by Hope
On the evening of Monday, February 24, the house went under contract. Anticipated closing is the end of March. I’m not going to share more until we get through appraisal and inspection.
This has altered my plans again.
- There is a buyer’s agent involved, but no seller’s agent. Because this all happened prior to March 1 when I was going to pass the house off to an agent, it is going through as FSBO. The lawyer who has always handled my family’s affairs here is handling the sale. (And yes, I do have to pay him.) I am also paying the buyer’s agent 3% which I advertised when I created the listing on both Facebook and Zillow.
- Instead of spending a month in Texas, I will be staying two weeks, then returning to Georgia pending the closing date.
Post House Sale Plans
If all goes well and as planned, the house will close by the end of March. That leaves me at loose ends the month of April. The family is all planning to be in Georgia for the first week of May for Princess’ college graduation, a family weekend, Princess’ 21st birthday, and Mother’s Day. And by family I mean all 5 of my kids plus some of my immediate family from Texas.
Options
I won’t make any firm decisions or plans until I know the house will close as scheduled. But I am reviewing options so I am ready.
- Beauty and her fiancé have a home with a guest room that they have invited me to stay for a while.
- Princess has an apartment (couch) where I could stay for a few days, probably week max. I will most likely stay here the week directly after closing since we have appointments together that week.
- Return to Texas for the month.
- Roadtrip!
Exciting things ahead!
Update
Buyer pulled out March 4th via email from their real estate agent. The due diligence period was through March 7th. No reason was given. (I believe it had to do with their financing as they were getting a 100% finance loan.)
It definitely through me for a loop mentally. After giving myself a couple of days to process. I’ve decided to return to GA at the end of this two week period, and decide what to do then. I need a break from thinking about the house. So it will sent empty. And I will focus on work and finding more work. And spending some quality time with my family.
Hope is a resourceful and solutions-driven business manager who has spent nearly two decades helping clients streamline their operations and grow their businesses through project management, digital marketing, and tech expertise. Recently transitioning from her role as a single mom of five foster/adoptive children to an empty nester, Hope is navigating the emotional and practical challenges of redefining her life while maintaining her determination to regain financial control and eliminate debt.
Living in a cozy small town in northeast Georgia with her three dogs, Hope cherishes the serenity of the mountains over the bustle of the beach. Though her kids are now finding their footing in the world—pursuing education, careers, and independence—she remains deeply committed to supporting them in this next chapter, even as she faces the bittersweet tug of letting go.
Since joining the Blogging Away Debt community in 2015, Hope has candidly shared her journey of financial ups and downs. Now, with a renewed focus and a clear path ahead, she’s ready to tackle her finances with the same passion and perseverance that she’s brought to her life and career. Through her writing, she continues to inspire others to confront their own financial challenges and strive for a brighter future.
Hope, is this the sign from God that you were looking for, that you should not sell this house? All of BAD was saying don’t do it, and you said yourself in earlier posts that if it doesn’t sell its your sign. Are you seeing the sign?
I haven’t visited the site for a long time… maybe a year or two… and you don’t seem to have progressed much at all with your debt… I worry for you that your health isn’t great, and you’re getting older, alone, and you still have this mountain of debt, very little stability in your work, and the only thing that has helped you GET stable (your house) you now seem set on selling. Moving from stability to living in your car or worse, with no way back into the housing market is GENUINELY INSANE at your stage of life. It makes not sense at all and I don’t understand why you would ever make that choice.
I have been rooting for you since day one Hope, but I do not understand this at all.
Sorry this fell through, but it’s all very confusing:
You say the house was under contract from Feb 24, until Mar 4 when it fell through. But around Feb 27 you said the house was going to be taken over by an agent on Feb 28.
You said the house was too much, you were counting on it selling to be out of debt, and now less than a week later you are already going back and letting it sit empty. What happened to the agent? You were going to give them 3 months to sell it and it’s been only a week.
You were going to live in Texas for a month, and longer, and figure out your new plan. But now you’re leaving Texas by March 15 and doesn’t seem like you’re going back. Did something happen with Mom, or Dad?
Meanwhile you have nearly $16K of credit card debt now, including around $7,000 of new debt, but it’s unclear where the money went. And you are maxed out on your credit cards, so on the verge of missing payments.
It’s just very confusing. Can’t help but think you are holding information back.
I urge you to think about why you’re writing for this blog. What is it that you want from here — support, advice, etc? And how can readers give that to you when they don’t have the full picture?
I can see how it would be confusing. I’ll write a synopsis to clarity where things stand now.
Have you hired a realtor yet? They can really help with marketing and also get feedback from the buyers agent when they do showings. If you are serious about selling, you need to hire a realtor. If you are already willing to pay 3% to buyers that’s only an extra 3% to sellers agent to have someone take care of all this for you. I’m afraid you are sabotaging this sale to save a commission.
Only 3% sounds small until you realize that’s $6,000 which I could do alot with.
Right now there is no real estate agent. I’ve got a synopsis of where things stand publishing tomorrow.
For the next week, I’m not thinking about the house anymore.
A LOT. A LOT. A LOT. Two words. A LOT.
And by the way, the possessive of Princess is “Princess’s.” Please run your posts/comments through a grammar checker.
Good suggestion.
Next question: why is it that you feel you’re a wonderful business professional who should be making top dollar to help other businesses succeed, but you refuse to pay a professional who will get your house sold?
It’s not a refusal. It’s a let’s try it this way to save some money and if it doesn’t work out, I will do it that way.
I understand why you’re thinking that way, but I’d urge you to think of the commission as being baked into the price. Without an agent, your end accepting 6% less on the sale. I’m looking forward to your update to see where you’re thinking is at right now. As a reader, it seems you make a lot of decisions that are impulsive, and then you dig in. Maybe that’s not the case, but that’s what we see.
Hope, you’re almost like a cartoon character at this point. How can someone with an IQ over 60 manage to make the wrong decision every damn time?
Idea: maybe actually LISTEN to the advice you get from commenters because they have common sense. Every time, you ignore the advice like a spoiled teenage girl. Who knows, if you listened for once you might unfuck your life.
This is just mean! There is no need to put things this way, even if you’re frustrated with Hope’s decisions, as I am as well. Ultimately she is the one that has to live with her decisions, not the commenters. Personally, I hope decides not to sell the house and continues to be able to pay her mortgage. However, I am worried that where this is going is a foreclosure.
This is why you get a realtor. A good one can sniff out whether a buyer and their offer is solid. The realtor I’ve used for multiple transactions would call the buyer’s lender, ask a lot of questions of their agent, etc. She anticipated every glitch that we encountered and knew when to push the buyers and how hard.
I am a little confused. Did a second offer fall through? It sounds as if this may also be the first offer that fell through but it’s just not clear.
I’ve written a synopsis that publishes tomorrow as I can see how this is confusing.
I don’t understand why you would hold back until tomorrow a clarification post that is timely and ready to go, and instead allow the confusion to fester. You’re spending time reading and reacting to comments based on stale information, while holding back ‘live’ information. Why? Does the blog site have an editorial review / approval step or something? Are you on some sort of quota or publishing restriction? [if any of these, recommend that you change that going forward]
Also, comments are moderated for some reason. You seem to allow pretty harsh comments through, so why moderate and slow things down? Let the narrative progress at a natural course?
I do not own this site. So the moderation is not my choice. Nor do I sit on this site day and night so the moderation has to wait until I log in or the owner does to let the comments through. I can understand the frustration, but I’m sure it’s been turned on due to safety reasons.
Do you actually know the payoff for your home (it will be different than the principal balance)? Once you add the payoff plus adjusted property taxes, realtor fees, title fees, etc how much will you be left with to pay off debt and cover upcoming expenses and hopefully put a chunk away in long term savings?
Potential realtor fees versus an unsold house and ongoing mortgage payments and debt – geez, how do those stack up against each other? You are being unrealistically cheap about engaging a professional to market and sell your home, and at this point your emotions are again overriding common sense. You have had 2 FSBO offers fall through – isn’t that a sign to let someone who does this for a living take over? You only have to pay someone when the house sells, and thus far your time and efforts have not been effective. The house is going to continue to be another source of anxiety and stress until you start being realistic about your situation and choices.