Young House Love

Home Decorating & DIY Tutorials

  • Shop Our Houses
    • Our Current House
    • Our Richmond House
    • Our Beach House
    • Our Duplex
  • Before & Afters
    • Our Current House
    • Our Previous House
    • Our Beach House
    • Our Duplex
    • Our First House
    • Our Second House
    • Our Showhouse
  • DIY & Decorating Tips
    • Most Popular
    • Home Improvement
    • Painting
    • Cleaning & Organizing
    • Crafting & Art
    • More . . .
  • Painting Projects
  • Plants Guides
  • Shop
    • Our Fav Home Finds
    • Our Lighting Line
    • Our Books
    • Book Club Picks
    • Black-Owned Businesses

Young House Love » Moving, Selling, & Buying » How We Sold Our Second House By Owner

| By John Petersik | May 13, 2013 | 622 Comments

How We Sold Our Second House By Owner

Holy cow, did we just sell our house?

(I’ll pause while Sherry flails around since that sentence is a trigger).

Now that we’re through the inspection & the appraisal (and the closing date is officially on the calendar), we’re finally at the point that we feel safe enough to shout it to the interwebs (we waited until this point to share the “we sold our house” news last time too). Of course nothing’s guaranteed until we’re all signing on the dotted line in early June, but so far, so good…

Selling Contract

First, some background: Sherry was set on selling our house FSBO (For Sale By Owner) again. She argued that we stood to save nearly ten grand – or even more – by not owing a Realtor the 6% commission. Even if we sold to a buyer with an agent (like we did last time) we’d only be out 3% instead of 6%… so the numbers were pretty compelling. But I still wasn’t so sure. I remembered the stress that we felt last time and was also curious to experience selling with an agent. We came to a compromise. We decided we’d try straight up FSBO for a week. If that didn’t work, we’d list it on MLS for a few hundred bucks ourselves (which is what got us a buyer last time) and if there still weren’t offers a few weeks later, we’d think about engaging a Realtor.

Now for the timeline details:

Friday, April 26: The Realtor who helped us buy our new house (Anne) checks in to see if our current house is on the market yet (she knew we were hoping to sell it sometime this spring). Turns out she has some buyers looking for a ranch and she thinks ours would be perfect. We tell her that we’ll be sharing the news/putting it on the market in four days. She says she’ll call us back if they want to see it then. This is a reenactment. And it makes Sherry cry laugh. 

Reenactment

Saturday & Sunday, April 27 & 28: We spend the weekend furiously getting last minute projects done, on the off chance that we get any quick interest (we’ll write up a whole post about what we did to “stage” our house for a showing soon).

Now here’s where the days become a bit more action-packed…

Monday, April 29

  • 2 pm: Anne the Realtor calls. Her buyers are very excited about seeing our house. She wants to bring them by the next day at 2pm. Yikes!
  • 2:30 pm: Come down from the high of our first scheduled showing to realize we haven’t made a flyer or decided on a sale price. Uhh…. better get on that.
  • 3 pm: Begin frantically cleaning the house. Since when did Clara have so many toys? And where would we be without storage ottomans?

Ottoman

  • 9:30 pm: After some scrambling and looking at comparable homes for sale, we pick a list price and throw together a flyer.
  • 12:30 am: Computer freezes while attempting to print flyer. File is lost. Too tired to recreate.

Tuesday, April 30

  • 7 am: Up early-ish to recreate flyer and proofread our post with the new house news.
  • 9 am: Flyer is printed. House still doesn’t look clean enough. More cleaning commences.
  • 10 am: Post is up and comments are rolling in faster than we can keep up with them, but the caulk around the tub is too grimy. Where’s the caulk gun?
  • 1:30 pm: House is looking presentable, but we’re a sweaty mess. Good thing Anne the Realtor will be doing the showing.

Dining Room Side

  • 1:45 pm: Anne arrives early (as planned) for us to show her some of the improvements since she last visited.
  • 1:55 pm: Buyers are early (not as planned) so we high-tail it out of there so they can look around without us hovering.
  • 2 pm: Since we have Burger with us as well as Clara, we kill time at a nearby dog-friendly walking mall. We have some fun browsing places like Banana Republic (where Clara and Burger try out the three way mirror) and Build-A-Bear (without actually building a bear, which is a parental coup if we’ve ever had one).

Banana Pic

  • 3 pm: It’s a full hour later – and Clara’s naptime – but we haven’t received a call from Anne that we’re clear to come home. We try giving her a ring but our call goes to voicemail.
  • 3:15 pm: Clara’s late for her nap and she’s getting tired of being at the mall. We assume Anne forgot to call us and drive home.
  • 3:30 pm: We turn onto our street to see Anne and the buyers just getting into their cars. Wow. An hour and a half at a first showing seems pretty good. Maybe they liked it!
  • 3:31 pm: Anne calls to say they really liked it and they were going to sleep on it, crunch some numbers, and get back to us.
  • 4 pm: We’re excited and relieved, but have tons of comments to catch up on. Plus, we’ve had a few other house-interest emails from locals. We’re a pretty even mix of grateful, tired, and nervous.
  • 8pm: We’ve sent out a few other flyers via email and have scheduled another showing for 11am the next morning. How did this house get so messy already? Oh yeah, our three year old…
  • Midnight: House is reasonably clean again. We crash for the day.

Wednesday, May 1

  • 5 am: Sherry can’t sleep thinking about all of the new house projects and potential buyer excitement. She begins drafting a Q&A post for you guys.
  • 5:30am: I get up to go to the gym before the girls wake up. Clearly I missed Sherry rolling out of bed already.
  • 7:30am: I’m back. Clara’s up. Time to get her fed and ready to go on an adventure with Grammy.
  • 10am: Post is up. Clara’s with Grammy. Counters need wiping down post-breakfast. House is ready for its second showing.
  • 11am: Potential buyers show up with their agent. Sherry, Burger, and I go for a walk (pretend this is a picture of Sherry, me, and Burger instead of a shot with Clara and no Sherry).

Walking Showing

  • 11:30am: Get a call from someone that we sent a flyer to last night while we’re out on our walk. They want to come see the house that afternoon. Woo hoo!
  • Noon: Second showing is done. Agent says they liked it a lot, and have to talk to their lender with some questions. I let the agent know there’s another interested buyer but that no offers have come in yet.
  • 2:30pm: Clara is back from Grammy’s and the third potential buyers show up. They don’t have an agent, so I show them around the house while the girls go walking with Burger. Sherry’s getting lots of exercise today!

Walking Again

  • 3pm: Third showing is done. They seem to like it, but don’t appear as interested as the other two families.
  • 3:30pm: Anne the Realtor calls. She’s sending us an offer from the first couple who walked through our house yesterday. It’s strong, but $5k below our asking price. “Thanks so much! We’ll get back to you soon!” is our response (while we sweat profusely).
  • 4pm: We think things through and discuss everything a few dozen times. I call the buyer’s agent from the morning showing just to let him know that we have an offer on the table. He asks me to hold tight, they’ll have one for us within a few hours. Whaaa?!!!
  • 7pm: Second offer comes in. It’s not as strong as the first. Bummer, but at least it helps make the decision clear. We call Anne back, tell her we have another offer, and ask if we can meet in the middle on the price ($3k above their offer, which is just $2k below our asking price).
  • 7:15pm: Anne calls to say that the buyers have agreed to the new price and she’ll be bringing over papers for us to sign in an hour!
  • 8:30pm: We sign about twenty papers with our minds spinning. Our house is officially under contract! And it’s less than 36 hours after our first showing. In our heads we’re doing a celebratory Elaine-from-Seinfeld dance, but in reality we’re too tired to move.

Now we just have a bunch of little things to check off of our list (a few inspection items, ordering a final termite inspection, and of course packing things up and getting moved into the new house). Should be a busy month!

Selling Making List

I can’t tell you how grateful and relieved we are at how quickly and smoothly this second FSBO process has been so far (just like last time we’ll pay 3% to the buyer’s agent, but we saved nearly 10K by marketing the house ourselves and acting as our own seller’s agent). We hear the market is really coming back and it’s a great time to sell, so for anyone wondering, many other homes in our area seem to be getting contracts within a week or even a few days of listing them assuming they’re priced right and show nicely. So hopefully that’s good news for everyone!

We assumed we might end up selling our house to a reader who came to us through the blog, but hilariously enough, just like when we sold our first house, our buyer isn’t a blog reader and didn’t find out about our house because of our site at all. It was just coincidence (serendipity?) that we kept our Realtor in the loop and she happened to have a buyer looking for an updated one-level ranch like ours. So it might also be nice to hear that you definitely don’t need a blog to sell your house, although I’m sure the updates that we did certainly helped us sell it.

Kitchen Corner

So far this experience feels like a stark contrast to our first time selling a home back in 2010. That took us 14 showings over more than 3 weeks, and a variety of promotional attempts (craigslist, forsalebyowner.com, MLS, a sign out front, etc). It was stressful, but even then we were grateful that it didn’t drag on for months. So we certainly are counting our lucky stars for the speed at which things happened with this house! As of right now we’re planning to move to our new house in around three weeks. Holy cow, we better start packing!

More posts from Young House Love

Filed Under: Moving, Selling, & Buying

How To Paint Exterior Siding
Fab Freebie: Talent Show

Comments

  1. Julie says

    May 13, 2013 at 12:29 pm

    how sweet is that?! im sure you guys are still doing your happy dance…i don’t comment frequently but i love keeping up with you guys and can’t wait to see what you do with your awesome new house. talk about potential!!!

    Reply
    • YoungHouseLove says

      May 13, 2013 at 2:07 pm

      Thanks so much Julie!

      xo
      s

  2. Kara Hart says

    May 13, 2013 at 12:30 pm

    Congratulations guys!! That is awesome news! We were just in your same boat not even two months ago. We have an almost 2 year old and a yellow lab, so showings were so stressful…it’s amazing how dirty a house can get in a few hours!! I agree that the market is picking up though. We relocated from Florida to Texas (I know, we went the wrong way!) for my husbands job. We had multiple offers before the first week was over, and were officially under contract within 6 days of listing our home. We closed in less than 6 weeks from listing! We did ask our Realtor (the company paid all Realtor fees, so we used one) what price the house would move at, and listed it there (even though she advised a little bit higher – we wanted to all be together asap). In Texas, we had flagged 25 houses in various areas to look at and all but 12 were under contract within the two weeks we were looking. We close on our new home on the 28th and it was only on the market for 5 days before we made our offer. For the comparibles, the longest a house was on the market here was 18 days!! Things are flying crazy fast!!

    Congratulations on both the old house and the new house! Best of luck with packing!

    Reply
    • YoungHouseLove says

      May 13, 2013 at 2:10 pm

      That’s awesome Kara!

      xo
      s

  3. Tammy Terrio Wallace says

    May 13, 2013 at 12:32 pm

    Your house is so beautiful! It’s no surprise to us that things moved this fast!!! I can hardly wait to see what new projects you have up your sleeves for your new place!

    Reply
  4. Melissa says

    May 13, 2013 at 12:35 pm

    If you would have had an agent representing you, they would have went back to both parties requesting their highest and best offer! You may have sold over asking price! Many houses in Western PA are selling over asking right now because our inventory is very low.

    Reply
    • YoungHouseLove says

      May 13, 2013 at 2:07 pm

      See, we were worried about the house appraising to meet the offer price (it just did, but it was on the nose since the market just started picking back up). That lets us know that we got the amount that we were meant to have, and not a penny more :)

      xo
      s

    • mary says

      May 13, 2013 at 2:41 pm

      I used to be an appraiser. They appraise in a rising market TO the contracted price but not above, almost all of the time. As long as the contracted price is somewhat supportable by comps/adjustments, they’ll make it work. And when they can’t, you can always lower your price then with that buyer or the buyer can choose to come up with more cash down to satisfy the bank’s requirements.

    • YoungHouseLove says

      May 13, 2013 at 4:08 pm

      Thanks Mary! In selling our first house it wouldn’t appraise and the buyer didn’t bridge the gap so we had to come down. Once bitten, twice shy :)

      xo
      s

  5. Melissa-TheHappierHomemaker says

    May 13, 2013 at 12:37 pm

    Wow! That’s great news-I can’t believe it sold so quickly! Congrats!

    Reply
  6. Catherine says

    May 13, 2013 at 12:38 pm

    Will you be doing a list of “Things We Wanted To Do But Didn’t Get Around To” for the new owners? What would be tip-top of the list?

    Reply
    • YoungHouseLove says

      May 13, 2013 at 2:05 pm

      Yes, we’re planning a Listy McListerson wrap up post where we detail (and link to) everything we did and list the things we would have loved to do if we stayed (here’s hoping the new owners do it and we get to crash them! Haha!).

      xo
      s

  7. Gabby says

    May 13, 2013 at 12:38 pm

    ’11am: Potential buyers show up with their agent. Sherry, Burger, and I go for a walk (pretend this is a picture of Sherry, me, and Burger instead of a shot with Clara and no Sherry).’

    LOL, I’m sorry but now I have an image of John pushing Sherry in the stroller!! (Forgive me, it’s Monday-itis!)

    Ahem! Anyways, it’s such great news and I’m so happy for y’all!!!

    Reply
    • YoungHouseLove says

      May 13, 2013 at 2:04 pm

      Hahahaha! I was tired enough to be tempted to hitch a ride…

      xo
      s

  8. Casie says

    May 13, 2013 at 12:39 pm

    Best of luck! Your home is stunning and I would have had sooo many clients to bring there :) Can’t wait to see your next project unfold.

    Reply
    • YoungHouseLove says

      May 13, 2013 at 1:29 pm

      Thanks so much Casie!

      xo,
      s

  9. Penny says

    May 13, 2013 at 12:43 pm

    LAWD. That picture of John, it’s even better than those fake reenactment videos they do on House Hunters when they’re at some restaurant just casually chatting about their house when OMG suddenly they get that fateful phone call from their realtor…I watch too much HGTV.

    Reply
    • YoungHouseLove says

      May 13, 2013 at 1:29 pm

      Haha! Those scenes always make me laugh too!

      xo,
      s

  10. Marianne says

    May 13, 2013 at 12:44 pm

    Wow, that is what I call quick. Congratulations! Over here (The Netherlands) the market is dead. People have their homes for sale for 1 to 2 years.

    Reply
    • YoungHouseLove says

      May 13, 2013 at 1:30 pm

      Oh no! I hope it picks up again soon!

      xo,
      s

  11. Blanca says

    May 13, 2013 at 12:45 pm

    I am one of those “silent” readers who almost never comments. I know you’ll be getting tons of them today, but still, I thought I should do too: CONGRATULATIONS!

    No wonder you sell your house so quickly! It is lovely! I live in Europe (South of Spain) but if I was living in Richmond I would have wanted it too!! :)

    And didn’t say it the other day: but love the new one! You are going to do an incredibly good job there!

    xo,

    B.

    Reply
    • YoungHouseLove says

      May 13, 2013 at 1:28 pm

      Aw thanks Blanca!

      xo,
      s

  12. Lauren Wilson says

    May 13, 2013 at 12:47 pm

    We just had the same experience in Midlothian. We listed our house in Watermill on St. Patrick’s Day, and had 4 showings the 1st day and an offer on the 1st day. We countered, and they accepted our counter the next day. We were then stressed to find a new home because it happened so quickly. Our realtor told us that inventory is really low, and that proved to be right. We found a new home in Charter Woods off Robious, and we move in next week. We are so thankful the market has turned around! Congratulations!!!! Can’t wait to see what you all do with the new house!

    Reply
  13. Karen Q. says

    May 13, 2013 at 12:48 pm

    YAY YAY Awesome news!! Congratulations!! So happy for you! The new homeowners will be so lucky to have a home that’s as beautiful and well loved as this one. Can’t wait to see what magic you have in store for the new place and all the steps along the way. Let the adventure begin woo woo! :)

    Reply
  14. Sayward says

    May 13, 2013 at 12:50 pm

    In the words of Ron Burgundy, “boy, that escalated quickly!”

    Super exciting. Have fun packing! I’ll pray for the safety of your ceramic loved ones during this potentially perilous time.

    Reply
    • YoungHouseLove says

      May 13, 2013 at 1:26 pm

      Hahaha! Love me some Ron Burgundy.

      xo,
      s

  15. Ola says

    May 13, 2013 at 12:50 pm

    Congratulations! Well done! Very happy for you!

    Reply
  16. Cheerful Homemaker says

    May 13, 2013 at 12:52 pm

    Holy cow! Great work! Want to come and sell my house for me? We’re getting ready to put our house on the market. ;)

    Reply
    • YoungHouseLove says

      May 13, 2013 at 1:25 pm

      Haha, sure! Be right over!

      xo,
      s

  17. Brandy says

    May 13, 2013 at 12:56 pm

    I tried to find your “contact us” button but for the life of me can’t….

    So, are you guys selling any of your rugs? Specifically PB moorish, green in living room, original green one from living room…any others?

    Reply
    • YoungHouseLove says

      May 13, 2013 at 1:25 pm

      They’re all coming with us, although we think they’ll change rooms and stuff since they’re all different sizes.

      xo,
      s

  18. Kate says

    May 13, 2013 at 12:56 pm

    Congratulations! How exciting! We just put our house up yesterday as FSBO. We are looking to use an MLS site, but my one concern is that the realtor who lists acts as a liaison between you and potential buyers. How did that work for you? Did buyers contact you directly? Was that a concern for you?

    Would also love to hear who you sent your flyers to for marketing. Thanks so much for all your helpful advice and inspiration!

    Reply
    • YoungHouseLove says

      May 13, 2013 at 2:15 pm

      We used a service called MLSmyhouse.com and it was a $300 fee I think but people contacted us directly! We got over a dozen showings through listing it that way so it definitely seemed to work!

      xo
      s

  19. Cady says

    May 13, 2013 at 12:58 pm

    Yay!! Congrats on the sale!! We just bought a townhouse – we’re through the home inspection and appraisal. Now just down to the final details! Fingers crossed the rest is easy. I’m very excited to see you all take on this new house/challenge. And we might be trying some of our own DIY in the coming weeks!

    Reply
  20. Amanda S. says

    May 13, 2013 at 1:01 pm

    WOW! That was fast!! Congratulations… looking forward to seeing what you do with your new house!! :D

    Reply
  21. lisa says

    May 13, 2013 at 1:01 pm

    wow, amazing that things are all falling into place so nicely for you guys! have you done anything yet to the new house to ready it for move-in day? also…this may sound cheesy but are you sad at all to leave this house? i feel sad just knowing how much time and effort you put into this house…but that might just be my hormones kicking in (i’m prego). also, do you think clara will be sad? we’ve thought about selling and buying a bigger place but my 3 year old son is adamant we can never leave our house. ever. LOL

    Reply
    • YoungHouseLove says

      May 13, 2013 at 2:16 pm

      It’s definitely a bittersweet feeling! The helpful thing is that Burger and Clara are crazy for the new house. They run around every inch when we go over there and we have to drag them home. It’s really cute and helps us know in our bones and in our hearts that it’s the right house for this little family of ours :)

      xo
      s

  22. Becky L says

    May 13, 2013 at 1:08 pm

    Congratulations! We are going through the same process of buying/selling and also had great luck. (under contract with new place 3 days after it listed and our current place was under contract after 4 days on the market).

    Our big problem now is that the new house appraised for WELL below our offer price. So now we are playing games with the seller to try to meet in the middle without having to pay out of pocket for the spread between what they want and what the bank will loan us. Apparently as the market is coming back appraisal values are not quite catching up. We are in Charlotte and according to our realtor nearly 30% of his clients’ deals fall through between contract and final signing due to this issue.

    WHOA sorry for the rant. Glad you guys didn’t have any issues with the appraisal! And hopefully our situation works out!

    Reply
    • YoungHouseLove says

      May 13, 2013 at 1:23 pm

      Oh no that stinks! Hope you can find a nice compromise! All the best!

      xo,
      s

  23. Tara G. says

    May 13, 2013 at 1:09 pm

    Congratulations! We just closed on a house we owned in another state and rented while the AF sent us around the world. We had a whirlwind 4 days painting and cleaning and replacing things- only one argument, too! :) After two showings and less than 3 weeks on the market, we had an offer- such a great feeling!

    Reply
  24. Lauriane says

    May 13, 2013 at 1:10 pm

    Congrats on selling so quickly!!
    You might have already answered my question somewhere, but are you guys planning on telling us how much you spent on all the improvements you’ve done vs. how much the price of your house has gone up thanks to them (compared to when you bought it)? I’d be interested to know!

    Oh and it’s technically the 14th where I live so happy birthday Clara!! :)

    Reply
    • YoungHouseLove says

      May 13, 2013 at 1:21 pm

      Aw we’ll have to tell Clara it’s already her birthday! Haha! And we can’t wait to do a post about how much we put into the house vs what we got out when we sold it :)

      xo,
      s

  25. Carissa Chong says

    May 13, 2013 at 1:15 pm

    I agree with the stress part, but it sounds crazy exciting!!!! Congrats and woo hooo!!!

    Reply
  26. Meredith Matthews says

    May 13, 2013 at 1:20 pm

    Congratulations! That is incredible! I am curious because we, too, are tring to sell our house by owners (on FBSO.com and we paid for an MLS listing)… Who do you send your flyers to or where? Realtors in the area? Our house has been on the market for almost 3 weeks. With 3 kids and 4 dogs, its SUPER challenging to keep it spotless!

    Reply
    • YoungHouseLove says

      May 13, 2013 at 2:17 pm

      We didn’t send out any fliers, just told a few realtors we know and this time that was all we did (I think because inventory is low and people are buying things fast). The first time we also paid to have it on MLS, which is what bought in 12 of our 14 showings, so that really helped spread the word!

      xo
      s

  27. Megan Poletti says

    May 13, 2013 at 1:20 pm

    As a kid, my family moved around a lot. And oh, how I remember having to hop in the car and circle the neighborhood 200 times while our house was being shown. Those were rough times being a pre-teen because we had to be SO CLEAN for weeks, just in case a last minute showing came up. And I had to take my Hanson posters off the wall! Horrifying for an 11-year-old, haha! I’m sure at her age, Clara sees this all as an adventure and not an inconvenience, which is awesome.

    Reply
    • YoungHouseLove says

      May 13, 2013 at 2:17 pm

      Haha! Not the Hanson posters!

      xo
      s

  28. Julianne says

    May 13, 2013 at 1:24 pm

    Congrats! I just got finished with the sale of my house (it was on the market for less than 2 weeks). Such a great time to sell! Wishing you a smooth and stress free escrow!

    Reply
    • YoungHouseLove says

      May 13, 2013 at 1:57 pm

      Thanks Julianne!

      xo,
      s

  29. Callina says

    May 13, 2013 at 1:25 pm

    Congrats! Getting an offer and going under contract with your first looker is no easy feat! Even if it’s a little below your asking, hopefully all your hard work on the house has paid off.

    Reply
  30. Christina P (NS) says

    May 13, 2013 at 1:27 pm

    Congratulations guys, that is awesome.
    We are considering putting our house up and have been debating about trying FSBO first (I think we should, hubby does not) maybe if I show him this post he will come around?!
    Fingers crossed!

    Reply
    • YoungHouseLove says

      May 13, 2013 at 2:17 pm

      Good luck Christina!

      xo
      s

  31. Katrina says

    May 13, 2013 at 1:28 pm

    So excited & so fast! Congrats :) Best wishes on your new place :)

    Reply
  32. Kim says

    May 13, 2013 at 1:30 pm

    Amazing…congrats!!!! We’re on month five of our house on the market, so I’m on the other (nasty) end of the spectrum. Womp womp. :P

    Reply
    • YoungHouseLove says

      May 13, 2013 at 1:56 pm

      Hope it sells soon Kim!

      xo,
      s

  33. jackie b says

    May 13, 2013 at 1:30 pm

    Congrats! You both deserve an easy sell/move!
    On a side note, did you see your book over on Anthropologie’s site? It’s not a ceramic animal, but close enough!

    http://www.anthropologie.com/anthro/catalog/productdetail.jsp?navAction=jump&id=27210285&cm_mmc=CJ-_-Affiliates-_-rewardStyle-_-11292623

    Reply
    • YoungHouseLove says

      May 13, 2013 at 2:18 pm

      Isn’t that crazy?! I screamed mid-sentence when John showed me that! And I was on a work call! Haha!

      xo
      s

  34. Nancy says

    May 13, 2013 at 1:31 pm

    Woohoo – congratulations!

    And a close 2nd to how excited I am for you all selling this house and moving to your next is hearing that there is another 3 year old out there that takes a “late nap” like my daughter Ashley.

    If you don’t mind my asking – how long does she nap for and what time does she go to bed at night? We’ve been doing some recent experimenting with Ashley’s sleep schedule.

    Reply
    • YoungHouseLove says

      May 13, 2013 at 2:19 pm

      She is the funniest napper! She’s up around 7:30/8 in the morning and is full of energy until around 2:30 and goes down for a nap at 3. It’s usually from 3 – 5:15 on the dot. No idea why that’s the magic wake up time. Haha! Then she goes to bed at 8pm.

      xo
      s

  35. Donna says

    May 13, 2013 at 1:35 pm

    WOW! That was fast! I’m really excited for you guys, and really looking forward to seeing what you guys do to your new dream home. Congratulations.

    Reply
  36. Brenda says

    May 13, 2013 at 1:38 pm

    Wow! This is great news! It’s amazing how fast houses are selling these days. My house in Columbia, MO sold in 12 days! My husband and I couldn’t have been happier because it was a pain trying to keep it pristine!

    Reply
    • YoungHouseLove says

      May 13, 2013 at 1:55 pm

      That’s amazing!

      xo,
      s

  37. Allie says

    May 13, 2013 at 1:42 pm

    Congratulations! We found our dream home in my hometown (dream location!) but had to put our first home on the market. SO scary, but ours sold in one day to the only couple who saw it! When things go smoothly I see it as a sign that you’re doing what you’re supposed to be doing :)

    Reply
  38. Laci says

    May 13, 2013 at 1:42 pm

    Saw this and HAD to share with you immediately!! PUT A BIRD IN IT!! LOVE!
    http://www.woollypocket.com/blog/2013/05/
    (Clara’s gonna freak! …my kids just did)

    Reply
    • YoungHouseLove says

      May 13, 2013 at 2:20 pm

      So funny! Clara said “is there a surprise in my pocket?!” and checked her shorts. Hilarious.

      xo
      s

  39. Eileen marie says

    May 13, 2013 at 1:44 pm

    “Without actually building a bear” LOL!! Congratulations! We’re FINALLY closing on the condo we’re selling in June after having it on the market for over 10 mos. (Although we lived in it for nearly 4 of those months, & sold it a few months ago) for nearly $23K below asking price. We would have loved $10K below & been grateful for $13K below. We’re upside down, but so.glad.to.be.done! The market in NE Chicago has not recovered as quickly, but if hadn’t bought in the burbs in Nov., we might’ve been priced out!

    Reply
  40. Linda says

    May 13, 2013 at 1:44 pm

    Congratulations – and fingers crossed for a very smooth inspection process and closing! I really liked how you were clearly on the up and up with all potential buyers (and their realtors), and created a win/win for both buyer and seller.

    One comment re fixtures for other potential sellers – if there’s anything attached to the house that you really want to keep for sentimental or other reasons, take it down and replace it before anyone goes through the house. Sales have been lost over chandeliers and who got to keep it! Even make sure you’re all on the same page regarding landscaping, etc. That said, I think any buyer of a Petersik house is truly getting a cream-puff, turnkey house!

    Reply
    • YoungHouseLove says

      May 13, 2013 at 1:54 pm

      Aw thanks Linda! Great tip!

      xo,
      s

  41. Reenie says

    May 13, 2013 at 1:46 pm

    Holy Cow!!! My guesstimate was a week…..but ….36 hours!!!! Congratulations. :)

    Reply
  42. Amy says

    May 13, 2013 at 1:53 pm

    Hooray! Glad it happened so quickly for you guys so you can start on the new house soon!!

    Reply
  43. Clare R says

    May 13, 2013 at 1:54 pm

    Congratulations! Super exciting news. I loved the day-by-day, minute-by-minute breakdown of the excitement – even if it gave me some heart palpitations! Eeek!

    Reply
  44. Teresa @ wherelovemeetslife says

    May 13, 2013 at 1:54 pm

    Wow, that is amazing. SO glad it went quick and that you got what you wanted out of it. It’s a good sign the market is coming back. I bet you guys are sooo excited to get into the new place 100% now!

    Reply
  45. ashley says

    May 13, 2013 at 2:00 pm

    it’s nice to see that you guys had realtors showing your house! i heard from a couple different realtors that realtors don’t show FSBO houses because it’s like showing it for free to them. that they don’t get paid. that didn’t make any sense to me because i’ve not sold a house yet. but you mention here that you would have to pay the buyer’s agent 3% and that you obviously got showings. so it sounds like you have had 2 great experiences doing FSBO and assume that you guys are big fans of doing it this way? :)

    Reply
    • YoungHouseLove says

      May 13, 2013 at 2:12 pm

      Oh yes! We have had a great experience with realtors being happy to show FSBO houses because they get 3% as the buyer’s agent either way (whether another realtor gets the other 3% or no one gets it if the owners are FSBOing doesn’t seem to matter to most people).

      xo
      s

  46. Steph Nelson says

    May 13, 2013 at 2:02 pm

    I don’t have time to read comments but for now just wanted to say…”I knew you were going to sell it to your first showing!!!” Felt it in my bones! :)

    Congrats guys!!!

    I was wondering and maybe you can address it in a post, but how you found your realtor?

    Reply
    • YoungHouseLove says

      May 13, 2013 at 2:14 pm

      Aw thanks Steph! As for finding our realtor, I can’t tell you how much we recommend word of mouth and friendly referrals! We chatted with about ten friends & neighbors when we were looking for our new house back in 2010 and nearly 80% all recommended the same lady. She does a lot of business and is really good at her job :)

      xo
      s

  47. Stacy says

    May 13, 2013 at 2:02 pm

    I am hating you at the moment – my house has been on the market since last week and no bites but we’ve had 8 showings in 7 days and have 1 scheduled for tonight and another scheduled for tomorrow night. Ugh! I’m not surprised though. You’re house is gorgeous and mine is… well, tiny and needs paint. Badly.

    Reply
    • YoungHouseLove says

      May 13, 2013 at 2:11 pm

      Oh no Stacy! Hope it sells really fast!

      xo
      s

    • Stacy says

      May 13, 2013 at 8:34 pm

      Thanks! I truly don’t hate you guys. I just can’t get over how quickly it sold for you. we have been looking but I would feel so much better about making an offer on something if our house had a firm offer on it. Can’t wait to see what you guys do with your new house.

    • YoungHouseLove says

      May 13, 2013 at 9:43 pm

      Thanks Stacy! Sending you good house-selling vibes! Burger’s doing a little good luck shimmy for you :)

      xo
      s

  48. keapdx says

    May 13, 2013 at 2:03 pm

    Congratulations! I knew it would go fast. Selling a house has got to be even more stressful than buying a new one because you have to worry about the buyer’s potential problems as well as your own! I wasn’t brave enough to do a FSBO when I sold a house a few years back. I had a house that was incredibly charming from the street, but had, shall we say, issues, in it’s layout. So, showing after showing after showing–17+ if I recall. The eventual buyers didn’t actually see it in person (they were moving to PDX from NY) but loved it such as they could tell from pics and later in person.

    Reply
    • YoungHouseLove says

      May 13, 2013 at 2:11 pm

      That’s so funny! What are the odds?!

      xo
      s

  49. Lauren@FilingJointly says

    May 13, 2013 at 2:05 pm

    Congratulations! That is SO exciting. I can’t wait to see what you do with the new house.

    Big announcements must be in the air today. I announced my pregnancy this morning!

    (http://www.filing-jointly.com/2013/05/oh-happy-day.html)

    Reply
    • YoungHouseLove says

      May 13, 2013 at 2:11 pm

      Wahooooooooo! Congrats Lauren!!

      xo
      s

  50. Dana Stewart says

    May 13, 2013 at 2:06 pm

    Wow, congratulations! I’m sure this really helps you feel the all the work you’ve put in during the past three years has certainly been worth it, and is helping you move on to the next chapter! Can’t wait to see what you get into in the new house.

    Reply
« Older Comments
Newer Comments »

Stuff We Love

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

John and Sherry Sitting On Woven ChairHey, we’re John & Sherry. We’ve fixed up 7 homes, written books, designed products, started a podcast, and then downsized & moved to the beach! Here you’ll find over 3,000 DIY projects & home updates. More about us…
*This site contains ads and affiliate links*
See our disclaimer & privacy policy to learn more

Latest Finds

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

SHOP OUR LIGHTING

Young House Love Shades Of Light Capiz Chandelier

GET POSTS BY EMAIL

We’re Digging

Traditional Rug
The “Magic” Rug
Smokeless Solo Stove Firepit
Smokeless Firepit
Outdoor Solar LED Path Lights
Solar Path Lights
Criss Cross Office Chair
Our Desk Chair
Blue Air 211 Air Purifier
Our Air Purifiers
Eufy 11S Max Robot Vacuum
Our Robot Vacuum
Kohler Memoirs Toilet
Our Favorite Toilet
Livable Luxe Book
Fav Design Book
SEE MORE OF OUR FAVORITE FINDS > >

  • About
  • FAQs
  • Press
  • Contact
  • :)

© 2025 Young House Love ® · Disclaimer · Privacy Policy · Terms of Use · A Fun Wordpress theme on Genesis Framework · Hosted by Liquid Web