Home for Sale

I'm hoping and guessing that most of our readers have heard by now that we are moving to South Carolina this coming fall. It has been a journey of prayer, seeking counsel and hearing from the Lord in reaching this decision.

Daily, things are being added to our "to-do" list, making it longer and longer, as we think through all the details that have be accomplished before making such a move. When we moved to Slovenia, we were just newly married, the only pieces of furniture we had were just two small tables, one from my dear Grandmother and another from her sister, Barbara. We had just 18 boxes, all various sizes that contained our belongings, after packing them, we shipped them on a single crate here to Slovenia.

After 6 years, our list of belongings has increased...just a bit! We no longer can fit everything into 18 boxes! We're in the process now of thinking through what we can begin packing up now, what to keep, what to sell and/or just give away.

Our largest "belonging" is our home and sadly, we cannot bring it with us. : )

Last week Joel met with the real estate company that we bought the house from. He received a phone call from them just 15 minutes after he'd left saying that she had someone who wanted to see the house. She has a list of clients that she's keeping her eye out for something for them and called this potential buyer who then wanted to see the house in 15 minutes.

They all arrived before Joel did so I let them in and trusted that Joel had given them all the information they would need to answer any of the potential buyer's questions. As they walked through the man seemed pleased as the real estate agents pointed out all the "perks" of our home.

Joel came home while they were taking their tour and took over in guiding them through the house. After they all left, Joel told me the man is very interested, was impressed with all the space in the house and is going to tell his brothers about it. "His brothers?" I asked. It turns out their family is from Kosovo and they're looking for a house that the four brothers, their wives and 4 or so children could live in.

Oh... I was disappointed. "This is a home..." I said, "not a dormitory." We've put so much heart and soul into this house to make it a "home" that I was not at all interested in selling it to some family that would pack the place out.

At the same time...we're living in this current economy, where houses are not really selling and we're really needing to sell our home...at a good price to (hopefully) make some money for whatever the Lord might have for us when we make our move this fall.

Joel said..."we've really made this into a nice house...and people in Kosovo have such hard lives...can you imagine how much those wives are going to love your kitchen...and what a blessing this house will be to their families?"

The man has come by almost every day since, looking at the outside of the house, often times bringing a different brother with him. Sometimes they just have coffee at the cafes across the street and look at the house from where they sit.

We can tell they really want this house and I'm finding myself sort-of rooting for them as they feel like 'the underdog' at this point. The real estate agent gave them a really high price for the house, and if they are not able to get the money, will list it for the public at a much lower price. They're meeting with a loan officer this afternoon to see if they can get enough money to buy the house.

It's a much different scenario than I had imagined happening. In today's market, it would sure be a modern-day miracle if our house sells to the first person interested!