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The Dreaded Why Question (An Update on Our House Sale)

March 12, 2013 By Erica Deuel 7 Comments

The dreaded Why Question

As most of you know we put our house on the market about two weeks ago. Many of you have been so kind to follow up with me and ask how it’s been going. To be honest it’s been one of the crazier emotional roller coasters we’ve ever been on. I’ve asked Matt to share an update and a little perspective from us because I wanted to keep you all in the loop.

Matt: 

Two weeks ago this past Friday the house was officially listed. In about 48 hours the house had been shown about fifteen times. We had three offers come in so our agent asked everyone to send in their highest and best offers and we would make a decision. Before we knew it, we were under contract on an offer that exceeded our asking price. We were stunned.

After a private deal unexpectedly fell apart in January, here we were with an offer that was going to have us walking away in much better shape. It felt like the most incredible blessing. However, in just a few short days that deal fell apart too. It was frustrating, but no worries, we had a back-up deal already in place from our original series of offers. We lost a good bit of margin in this second deal, but were still in a good position to sell our house and accomplish our goals. Yesterday that deal hit a breaking point and we are expecting termination papers to be filed later today.

So what’s the deal? The best way to sum it up is that our house is 61 years old. It’s in an incredible location. It has curb appeal. When you get inside and see all that Erica has done with this place it’s easy for buyers to envision it as their future home. When you step out back and see the apartment and office, the potential of that space gets very exciting to people. However there are some old house issues under the surface. A couple that we were aware of and prepared to deal with; a few that have come as a surprise. Every one of the issues are fixable. Yet, the potential buyers have walked or tried to negotiate beyond what is reasonable in getting the deal done.

house with curb appeal

While we know the house has a lot to offer someone we have been left feeling like it is an unsellable piece of crap.

Of course that’s not true, it’s just the reality of our discouragement. The whole thing is very confusing. As we have shared before, we have sensed peace and clarity about taking these steps. Why would we be prompted to go through these steps just to be put through all of these seemingly cruel ups and downs?

As we have processed I’m coming to a place of feeling like “Why?” is the wrong question. It’s the question we always ask in the midst of adversity, however it’s also question that rarely gets answered. It can leave you with a sense of hopelessness and fill you with fear while you wait for the other shoe to drop. I think “Why?” is actually a trick question used to make us doubt our worth and significance in the bigger picture.

“Why?” really won’t get us anywhere. We can’t control it. What we can control is us and our next steps. Rather than “Why?” we are trying to ask “What’s next?” It’s the difference of sitting numb in our circumstances and choosing to be proactive towards the things we feel called to do. Does life ever play out the way we expect it to? Rarely. Rather than letting speed bumps become road blocks  we are searching for the detour. We are trying to trust that this journey will produce growth for us as a family and be just as crucial in our story as the actual destination.

As far as the house we still have a few options that we are processing through. We are in the process of receiving the inspection report to learn exactly all the things we are dealing with. Once we have a firm grasp on the “issues” we will evaluate our options moving forward. In the meantime we are not letting the detour with the house derail our desire to move towards becoming a foster family. Rather than waiting on the house stuff to settle first we are going to pursue the needed training and education now. We said it before and I’ll say it again, it’s about the little faithful steps forward each day. So while our current plan has hit a moment of pause we’ll work to take steps in other areas.

Thanks for continuing to track along with us. Please forgive us if we fail to answer all the questions and respond quickly. Some of the nature of this process requires us to keep quiet until we have firm answers and are able to share more. But please know this, we so appreciate all the prayers and encouragement.

Erica:

I’m so thankful for Matt and that I am not walking this path alone.

photo

I read his message above and I talk to him and I find perspective and strength.  Left on my own, I would wallow in my hole more.  This is an emotionally exhausting process and at every turn I feel like I’m too tired to process any more but then something else happens…and I find I can do more than I thought.  As Matt has said to me, maybe this emotionally exhausting and “we’re not in control” process is preparing us for the foster care road in which BOTH of those things are an expected norm.  Thank you for caring, for reading, and for being there to help us process!

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The Break Down of Curb Appeal

February 26, 2013 By Erica Deuel 5 Comments

Benefit of Curb Appeal

We have always been one of those families that would rather spend money and time working on the inside of our house…

or eating out…

or shopping…

or craft supplies (me)

or camera equipment (Matt)

or new clothes

or new home decor

or thrifting treasures

Really, we have always been that family that would rather spend time and money on ANYTHING but the landscape of our house. Our poor neighbors and tenants!  Although we love to play outside, none of us have much of a green thumb. We also exclusively use our backdoor since it’s connected to our carport, so we’ve kinda taken the front entrance for granted over the years.

When we went to put our house up for sale, we took a good look at our front yard with new eyes. It didn’t look good, and we knew we had to get rid of some of the major eye sores so we could get people in our house. This is where the term of curb appeal became a new word to my vocabulary. We needed curb appeal.

I want to share a few easy and less costly ways you can create curb appeal than having to hire someone or a bulldozer to completely redo your appeal to buyers.

Curb Appeal eye sores

The biggest change we did outside was spruce up our front entrance. Having potential buyers be greeted with an appealing warm entrance sets a good tone for opening the door and going in. I got two cans of black spraypaint and sprayed about everything outside my house. I started with the mailbox and lamp post we have beside it, and I worked up to all the railings that led to our front door. In the above picture, you can see the rust that was showing. I simply gave the railings a light sanding and spray painted them. If you are to do this too, be careful to block the spray from getting on the concrete or house siding!

Curb Appeal eye sore

A few more obvious things that needed to change are pictured above. Play “what’s wrong with this picture” with me and see if you can spot the eye sores. After you make your guesses, keep reading.

I’ll now break down what was wrong in each picture, and what we did to fix it.

1.  Problem: There were obvious spider webs and dirt on and around the door, doorway and entry.  Solution: I got a bucket of warm, soapy water and washed the door, door frame, and ceiling down. I then painted the trim and foot board with a new coat of white paint. It looks so much more fresh and clean.

2.  Problem: As fun and wintery as my wreath might look with the sparkly white ribbons, it blended into the door and looked more cheap than intentional. It might have come down, but I did save it. Solution: We painted the door a deep red. It took four coats, but I think the result is worth it. All of the sudden my door pops and looks intentional and loved. After painting the door, I made a new wreath. I wanted it to have a taste of red to blend with the door and create a warm feeling, but I also wanted an artistic and creative wreath to go with the rest of our decor inside.

3.  Our welcome mat was wet and old. It was not a clean welcoming feel. It felt dismal and forgotten. I scrubbed it clean, dried it out, and brushed all the leaves off the steps. We could have easily bought a new mat as well, but I didn’t want to spend the money on it.

4.  Our planters had dead flowers from last fall still in them. They looked abandoned, forgotten, and could give off bad feelings that the inside might look worn too. We cleared out the planters and put some fresh, bright colored plants in that created a new alive vibe. I also added a third pot because I like the look of three better than two pots.

red front door

I think the difference in the old entrance and new entrance is so cool. I am amazed that it wasn’t that much work and it didn’t cost a lot.

Here is the break down of costs for this cheap upgrade:

  • Paint:  $17.00 (we bought a quart of red paint/already had the white paint)
  • Spray paint:  $7.00 for two cans of flat black spray paint
  • Flowers:  $9.50 (we bought three purple cabbage plants at $2.50 each and two flower plants at $.99 each)
  • Wreath:  $2.50 for stick wreath (with coupon from Hobby Lobby/already had all the burlap, feathers, stones, hot glue)  Note:  I dried out the rose type flowers (they were real) and hot glued them into my wreath rather than buying fake flowers.  I think they look so much better and create a warmer more romantic feel than cheap fake flowers.

All in all this new front entrance cost about $36.00. It was not an expensive project, yet I think it changed the front of our house.

front door with appeal

romantic wreath

My five year old told me he didn’t like the new red door because it didn’t match the outside of the house anymore. I thought this was success. I had to explain that is a good thing that it no longer blends in with the trim or shutters, but it is a “pop” of color that draws your eyes. We have now been spotting front doors when we are out and about and it is remarkable at the ones that stand out to you and the ones that don’t.

house with curb appeal

Other than the front stoop, we added 30 bails of pine straw. I know, we could have taken our curb appeal even a step further by replacing those front dead hedge bushes, but come on!? We couldn’t stretch ourselves that much with outside projects.  🙂

So, what about you? Do you like working out in the yard/outside of the house or are you more like us and would rather do anything else??

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