point...we are so thankful for how everything panned out. It's so exciting, scary, you name it...but it will be a great move!
congratulations!!! that is all VERY exciting and VERY bittersweet. and also-- we had our house on the market for MONTHS... literally, I think we had 48 showings, or something in sane like that. You just imagine that process 48 times--!!! Thank goodness you didn't have that!!! xoxox
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