Teresa, I echo the post by elfia. As I said before, YOU have to follow your "gut"...make a list of the pros and cons and YOU decide. I know what where are are coming from...and I made decisions after my DH's death that probably weren't to my kids liking, but they were MY decisions and if they were wrong, it would have been my problem. Sometimes our kids feel "comfortable" with where we are and do not realize we need to change what we do to meet where we are in our lives NOW.

After my DH's death, the best thing I did was move from that house, get a new home, and start my life over....hope it will be a good decision for you....because I am sure thinking about you and YOU make the decision that makes you feel all "warm and fuzzy"....don't worry about your kids, they will come around~~~I'll promise you.

Dabunch, you should have taken my advice and quit typing. You're just burying yourself deeper and deeper with each comment.

bethesdamadman and dabunch~~ If you want to keep up this running battle, please open your own thread regarding reverse mortgages....the rest of us might be tired of reading your posts...... We are more interested in Teresa's (mootie) decision than what you are bickering about!

Teresa, you said "I will probably miss on this one unfortunately mostly because of it's unexpectedness, and the fact that my oldest son keeps avoiding me in hopes that it will go away."

It might be best not to jump at something you're not prepared for, but you need to give some thought to what role you'll allow your children to play in this. Are they co-owners of the house? If not, I'm not sure why not being able to talk with your oldest son is an obstacle.

If you want his agreement before you sell the house he grew up in, you may never get it. I know it's not easy to make a decision with family implications quickly, but it sounds like his opposition is something you will have to deal with at some point. Good luck.

I believe that dabunch is misinformed about reverse mortgages. Anyone reading here that is interested should look at the AARP web site to get more detailed info on the current generation reverse mortgages.

Elisabeth,

This isn't the house my oldest grew up in. He lives in that one. I bought this house a few months after he passed away, because the memories in our house were too hard to live with day to day.

I have a good analogy on this subject. My youngest son purchased a collector car, an '87 Buick Grand National, after his dad passed away. He pampered it, worked on it, took joy rides to impress the girls. But then life got busier and he got a better job and got a 'real' car and the one day he realized how much better off he would be if he sold his Buick and freed up some tied up dollars. He loves that car, but knows in the back of his mind, it's time for it to go. It's kind of the same thing with this house. My needs have changed too...

mooie

Plus my oldest son had a fit when I said it was maybe time to find smaller. He loves this house too, but I don't believe he's helping with the bills? : ) He's trying to talk me into using a reverse mortgage with my equity to help pay my taxes or if something major comes up. Boy there's alot wrong with that idea!

For one, tell him you are not old enough to do that. We found that out in this post. Next, you're going to have to sit down with him and remind him that he's there temporarily. How old is he?

If it was me, and I just did this with my 2 kids.. they didn't have any say. My son is old enough to move out & my daughter, if she doesn't like it, can go live with her natural father, (not that she would & I know that) so they had options other then staying in the old house. The choice is A or B, you decide.

You also have to think about what will happen if your son moves out if he does shoulder some of the financial. Then you are in the same boat. To me, it sounds like trying to seriously consider the house across the street might be a good option. You stay in the town and can look at your old house every day.

I've sort of taken a sit back and look tact with this house, waiting for the figures to come back with the price the people paid for it. Those came yesterday. Their buy price was 62K. So I wasn't too far off on my guess. The current tax appraisal is 71K. So, from the standpoint of RE taxes, and keeping them down, I'm not sure where one would even start with a first offer. Our county does base their taxes on buy price. It doesn't catch up with you until they do a reeval, but it does eventually. Since I don't have a real estate agent, I'm kind of doing this on my own. They've had a lot of people thru the house already. One has been back twice now.

I'm confused. Is the house listed now? It wasn't in the 1st post you made. Are they doing for sale by owner?

What are they asking for the house? Surely they have a price picked out if people are walking through.

I will probably miss on this one unfortunately mostly because of it's unexpectedness, and the fact that my oldest son keeps avoiding me in hopes that it will go away. lol I understand he doesn't want me to make a mistake, but I know it's a mistake financially to stay here. I love this house too, but in the end, it's just a house.

You give him the option, either he can stay or go. This is your life, your house. You have no clue what I've gone through with my 15 year old daughter, it's been a rough 3 months, school is starting next week and hopefully once it does she will settle down. While she misses the old house she loves her new room and even though she's still mad (she hasn't made friends here yet) I notice that she's not as jumpy and her mood is better (I'm putting it nicely lol) For us, it was time to move. My dad died 7 blocks from our old house, 2 years later we were still having a hard time dealing with it. I walk out my new front door and think; "dad would have loved how much the garden is blooming" instead of me having to deal with looking at my old garden & knowing he'd never be back to walk around it with me. There were too many family problems after he passed, associated with the old house.

With your current house, it sounds like it's the 1st house you've had without your DH, and while it suited your needs then, it sounds like it is also time for you to move on. I doubt your hubby would like to know that you stayed and could possibly lose it or had to bust your butt harder just to keep it. I doubt he would want that for you.

It would be nice to be able to predict what the market will do in a year or so but if housing goes back up, while you will make more, you will spend more.

I live in a rural community in Illinois. A town of about 1400. Downsizing is an issue due to the type house that are on the market right now and the prices being sought for them. And a house priced right and in good condition is difficult to find at best.

I want to bring this up again.. You said it is tough to find housing to downsize to. The fact that this house is for sale very well may be a sign for you that it is time to move on.

btw, maybe get the agent back and let him give you a ballpark about what he would list for. Then call 2 more agents and interview them. If you'd like I can give the link to my agent questions for sellers. This will tell you if that agent was giving you a fair price and not one that his client (the buyer) wants.

rslover,

To clarify, yes the house across the street is on the market, listed with an agency. They are asking 92,500. The very first day I found out about them putting it on the market, I happened to be visiting them and they told me. They said they didn't really want to list that high but the RE agent said it was a good price just under 100K. So that's what they went with. They've done a lot of cosmetic updating on the house but the biggest redo they've done was the kitchen. That's the only improvement that I consider important. Just like with my house. I've done a lot of painting, carpeting, etc., but the things that are important are the new roof, the sun room and the opened up front porch.

I think you are correct about having the real estate agent come back and see what he thinks he can reasonably sell my house for and then contact a couple others and see what they think. I'm also trying to find a competent appraiser.

I just keep plugging away hoping that something will click and fall together. : )

Teresa

Teresa: "I was just thinking myself that this had gotten so off topic that it deserved it's own thread!"

My apologies for my contributions to the off topic discussion of reverse mortgages and for the nastiness/snarkiness that ensued.

The owner of the house across the street called me last night and she told me that they had gotten an offer on the house already and had counteroffered. They were waiting to hear back on that. So most likely their house will be sold before I can act on it. And it's only been on the market 10 days...

However what she actually called about, was that her daughter and son in law are very interested in my house and wondered if they could come and see it. They have been looking around for some time and are wanting to move. Since I'm in the process of doing a small update on my kitchen I told her that if they could give me a week to get done with the countertops at least, I didn't have a problem with that. As long as they realized I wouldn't have the flooring in at that time. So at least I have someone interested even tho the house isn't even on the market yet. I also told her that I couldn't give them any prices on it until it had been appraised. It's a start. Hopefully to the road of the right direction.

Teresa

Oh, I hope they do not accept the counter-offer....and perhaps you and her daughter/son-in-law could work out some type of a "switch"....wouldn't that be great!!!...so here's hoping for you.

Well the good news is the counter offer was not taken and this little house is still on the market! That's one for the good guys! I went over there today and took a longer walkthru with the owners and went up into the attic area. Insulation is not bad but could probably use more. Examined the roof more closely and determined it needed replacing in no more than two years. Perhaps gutters and soffits also. Since they tended to keep most of thier updates on the interior, everything looked pretty good and other than my own color of paint or whatever, it's ready to move into. Now knowing these things may help me formulate some kind of an offer. They are asking 92,500. A similar sized house sold just around the corner for 80,000. The assessed value (tax wise) is just about 72,000. I'm hoping to sneak in between 78-80K. Lower would be even better but I doubt that would fly. The lower the buy price is, the better off my real estate taxes will be down the road. I have no clue as what to offer! lol! Stressed out! : )

Teresa

YEAH!!! Do you know what the offer was that was refused?
I am still hoping for you!!!

Have you visited with the daughter and husband of the owner of that house?....maybe something can be worked out if they are really interested in yours~~~~ GOOD LUCK

phoggie,

No they didn't tell me what the offer was and I wasn't sure if I was allowed to ask. They did send me home with a couple pieces of chocolate zucchini cake and a brownie, tho! : )

The daughter and son in law are still interested in looking, the last I heard, and had been to their bank in pursuit of a bridge loan, only to find out that their bank isn't doing bridge loans due to the housing mess anymore. They are still coming to look, but can't say if they've looked at any other financial alternatives or not. Time will tell.

Teresa

Mooie - I hope things work out for the best, although its difficult to always know what that is.
I do think it a little odd that the daughter and son-in-law don't just buy their parents house, or just buy yours and parents stay put so they can be closer togehter but hey, what do I know.

Have you visited with the daughter and husband of the owner of that house?....maybe something can be worked out if they are really interested in yours~~~~

What type of something would you suggest & how would you go about it? The parents probably need to sell their house to move on as it looks like the kids will have to sell as well.

They are asking 92,500. A similar sized house sold just around the corner for 80,000. The assessed value (tax wise) is just about 72,000. I'm hoping to sneak in between 78-80K.

No they didn't tell me what the offer was and I wasn't sure if I was allowed to ask.

I don't know. You have an idea of what you'd like to get the house for, they have an idea of what they'd like to sell for. The fact that they are listed for $92,5k and the offer/counter didn't work out makes me wonder if you are even in their ballpark figure.

The best thing you could do is sit and talk to them. If a neighbor wanted to buy my old house, I would have been honest with them on the offer that wasn't accepted. What's the worst they say? No?

You can say, to not waste either of our time, do you have a number on what you'll accept?

We had one of hubby's friends interested, when we were working an offer he called them to let them know to see if they were ready. We were offered $210k at the time, hubby wanted no less then $215, we were listed at $220k. Hubby was honest with his friend that we were working the $210 offer. If we were going to accept that low, we'd rather he & his wife have the house.

The couple selling the house are moving to a duplex just south of town. One of those places where everything is done for you? He has pre-altzheimers and has shown some problems lately. They thought it was time. The daughter and son in law live in a small house also with their two kids and a dog and would benefit from my bigger home with its big yard.

These are very nice people and I could probably get an honest answer from them if I ask what the offer was that they rejected. You're right, it could tell me if I'm even in the same ballpark with them. Guess I was being a little shy and didn't want to step on any toes. At the very least it will give me an idea of where to start and hopefully isn't over what I would like to spend!!

Teresa

frog hopper wrote: I have never lived anywhere where that was the case. Please do not assume that the purchase price of a piece of property directly factors into the assessor's valuation of that property, unless you know for an absolute fact that is the case.

I have lived in a place where this is exactly how property taxes are calculated - Tucson, AZ to be exact.

The people across the street from us, same house, similar square footage and lot size paid considerably less property tax than us because the tax is assessed on the purchase price of the home.

I don't know if this is even possible......but if I were you, I would go over and sit down with them and their daughter....see what they want and how much the daughter might give for yours........and then if they are interested in selling to you, they could take it out of the hands of the realtor....save commission or split the difference with you. Surely there is a way to make this happen.....sure hope so for you and the daughter also.

Well after having a long discussion with my sister in law last night, I went over to the neighbors across the street and had a frank discussion with them about selling their house this morning. I explained to them that I was totally interested in buying their house, that it was a no brainer actually for me in the long run. I said I was sure they had an idea of what they needed to get out of it and I had an idea of what I would like to pay for it. They told me that the offer they rejected was for 78K. I don't know what their counter offer was. They wanted to know what my parameters of price was and I said I had been thinking somewhere between 78-81K. I realize they have their closing cost expenses to come out of that but on my side of the coin, I'm looking at having to replace a roof in a couple years and possibly new sofits and gutters. All that plays into the price. And the main reason for my low offer, (that I wish could be even lower) is that the real estate taxes are based on the buy price. And that is one bill you can't control. It's not like electricity or gas.

The man told me he would like to get 87K for it, so we're not too far apart, but again, I go back to the buy price and taxes. If they hadn't involved a RE agent they would probably take my offer up right away. Anyway, they were going to talk it over for a couple days and then give me a call. So I tossed my hat into the ring and we'll see what happens!

Teresa

and then if they are interested in selling to you, they could take it out of the hands of the realtor.

Since they have already signed a contract with a Realtor, it is too late for that.

I heard back from the neighbors tonite and they counteroffered at 2K higher than my offer.They said what they are doing by moving to their duplex and me trying to downsize is a perfect match and they would like to see me living in that house. They are also including all of their appliances only 2 years old in the mix. In all honesty, I don't know how I can pass this up. To me it's such a no brainer, I'm still only a block from work,close to my support system and its a sound house and everything would be so much less expensive for me. I'm calling my bank tomorrow. I'm not sure if they do heloc loans or not, but if not, I'm sure they will advise me where to go. Since I have full equity in this house, I think this is the best way as opposed to a bridge loan. Yes? If they approve then I can get my house on the market. Kinda exciting!

Teresa

GREAT~~~and I wish you only the very best in your endeavor. Surely their appliances are worth $2,000...so there is your difference....and how convenient for you~
I hope everything works out for you and that her daughter will want to buy your home......things are looking up for you and it is exciting news~~

Teresa, I'm glad that it seems that things are working out. I don't doubt that getting up the courage to talk to the neighbors about buying wasn't easy, but you did it and it paid off.

Since their kid is interested in your house, I wouldn't sign with an agent but would try to use an attorney so you have less expenses when selling your own house.

One thought would be to see what their agent would charge to do both closings. Who knows, maybe you'll both get a deal there...

Keep us posted.

Just thought I would update. I went to the bank on Thursday after work and talked with the loan officer. Long story short, he said that it was all very do-able pending the apraisal of my house which should surpass the buy price of that house by many dollars. He told me he would call me back on Monday and let me know for sure and to set up a time for the appraisal. He also said that if I wanted to put an offer on the house, I could do so, with the common contingencies of loan appraisal and inspection. So I called the real estate agent yesterday and had her email me the form she uses for an offer so that I had a little extra time to read it and make any changes. She said that the last page was all legal blah blah blah stuff, but that's the part I like to read the most! She is going to come by and go over it with me today and I will most likely sign the offer contract at that time.

All of this has gone forward without any discussion with my oldest son, who still seems to have it on the 'it will go away if we don't talk about it' button. He was given ample opportunities to sit down and discuss, but chose not to. By the time he decides to go look at it with me, I may be living in there! lol

I would really like to get moved out before I put this house formally on the market. Have a cleaning service come in for a couple days and go over it top to bottom. Then I can come back over and get whatever repainting/repairs that needs doing, done. And if the daughter/son in law want it before it's listed, then so much to the better! :) It's a win-win for everyone.

mooie

Keep us posted. Very exciting.

Don't worry about your son, he'll eventually come around. Everyone handles things differently.

Teresa~~~ I am so proud of you taking the steps to go ahead and do this on your own......we widows can be independent....we don't always need our children's approval of everything we do....(do they always want, or even ask, for ours before they do something?)...mine surely don't.
I follow your adventure every day and really hope that this will all work out in your favor....and hope their daughter falls in love with your house and can't live without it~~~ Keep us posted.
Phoggie

Great News!! Don't worry about your son too much. You're still the mom and the adult that makes the decisions in your life. Although he is grown that doesn't change that. Just that sometimes grown children forget that. (BTW I'm the grown child).

I hope everything goes smooth and that you'll be able to sell your house quickly too.

I am disturbed that the possibility of saving a mere $200/month in property taxes is enough to upend everything.

In your shoes I'd try to increase my income by $200 a month before trying to lower my property tax $200 a month.

My property taxes are a little over $25.00 per $1000... which, I believe, are about the highest mentioned in this thread. Hooray me.

Yes, horray for you, but I for one can certainly understand mooie's position......I am a former widow and I know where she is coming from.....and what would you propose for her to do in a small town to increase her income by $200 a month?.....evidently, you have never walked in her shoes~~~

Saving $200? More like over $300. One never knows what the next year will bring. And to me, that tax money is something that is just gone. I realize that the tax money pays for things that benefit me, mostly. My options were to work overtime where I'm employed which we can do once a week. That would involve working 1 extra day per week for 40 weeks. Lotsa downtime there eh?

Let me put you in a better perspective. I moved here from a huge farmhouse where my late husband and I lived with our kids. This is smaller than the farmhouse but still has a very large yard. An acre to be exact. I love this place garden wise. I am calling it my 'interim' house. It's my adjustment place before moving to a somewhat smaller home with half the yard. This home has served it's needs for me and things are telling me it's time to adjust yet one more time. Life certainly isn't static. I placed my offer to them on Saturday and it's been accepted. Now I await the bank to call me back with approval and set up a time for an appraisal for this house.

Please don't judge me. I may not always know what I am doing, and that's when I offer it up to higher knowledge. There is a reason for all things.

Teresa

And it is perfectly alright, even if you simply prefer the other house. I hope everything goes smoothly for you.

Things are picking up steam. The bank called yesterday and said things looked good for the loan and would check with the appraiser to see which day this week he could come appraise my house. Plus the daughter and son in law of the people I'm buying the house from, are coming to see my house wednesday evening. I would have preferred them to come during the day but everyone works so that's not possible. Very exciting stuff going on! Thanks for all the encouragement!

Teresa

Update time. The bank came and appraised my home for the loan, (in-house appraiser) and they called yesterday and said they would be drawing up the loan papers. Yay for me! But he said one confusing thing I will need to talk to him about today. He wanted to do a title search on my house, I'm supposing to make sure there are no liens against it, which there aren't. He asked me if I had a legal description of my property in any of my paperwork when I purchased this house. I said I probably did and would run it up to him today. What I'm wondering about is will I have to pay for this title search and then pay for another one when I sell this house??? If so, can I refuse this one? Seems silly to have to do it twice.

Overall, things are progressing nicely and we hope to close on it as soon as my loan gets processed. Despite my oldest son's displeasure, it seems to be happening the way it's supposed to. Sweet!

Teresa

Teresa, glad to hear everything is falling in place. Remember, if it's meant to be, it will happen.

They probably do the title search just to make sure. I actually wish they would have done this for us because a loan my hubby paid off ended up coming up Friday before we closed. Thankfully we found out in enough time that the title lady could take care of it after my hubby called the loan place. Did you ask what the charge would be for the title search and if you could deny it?

Overall, things are progressing nicely and we hope to close on it as soon as my loan gets processed. Despite my oldest son's displeasure, it seems to be happening the way it's supposed to. Sweet!

He'll be fine.
This is your life and you have to worry about you. Eventually he may get married, have kids and while he'll worry about you, you won't be his 1st priority if you know what I mean lol

I know it's hard to shift gears with our kids, but you seem to be doing a good job of looking out for yourself. I'm sure your hubby would be very proud of you.

Wow!
Good for you Teresa!
How lucky can you be with all of this just effortlessly sliding into place.....
I wish you the best in your new home!
Sue

Teresa,
The buyer of the home pays for a title search which a Title insurance company performs before providing title insurance that the buyer purchases for the buyers protection.
You will pay for title insurance for the purchase of your new home (your neighbors) at settlement to protect your interest in the property.
THe bank in this case, will do a title search, which they will do, not for you to pay for. They are going to just check to make sure that your title is free of any leins or judgements before they hand you a check, the house is your collateral.
When you sell your house, the buyers of your house will pay for title insurance to protect their interest in the property, and a title company will again check to see if you have any leins on the property.
At settlement of the selling of your house, you will pay the bank back for the amount of money that they had lent to you for the purchase of your smaller home.
You will pay for Title insurance once.
When you buy your neighbors house.
I wish you all the luck. When things work out they are meant to be. It is the truth.
I have been following your story.

Another update on my little saga. I'm still waiting to hear from the bank on the title search. I took the info he needed to him last Saturday, but am wondering if he ordered the search on Monday or if he 'forgot'. Called him Thursday but he didn't have anything for me as of yet. Sighh.. He did say that the search was for any liens against the house and that it would cost $95 which would be built into my loan. Of course it will! lol!!

An odd twist to the story, tho. Had a call midweek from a lady in New York that is wanting to move back to our area. She had been interested in the house I'm getting but my offer was accepted before she could put one in. Word of mouth and emails exchanged by folks unknown put her in touch with me to see if I was going to be selling my house. She's coming to visit for two weeks and will view my house a week from today! How cool is that? After I chatted with her the other night, I emailed her some pics so she had an idea of what the house looks like now. She remembered it from her growing up years and always liked it then. I don't formally have the house listed, don't really have a price for it either cuz I'm still waiting to get my appraisal numbers back. But I have a bottom price, just not sure of the listing price. For all I know, my bottom price my be over my appraisal numbers! Time will tell...

Teresa

Another update if ya care.

I'm heading to the bank after work tomorrow to sign the papers to make this littler house my own. Pretty much all done on my own as the bank just didn't seem capable of calling me even once during this whole process. We will do the closing on Friday. So as I head into that, I also have someone coming to look at my pretty upside down home on Saturday! So everything has been crazy nuts here this week and I'm extremely stressed out with all that needs doing. I've had to back off almost all packing with the viewing on Saturday and will have to scramble after that. I plan to move over the second weekend of October. Yikes! All told, things seem to be moving in the direction I want them too, but I hope the personal cost isn't too much! lol!

Teresa

That's wonderful! Congratulations.

How is you son handling it? I wish you much luck with your move.

Jane

I appreciate you giving these updates. I thought I responded the other day (Saturday) but see I didn't.

Sounds like you won't have problems selling your house. Did the neighbors kid ever come to see your house?

Congrats on having the courage to do all of this yourself. Congrats on your new home. I hope to see the next post from you that you've managed to sell your house without an agent lol

Jane, my oldest son has come to terms with me moving, but still not happy about it. He has still to see the inside. My youngest who lives with me is ready to go!

Roselvr, I'm also hoping the lady coming on Saturday will just fall in love with my house and yard and snap it up!! Ok..I'm dreaming again! lol! Will be glad however once the viewing is done Saturday, so we can get back to the business of packing. Not to mention the 250-300 plants that are moving with me. I've been upfront with everyone about my hosta collection going with me and that I will replace what I remove with divisions or seedlings.Lot's of work but also lots of excitement. : )

Teresa

Teresa, I just moved about 1,000 potted plants, an assortment of roses, perennials & lilacs. Be sure to take what you want, my old garden is dead. Thankfully I took about 100 roses, left about 40.

Sending you some selling dust!!!!

Teresa, thanks for keeping us updated. It is so nice to get to hear the endings to posts on here, especially when they turn out as well as it seems to have for you.

Oh Teresa, I am so, so, so HAPPPPPY to know that this is going to work out for you.....and yes, we WOMEN can do things for ourselves!!!!! I hope that your present house sells quickly and the next post you make will say it is SOLD!!! Things are looking up for you.....and I know your hubby would be so proud of you~~~ Blessings. Phoggie

The closing went well on Friday afternoon! Everything signed and then they eventually convinced me that I DID have to give them my check~ lol!! They are moving on Monday and will be back Tuesday and possibly Wednesday to clean. After that, I can start shifting some things over there. As for the tumult in my present house, the flooring installer that I've been waiting on for weeks now was supposed to come this morning. My son and I moved all the appliances out of the kitchen last night and I finished moving stuff out this morning. I wait and wait. Finally I call. His lady friend said he had to leave for Virginia today (he is a OTR trucker)and was leaving at noon. Oh. She forgot to call me. Oh. If he wasn't the best installer in the area, albeit retired, I probably would have exploded. Well, I will catch up with him sooner or later. Would like to see the flooring in the kitchen before I move tho!! : )

On the upside, the lady who came to see the house Saturday morning really really likes it! She had the kind of reaction to the house and yard that I was looking for. Very much like my reaction on my first visit here before I bought it. She loved the solidness of the house and the privacy of the back yard.Since she will be going back to New York again soon, she wanted me to take some inside pics and email them to her,so she could show her husband. And she asked that if I recieved an offer that I might consider to please contact her right away because she would like to have a chance at it. Very encouraging.

Moving in 2 weeks. Way behind on everything. Thanks for the encouragement!

Teresa

Teresa,
Well, what happened?
How did your move go?
Did you sell your house?
Just soooo curious as to how everything finally went.

Gosh, thanks for asking! It seems like August,when this all began, was ages ago aleady.

I have not moved yet but have my fingers crossed for next weekend. Because of an undisclosed mold problem in the wall between the big bathroom and what's to be my bedroom, my move was held off til remediation could be done. The plumber finished up yesterday with his part of the work and the drywaller will be there on Tuesday to put my walls back together and get started painting. So I have my fingers crossed! Going back and forth between the houses, altho just across the street, has become very stressful.

On the bright side, I did indeed sell this house very quickly and feel quite fortunate to have done so. I retained a lawyer to do the paperwork and we should close the end of next week. Since the new owners will not be moving in til possibly next spring or even later, if I have to hold off on moving out for even one more week, then they will accomodate me. They are very nice people and I'm glad they will be my neighbors!

Again, I was very fortunate that things worked out the way they did. Oldest son is still not very happy but slowly coming to terms. As I move more and more of my things in there, it starts looking more like 'me' than a strangers house. It's all coming together albeit, slowly.

Thanks for asking!

Teresa

Found this by accident but enjoyed the story,,,
Teresa was very capable at solving problems and gaining information during her saga...
just wondered how living in her new house was going and if the move did give her some financial security as she envisoned???