Pictures of our houses

Several people have asked if I'd post pictures of the house we're selling and the house we're moving into.  If I'm going to do that, I guess I better before they pull the pictures off Realtor.com (since they're both going under contract). 

Oops - they've been pulled off now.  Sorry.

We've loved our current house but our knees are beginning to rebell at climbing the stairs.  
Here's a quick snap of the view from our balcony at sunset and during the day.  Gonna miss that view!

Appraisal Finished - Inspection Next

Good news!  The house appraised for the contract price.  What a relief!  We did all kinds of touch-up painting, polishing, and just generally spiffing things up.  It looks like all our effort and elbow grease may have helped some.  The appraiser said he was also impressed that we went to a website that listed what paperwork should be ready to give to an appraiser.  We had it all copied and ready for him.  He said that waiting for the homeowner to gather up all that information is what usually takes him the longest on an appraisal.  So now that step is finished and we're on to the next step.

The next step is the inspection and that's scheduled for tomorrow.  Since this is not new construction there are a few things that aren't perfect but as far as we know they are all cosmetic.  We've already corrected all that we could and things are looking pretty good.  Please keep those good thoughts and prayers coming. 

We're in process of moving

I haven't posted to my blog for a few weeks.  I've temorarily been sidetracked.  We've decided to downsize and have been preparing to move. We finished staging the house, felt like we priced it right, and put it on the market. We were kind of amazed when we received an offer on the 3rd day after listing. Next is the appraisal process. We're hoping and praying that the appraisal price will support the contract price. If you're a praying person, please say a few for us. Due to the state of the economy, we're a little bit concerned in this market because our realtor told us that the new regulations now require appraisers to factor in foreclosures, short sales, and bank owned properties when determining the appraisal price. We've found that those are all quite a bit lower than regular sales (and there are so many of them compared to regular sales). There are a few things we'll be working on before the appraiser gets here on Monday and then within a week or so there'll be the inspection. 

We've been shopping for a house in Sun City and think we've found a place that will suit us.  Again, prayers and good thoughts requested that all goes smoothly on the purchasing end.  Rick & I are both pretty tuckered out already.  Can't wait to get settled and back to calm days and stitching.