Holy cow, did we just sell our house?
(I’ll pause while Sherry flails around since that sentence is a trigger.)
Now that the inspection and appraisal are complete and our closing date is officially on the calendar, we finally feel safe enough to share the news: we’ve accepted an offer. We waited until this point to announce it publicly last time too. Nothing is final until the papers are signed in early June, but so far everything is on track and we’re cautiously excited.
First, some background: Sherry was determined to sell our house FSBO (For Sale By Owner) again, arguing we could save nearly ten thousand dollars by avoiding a full seller’s agent commission. Even if the buyer used an agent, we’d only pay the buyer’s side rather than split commission. The numbers were persuasive, but I remembered how stressful our last sale felt and wanted to try selling with professional support this time. We compromised: we’d try FSBO for a week. If nothing happened, we’d list it on the MLS ourselves for a modest fee (that’s what found us a buyer last time) and, if weeks passed with no interest, we’d consider hiring a Realtor.
Here’s how the timeline unfolded:
Friday, April 26: Anne, the Realtor who helped us buy our new house, called to ask if our current house was on the market yet. She had clients searching for a ranch-style home and thought ours would be a great fit. We told her we planned to list in four days and she said she’d call if they wanted to see it.
Saturday & Sunday, April 27 & 28: We spent the weekend finishing last-minute projects and staging the house, preparing for any quick interest. We’ll write a separate post about what we did to make the house show-ready.
Then the week got busy:
Monday, April 29
- 2 pm: Anne called—her buyers wanted to tour our home the next day at 2 pm. Yikes!
- 2:30 pm: Reality set in: we hadn’t made a flyer or set a price. Time to get moving.
- 3 pm: We started a frantic deep clean. Where did Clara stash all these toys?
- 9:30 pm: After comparing similar homes and brainstorming, we picked a list price and assembled a flyer.
- 12:30 am: Computer trouble wiped the file while printing. Too late and too tired to recreate it that night.
Tuesday, April 30
- 7 am: Up early to recreate the flyer and post the house news on our blog.
- 9 am: Flyer printed. More cleaning followed—details matter for showings.
- 10 am: The post went live and comments started pouring in. We replaced some grimy caulk and tidied counters.
- 1:30 pm: The house looked presentable but we were a sweaty mess. Thankfully, Anne would handle the showing.
- 1:45 pm: Anne arrived early so we could show her recent improvements.
- 1:55 pm: The buyers arrived ahead of schedule, so we left to give them privacy.
- 2 pm: With Burger and Clara in tow, we killed time at a nearby dog-friendly mall, browsing shops and letting Clara try out mirrors and window distractions—parenting triumph: no Build-A-Bear purchase.
- 3 pm: No call yet from Anne, so we checked voicemail and waited.
- 3:15 pm: Clara’s nap schedule was suffering; we drove home assuming Anne had finished.
- 3:30 pm: As we pulled onto the street we saw Anne and the buyers getting into their cars—an hour and a half in the house. That felt promising.
- 3:31 pm: Anne called to say they liked it and would sleep on it before crunching numbers.
- 4 pm: We were relieved and busy catching up on messages from neighbors and readers who were interested.
- 8 pm: We sent more flyers and scheduled another showing for the next morning at 11 am.
- Midnight: House was clean again and we finally crashed.
Wednesday, May 1
- 5 am: Sherry couldn’t sleep, so she began drafting a Q&A about the new house.
- 5:30 am: I snuck in a quick gym session before the day started.
- 7:30 am: Back home. Clara woke up and spent the morning with Grammy so we could prepare.
- 10 am: The blog post was live and the house was ready for its second showing.
- 11 am: A second family toured with their agent while we took a walk with Burger.
- 11:30 am: Someone who had received our flyer called and requested an afternoon showing.
- Noon: The second showing wrapped and the agent said they liked the house but had lender questions.
- 2:30 pm: The third interested party—without an agent—arrived and I showed them around while the girls walked with Burger.
- 3 pm: That third showing wrapped; the buyers seemed interested but not as enthusiastic as the first two.
- 3:30 pm: Anne called: the first couple submitted an offer, strong but $5,000 under our asking price.
- 4 pm: We deliberated and informed the other agent we had an offer, prompting them to promise one within a few hours.
- 7 pm: A second offer arrived; it wasn’t as strong as the first but it clarified things.
- 7:15 pm: Anne confirmed the original buyers were willing to meet us in the middle on price and would bring paperwork.
- 8:30 pm: We signed a stack of documents and put the house under contract—less than 36 hours after our first showing. Exhausted but exhilarated.
We still have a handful of small tasks to complete—inspection items, a final termite check, packing, and preparing to move into the new place. It promises to be a busy few weeks.
We’re incredibly grateful at how quickly and smoothly this FSBO experience has gone. Like last time, we’ll pay the buyer’s agent commission, but marketing the house ourselves saved us roughly ten thousand dollars. The market appears to be heating up again; many homes in our area are getting contracts within days when priced well and presented nicely. That’s hopeful news for anyone considering selling.
Funny enough, just as with our first sale, the buyer this time wasn’t someone who found us through the blog. It was serendipity that kept our Realtor in the loop while she matched her buyers to our house. So no, you don’t need a blog to sell a house—but thoughtful updates and careful staging certainly helped.
This sale felt very different from our first one back in 2010, which took 14 showings over more than three weeks and involved lots of promotional attempts. It was stressful, but it didn’t drag on forever. Still, we’re counting our lucky stars at how quickly things moved this time. We plan to move into our new home in about three weeks—time to start packing!