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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!

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Comments

  1. Carrie says

    May 13, 2013 at 7:19 pm

    Awesome! Congrats! We just had a similar experience in April when we sold our house. We had four offers in the first day, all at or above our list price. Craziness! It’s been really fun to read your posts about your new house and selling this house since we’re going through the same stuff right now. Love your blog and good luck with the sale/move.

    Reply
  2. Maria @ Sift & Whisk says

    May 13, 2013 at 7:53 pm

    This is totally unrelated to anything, but I just started watching Game of Thrones and realized Sherry totally looks like Daenerys Targaryen/Emilia Clarke! I am super excited about it.

    Reply
    • YoungHouseLove says

      May 13, 2013 at 8:09 pm

      Oh yes, all of my friends and family have picked up on that… which makes those naked scenes she does in season 1 pretty awkward! Haha! I refuse to confirm or deny if we have the same naked bod. But I would love to meet her in person so we could stare at each other’s faces. Haha!

      xo
      s

    • Valerie says

      May 14, 2013 at 10:36 pm

      Wait…I don’t understand. Does this mean you have to pay a commission as your old Real Estate Agent brought the buyers? What happened to the plan of trying to sell it yourselves for a week?

    • YoungHouseLove says

      May 14, 2013 at 11:15 pm

      We’ll pay her 3% for acting as the buyer’s agent and bringing them in (this is a disclosed fee that we share that we’re happy to spend on any agent who brings in a buyer) but we chose not to have a seller’s agent and do that stuff ourselves (which is called FSBO-ing things). A seller’s agent typically gets another 3% for a grand total of 6% out the door. So we saved around 10K by doing the selling stuff ourselves. The second paragraph has some info on that if it helps :)

      xo
      s

  3. Lisa says

    May 13, 2013 at 7:56 pm

    CONGRATULATIONS. Anyone would love that house, especially after all the love you put into it. Good Luck with your move and I can’t wait to see all you do with your new home.

    Reply
  4. Julianne says

    May 13, 2013 at 8:37 pm

    Wow…..that is fantastic news, guys!! Congratulations! You must feel very proud that all your hard work has paid off BIG TIME!!! Now i just need to fly you both up here to help get our beast completed for sale! ;0). Congrats again!!!

    Reply
  5. Gabbi @ Retro Ranch Reno says

    May 13, 2013 at 9:11 pm

    So fan-freakin-tastic, you guys! I can’t believe {well actually yes I can} how quickly this all went for you guys! You totally deserve a quick offer after what you went through last time. Although even your 14 showings in 3 weeks seems short since ours took about 4 months to sell in 2011 haha! I’m so anxious and excited for what is in store for you all! :)

    Reply
  6. cair says

    May 13, 2013 at 9:24 pm

    Congrats on the sale. We just sold my mom’s house fsbo to people who asked us about it long before we were ready to put it on the market. Such a stress-free way to sell. Hadn’t cleaned anything but the bathrooms.

    OK, you guys are getting a little too good at the “oh, let’s tell you what 6 months ago” or “… six weeks ago.” So a year and a half from now are we going to get a post “See this baby, oh yeah, he’s ours. Clyde is six months old. Sorry we didn’t get around to telling you earlier.” ???

    Reply
    • YoungHouseLove says

      May 13, 2013 at 9:41 pm

      With Clara we shared around 14 weeks along, so that will probably be the same approach we take next time! Here’s a post about how we’ll deal with baby news for ya (obviously we have to get to a safe spot and tell the family before sharing it with the internet :)

      xo
      s

  7. kristi@SimplePrettyThings says

    May 13, 2013 at 9:25 pm

    Congrats! That was fast! Better start ripping out those nasty carpets!!!

    Reply
  8. Jessica Miller says

    May 13, 2013 at 9:47 pm

    I’m guessin that w over 500 comments someone else has probably already asked this… But would y’all do a post about the flyer you created. Obviously you would leave out anything private like the asking price, but I’d be interested in seeing it.

    Reply
    • YoungHouseLove says

      May 14, 2013 at 7:51 am

      Yes, we did that last time so we’ll do that again (probably in the how we “staged” our house for showings post). Hope it helps!

      xo
      s

  9. debtperception says

    May 13, 2013 at 9:49 pm

    Awesome! Congratulations on such a quick sale!

    Reply
  10. Julie M. says

    May 13, 2013 at 9:57 pm

    If anything, this just shows the power of relationships and your network. It is so great that you and your Realtor kept in contact and it made this sale happen. So happy for you!

    Reply
  11. Steph Nelson says

    May 13, 2013 at 10:08 pm

    I just read through all the comments! Is that crazy? :)

    I’ve already said it, but once again, congrats on the quick sale!

    It would be interesting to somehow see a post from the buyers eyes. Like what did they like about the house, what did it have that maybe others didn’t, is there anything they plan on changing or what do they not dream of changing. It would be cool to hear about the reaction to say, what that kitchen looked like when you guys moved in!
    Maybe they just need to start thier own blog. Lifeafterthepetersiks.com…..

    Reply
    • YoungHouseLove says

      May 14, 2013 at 7:50 am

      It sounds like they really wanted a turn-key house so they don’t plan to change much at all! We’d love to house crash them when they get settled of course – so here’s hoping!

      xo
      s

  12. Emily K. says

    May 13, 2013 at 10:25 pm

    Congrats! My parents just sold their house in 10 hours. It too my husband and I 28 months to sell our place.

    Reply
    • YoungHouseLove says

      May 14, 2013 at 7:50 am

      Wow, that’s amazing!
      xo
      s

  13. Diana says

    May 13, 2013 at 10:29 pm

    Congratulations guys, so exciting!

    I’m feeling really pumped for you guys about your new house – I think it’s because after 6 months of renovations we’ve almost finished ours which feels like a new home and I’m on cloud nine (apart from being hauled up in my bedroom while they sand our floors!).

    Exciting times all round.

    Can’t wait to follow your journey as you personalise and improve your new home :)

    Reply
  14. Melissa Anderson says

    May 13, 2013 at 10:44 pm

    Congratulations! We just sold our house too in Chester and we are building a new home. I’ve been looking around for some DIY and home decor blogs as I’ve recently started a business (www.sweetmelissasfragrancefactory.com) and my home decorating budget will be a bit smaller this go-round :) I’ve heard about you all since I’m from Richmond but haven’t had the opportunity to check out your blog. I love it! Y’all are so cute and way talented! Congrats again! Your family is precious, and I can’t wait to see what you have planned for a new home!

    Reply
    • YoungHouseLove says

      May 14, 2013 at 7:47 am

      Thanks Melissa!

      xo
      s

  15. Katie says

    May 13, 2013 at 10:50 pm

    You posted a redacted version of your flier the last time you did a FSBO post and it was so interesting to see which features of the house you chose to highlight and how you talked them up. Will you share again, please?

    Reply
    • YoungHouseLove says

      May 14, 2013 at 7:46 am

      Oh yes we’d love to share that again in the post about how we “staged” our house. Stay tuned! :)

      xo
      s

  16. Kate says

    May 13, 2013 at 11:04 pm

    Wow! That was crazy fast guys! Congrats! I really hope the sale goes through without any hiccups for you guys.
    I can’t wait to start seeing all new projects in the new house and what you guys will do differently(if anything). =)

    Reply
  17. Rebeca says

    May 13, 2013 at 11:38 pm

    John’s picture completely needs a Gadzooks or Great Scott! Photoshopped in. Still snickering a little….

    Reply
    • YoungHouseLove says

      May 14, 2013 at 7:46 am

      Haha!

      xo
      s

  18. Julie says

    May 13, 2013 at 11:44 pm

    How much value did you get out of your improvements you put into the house? Say you’ve put in 20k over the time you lived there, were you able to make all of that back? More? Only a portion?

    Reply
    • YoungHouseLove says

      May 14, 2013 at 7:46 am

      We’ll definitely be writing a post about how much we put in vs. how much we got out just like we did for our first house after the sale was 100% through :)

      xo
      s

  19. Emily S. says

    May 14, 2013 at 12:15 am

    Wow, congrats on the quick sell!! Btw, this is totally unrelated, but just stumbled across your book on display on anthropologie’s site and wondered if you’d seen it yet: http://www.anthropologie.com/anthro/catalog/productdetail.jsp?navAction=jump&id=27210285&cm_mmc=CJ-_-Affiliates-_-rewardStyle-_-11292623

    Reply
    • YoungHouseLove says

      May 14, 2013 at 7:49 am

      Isn’t that crazy?! Holy cow that made me scream when I saw it. Haha!

      xo
      s

  20. Lindy Gaskill says

    May 14, 2013 at 12:35 am

    Wow, congrats, I was intently reading each line to see what happened next. I can relate to the excitement of getting offers. We sold our house in 2011 in Bend, OR after getting 2 offers on the first day it was listed and one was above our asking price. That made us happy. Hope the move goes smoothly for you!

    Reply
  21. Annie says

    May 14, 2013 at 12:52 am

    I know the buyers weren’t readers of the Blog, but I’m curious. Did the realtor (I REFUSE to capatalize that word!) involved push (or at least mention) your status as a way to help develop interest? Like “you want a ranch…I know one is coming on the market that is the home of professional DIY bloggers who have written a best selling book on the house.”?

    Reply
    • YoungHouseLove says

      May 14, 2013 at 7:45 am

      Apparently they had been looking on and off for a ranch with two masters for 2-3 years! So I don’t think it had anything to do with our blog, it’s just an incredibly specific house. Many ranches are our size including the basement, but to have it all on one level with two masters (both with full bathrooms in them) really is unusual :)

      xo
      s

  22. Autumn Beach says

    May 14, 2013 at 1:26 am

    Oh WOW…congratulations!! I am not surprised at ALL. What lucky buyers. They will be blessed every day by all the love you have poured into that house.

    Reply
  23. Heather says

    May 14, 2013 at 1:46 am

    Congrats! I have to say though, I knew you wouldn’t have any trouble selling it for the price you wanted, as soon as you wanted! How nice that you had the flexibility to sell on your own timeframe; that makes the pressure to sell even worse. I lived in our house for 6 months by myself after my husband had to move out of state for work, constantly keeping it “in showing condition” and being ready to pick up and leave for showings at a moment’s notice. You’re right, it’s really stressful, and we had a realtor organizing everything!!! That was 2.5 years ago, and it didn’t sell then, so now we rent it (and we have to rent in our new state too, until it sells and we can afford to buy again). Maybe when this tenant’s lease is up, the market in our area will have recovered enough to make it worthwhile to list again. It is heartening to hear that it’s picking up elsewhere!

    Reply
    • YoungHouseLove says

      May 14, 2013 at 7:44 am

      Oh man, I know what you mean about keeping things in showing condition! Wishing you all the best Heather!

      xo
      s

  24. Kym V. says

    May 14, 2013 at 2:52 am

    Holy awesomeness!!! PS you guys are stealth ninjas for keeping secrets. Congratulations!!!

    Reply
  25. Saskia says

    May 14, 2013 at 4:58 am

    Not surprised you sold it so fast, you did such an amazing job with this house, and it looked so amzaing! Can’t wait to see how you will turn your new place around!

    Reply
  26. Harriet says

    May 14, 2013 at 8:25 am

    So excited for you! We just had a similar experience. We sold our house to the first lookers, packed up all our stuff and headed to Vero Beach to look for another house. We settle in 2 weeks and I can’t wait to get started on our new house. It’s a foreclosure and needs some TLC. In the meantime, wer’re living on our sailboat. Can’t believe I’m going from this tiny space to a 4 BR with swimming pool! I’m looking forward to following all of your projects!
    ~~~~~(\_~~~~~Harriet

    Reply
    • YoungHouseLove says

      May 14, 2013 at 12:01 pm

      So cool that you’re living on your sailboat!

      xo
      s

  27. Jen says

    May 14, 2013 at 8:37 am

    Congratulations! Would you speak a little bit about the legal/paperwork side of selling by owner? Or how you educated yourself about doing so? Thanks!

    Reply
    • YoungHouseLove says

      May 14, 2013 at 12:01 pm

      Here’s a post about that for ya: https://www.younghouselove.com/2010/11/how-we-sold-our-house-by-owner/

      xo
      s

  28. Lisa says

    May 14, 2013 at 8:38 am

    Congrats on the sale, enjoy your new home and next adventure! :) I am looking forward to reading all about the new house.

    Reply
  29. Meredith says

    May 14, 2013 at 8:46 am

    Wow, congratulations! That’s so exciting, hopefully it all goes through without a hitch. I can’t help but be a little envious of you guys, though. We will be putting our house on the market soon and I know it will take a long time to sell. Another house in our neighborhood has been listed since mid Jan, same floor plan as ours, and it still hasn’t sold. Bummer. But glad it’s working out well for you all!

    Reply
    • YoungHouseLove says

      May 14, 2013 at 12:01 pm

      Oh no! Best of luck Meredith! Hope it goes really fast!

      xo
      s

  30. Rebecca Lately says

    May 14, 2013 at 8:50 am

    Woop woop! Congrats!

    Reply
  31. Tirsa says

    May 14, 2013 at 9:00 am

    Congratulations you guys! Happy Packing!

    Reply
  32. Andrea says

    May 14, 2013 at 9:26 am

    Awesome news!

    Reply
  33. Nicole Brooks says

    May 14, 2013 at 10:14 am

    When selling a house, do you need to fill in all the nail holes in the walls, and repaint the interior?

    Reply
    • YoungHouseLove says

      May 14, 2013 at 12:00 pm

      I don’t think everyone always does, but we always spackle and do touch up paint so we’re leaving the house all ready for the next buyer :)

      xo
      s

  34. Jill says

    May 14, 2013 at 10:31 am

    Hey guys, congrats on the speedy sale! Just had a random thought: after all the effort of building that sandbox for Clara out back, would you be planning to build her a new one at your new place?

    Reply
    • YoungHouseLove says

      May 14, 2013 at 11:59 am

      We’re not sure! Definitely something to think about!

      xo
      s

  35. MrsB says

    May 14, 2013 at 10:37 am

    I sold my house in Baton Rouge, La. in 4 hours after it listed. Post Katrina, a new lady engineer transferred to Exxon Chemical – a quilter like me. She saw the room I set up to sew in and was sold. I went for a walk around the block during showing and in that time she’d made up her mind. One showing and sold.

    THEN I had to hightail it up to Birmingham, AL to find a place to live! 4 days of house hunting with my son’s buyer’s agent and voila – I live in this crazy old house that has cost me a fortune to remodel – but all well worth it.

    Reply
  36. Colette says

    May 14, 2013 at 10:52 am

    Wow, I’m exhausted after just reading your post, lol. Congratulations on selling. You certainly deserve it after all of your hard work. Upwards and onwards!!!

    Reply
  37. Alaina says

    May 14, 2013 at 11:03 am

    Sorry if this is nosey but I was wondering if your selling price was enough to cover all of your upgrades in the house? Did you end up losing money or making money? I can’t get my husband to do any upgrades on our current house b/c of how much money we lost on our last house.

    Reply
    • YoungHouseLove says

      May 14, 2013 at 11:59 am

      We’ll be doing a post on what we put in vs. what we got out for you guys as soon as the sale is final! Don’t want to jinx ourselves. Haha!

      xo
      s

  38. stuph bee says

    May 14, 2013 at 11:12 am

    oh man, the family that moves into your house is so lucky and they’ll have a great story to tell about how their new house is all book famous and stuff. :)

    Reply
  39. Courtney K says

    May 14, 2013 at 11:23 am

    Congrats! That is such wonderful news. Hope all goes easily through closing!

    Reply
  40. heyruthie says

    May 14, 2013 at 12:03 pm

    Maybe you answered the question already–at any point *so far* in the process that you have detailed, did you use any outside “help” on your own behalf–an attorney, someone to write paperwork, etc.? Or did you just “piggyback” off all the “services” of the buyers’ agent–using her paperwork, etc.? Thank you!!

    Reply
    • YoungHouseLove says

      May 14, 2013 at 1:59 pm

      When someone offers on your house they present you with papers (you just sign, or verbally negotiate and sign – even with regard to inspection papers). So although we always hire a closing attorney who’s happy to help with paperwork, as sellers the buyers usually just present offers and inspection reports and you just talk them through and sign them when you agree with them :)

      xo
      s

    • heyruthie says

      May 23, 2013 at 11:05 am

      Sherry, Thank you. I’m over on MLSMyHome right now, getting myself all set. I appreciate the feedback, since I’m nervous, and I’m a single-Mom, so I don’t have a “partner in crime” to bounce things off of.

      I’m so excited for your upcoming move to the not-blue-anymore-trim house. (Well, upstairs, at least!)

    • YoungHouseLove says

      May 23, 2013 at 11:09 am

      Thanks so much!! Oh man, good luck with everything. You can do it!

      xo
      s

  41. Angie says

    May 14, 2013 at 1:27 pm

    Congrats on the quick house sale! A huge weight lifted I am sure.

    Reply
  42. Samantha says

    May 14, 2013 at 1:43 pm

    congrats!!! so awesome!!! we sold our home in the fall and it went to the 2nd showing – it was quick too and we couldn’t believe it. such a HUGE relief!

    your post left me with a great question for you guys though….i also write a blog and had posted all of the house photos/project photos from that home on the blog. i’m asking b/c sounds like you’ve been through this before, but when you sell your house, how do you manage those images being on the blog/web? are the new owners aware of that and ok with it? our old home photos are still up on my blog and we had a pretty fun playroom that went crazy over pinterest….i sometimes worry that the new owners will ask me to take down my photos – which would make me sad b/c that playroom was a labor of love for us.

    just wondering if you know more about that. i realize this may be a big question with a long answer…but i would really appreciate the help.

    oh, our real estate agent did know about my blog and the images and didn’t seem too worried about it. but the couple that bought our home are both attorney’s…so?? just a little worried.

    thanks!!! and congrats again!

    Reply
    • YoungHouseLove says

      May 14, 2013 at 1:47 pm

      Oh yes, we disclose the blog and show buyers at their initial walk-through that it has been in magazines and even in our book! Full disclosure feels great and it didn’t seem to deter anyone. I would definitely disclose whatever you can as early as possible! :)

      xo
      s

    • Samantha says

      May 23, 2013 at 8:09 pm

      thank you so much for the reply! i appreciate it so much!

      all the best to you guys with the new house!

      by the way, it’s so funny how we are right in line with what you guys are doing. we are currently picking out hardwoods (was planning on oak and see you’re doing the same), pulling up carpet, figuring out paint colors, etc. it’s been fun reading along over here while i’m doing the same thing in real life. :-) thanks for the inspiration to do a lot of the work on my own. i even mentioned in one of my blog posts that i might tackle the crown moulding and linked to your great recent tutorial about it – a reader replied to me begging that i hire out the job. haha!! i don’t know – you guys made it look so easy with the various tools you own that i think i CAN do it! :-) you inspire me!

      all the best,
      sam

    • YoungHouseLove says

      May 23, 2013 at 9:26 pm

      Aw thanks so much Sam! All the best with everything!

      xo
      s

  43. Patricia says

    May 14, 2013 at 2:02 pm

    So jealous your house sold so quickly! Ours in North Chesterfield has been on the market for almost 2 months with not a lot of action. Which sucks because we close on our new house in Florida in 3 weeks!

    Reply
    • YoungHouseLove says

      May 14, 2013 at 2:44 pm

      Oh no! Hope it sells soon!

      xo
      s

  44. Susan says

    May 14, 2013 at 3:36 pm

    YAY! It is great that houses are selling again. My kids just sold their house in Cary, NC, and it sold quickly and was helped along by a second offer coming in and the first buyers upped their price!! I will say there is always drama in house buying and selling! Phew! Not looking forward to our next move, but hopefully it will be our last since we are empty nesters! Love your blog! Introduced to it by my niece who lives in Charleston, SC.

    Reply
  45. Anna @ Gone Banannas says

    May 14, 2013 at 5:28 pm

    The Elaine dance is unbelievable! Envisioning this happening in your household is such an awesome picture in my head haha.
    Congrats you guys! This is quite the feat (buying a new home, starting updates, finishing updates in current house, selling house). I just moved into a new apartment and trying to update the space and telling you guys that you are an inspiration for all that I am doing is an understandment! Thanks for..existing :)

    Reply
  46. Claire @ Claire K Creations says

    May 14, 2013 at 5:51 pm

    Congratulations! Fingers crossed it all goes smoothly.
    We actually bought a house this week!!!
    I commented last week that there were no single lever houses in our area on a decent size block. Turns out there are and we got it! She’s not the prettiest inside but I’m so excited and we’ll be moving in about the same time as you guys so I’m even more excited to see what you do to it.
    Sherry I’m with you on the not sleeping because you have too many ideas!

    Reply
  47. Amanda says

    May 14, 2013 at 10:18 pm

    Can’t wait to watch this new journey unfold.

    Off topic a bit, where did you get your ottoman? I love it.
    Thanks!

    Reply
    • YoungHouseLove says

      May 14, 2013 at 11:11 pm

      It was from joss & main about two years ago! Hope it helps :)

      xo
      s

  48. Valerie says

    May 14, 2013 at 10:31 pm

    Wait…I don’t understand. Does this mean you have to pay the realtor as she brought the buyers?

    Reply
    • YoungHouseLove says

      May 14, 2013 at 11:11 pm

      We’ll pay her 3% for acting as the buyer’s agent and bringing them in (this is a disclosed fee that we share that we’re happy to spend on any agent who brings in a buyer) but we chose not to have a seller’s agent and do that stuff ourselves (they typically get another 3% for a grand total of 6% out the door). So we saved around 10K by doing the selling stuff ourselves. The second paragraph has some info on that if it helps :)

      xo
      s

  49. Renee VanReed says

    May 14, 2013 at 10:56 pm

    So the buyer had never heard of your blog…did you tell them what it was about? Do they know there are loads of pictures of their home on the internet and did they care? Wonder if it would be strange for a non-YHL follower…

    Reply
    • YoungHouseLove says

      May 14, 2013 at 11:14 pm

      Oh yes, we disclosed that to everyone who came by at the first walk through with a flyer on the counter and the mags/books we’ve been in. Didn’t seem to deter anyone, which was nice, but we wanted to be sure it was out there early so everyone who considered our house knew that :)

      xo
      s

  50. Jenny B. says

    May 15, 2013 at 1:52 am

    Man, I am so behind! I just read the post about the carpet, and I kept thinking… I don’t remember their house having an upstairs? And what did they do with all their stuff? Did they buy a new house? Then I read this post, and at the end, I’m thinking, “That blue in the kitchen is SO pretty! Wait… when did they paint the kitchen blue??” Ha! No need to respond to this comment — obviously I have some catching up to do! :)

    Reply
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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…
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