Yay! We sold our house!

Well, we are down to only one house payment. It feels so good, but yet I am a little sad to really say goodbye to our first home. Back in October we moved out of our first home and into our new home. The sell of this home has been the easiest real estate transaction ever. Before we even found our new home, our neighbor's friends, Mike and Tamara, approached us to look at the house. It was not on the market, but they had heard we were thinking about moving in the next year or so. In fact the day they came over, we stalled them for 10 minutes so we could do a quick clean. We were not in house showing mode. They saw the house and loved it. We told them we didn't have a house in mind to buy and at the time we were even considering building. No worries for them, their circumstances meant they could not buy until after February of 2014. They wanted us to consider them before putting it on the market. We continued house hunting and finally in August we found it. Mike and Tamara were still interested and wanted to buy it. So despite some opinions, we went with our gut and trust in God to not put it on the market and trust that everything would turn out okay. Mike and Tamara were great the entire process. Both sides were honest and made compromises. We made changes so that we could do without the equity in our house for a few months, but still buy our dream house. While they made the entire process as easy on us as they could. We never argued over anything and instead have become friends. I know that God's hand was in on the entire process, because we could not have wished for a better outcome. Yesterday at the signing table (for an hour and a half, aaaahhhh) both sides had their kids and it was a happy occasion. Everyone was friendly and making plans to celebrate together with dinner. The lender on their side even mentioned it was the smoothest "for sale by owner", he had ever been a part of. I can't wait to see the changes they make to transform the house into their home. These past few months have been a fun adventure. I am excited to start the transformations on our new house, now that we only have one payment! Our first real change will take place on the kitchen this summer. So stay tuned for a planning post in the next month or so.