To say the least.

When we moved over to Crystal Springs Wilderness Lodges & RV Resort on May 12th, a few weeks before our house went on the market, we figured it would be the easy way to transition into full-time life.

Being the seller, we were responsible for:

• Getting the well tested ($450) (it passed with no issues)
• Obtaining a “Letter of No Interest” ($50) from the Township Building Department since the town does not issue a Certificate of Occupancy
• Pass local Fire Department Smoke Detector/CO Detector and Fire Extinguisher inspection ($200)

The biggest item (and most expensive)  was getting the new septic system installed. What a bureaucratic nightmare that was. Our first design ($2,000) was flat-out denied by the county. Granted it is a very complex system since we were connecting three cess pools at three different locations and elevations into one field. Our engineer redesigned the system (for an additional $300), and received the approval to proceed. Construction took three weeks and we received our Certificate of Compliance on August 28th. (Total cost just over 30k)

 

 

 

During the construction, we gave away furniture and other items to family, had an estate sale which sold a good majority of what was left, and then called in 1-800 Junk to remove all that was remaining.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ok,  house is now empty. All is done – let’s close and transfer the $$$$$ right? Uh, not so fast.

When the house “officially”  went on the market in the beginning of June, the traffic started out very slow. It took a couple of weeks before our Realtor got the marketing in place. Our first two  offers came in right after July 4th,  Both were very low at about 40k under asking. We countered to both and one of the potential buyers rejected our counteroffer. The other potential buyer came back 15k higher, saying that was the best they could do. Still 25K under asking.

After a day or so of number crunching, we accepted the offer. It wasn’t the amount we were looking for and it would mean we hit the road without an emergency fund, but we would be breaking even and debt free. We figured we would be able to put enough away for an emergency fund after a few months on the road.

So we enter Attorney review, and we receive another offer, this time it’s full price. We quickly rejected the first offer, cancelled attorney review, and accepted the new full price offer. We went into a second attorney review, all is ok, and finally we were “Under Contract”, closing to be on or around August 30th. Two days after we were under contact we were told that our buyer’s buyer’s buyer (this is not a typo) was upset because the flood insurance cost he was quoted was higher than he ws told it would be and was looking for a give back. That deal crashed and burned, and you all know what “rolls downhill”.

Our Realtor quickly contacted the first buyer to see if they were still interested. They were, and this time submitted a full price offer, with the only requirements being (1) that the house be taken off the market and not shown, and (2) the pool be maintained until closing, which was still to be August 30th (ish). They ordered their home inspection and their report only identified two items. An outlet in the shop that had reverse polarity, and a two-inch section of the garage door frame that was rotted out. They notified us that they had no problems and would take care of the two items after the closing.

They buyers paid all of their deposits on time, but strangely never scheduled the appraisal. Our Realtor kept asking when it was to be scheduled, along with our attorney, but neither received a response from their attorney, other than they had 30 days from the contract date  (August 3rd) to get their mortgage commitment.

Today is September 3rd, thirty days from the contract date. Since it is a Sunday, they have until tomorrow to provide their mortgage commitment. However, since tomorrow is Labor Day, they legally have until Tuesday to provide it.

Well, this past Friday, we had a conference call with our Attorney and Realtor to discuss “the upcoming mortgage commitment date and our options of moving forward”. Not good. We were told that the bad news is the buyer will not be able to secure their mortgage, and on Tuesday the deal will crash and burn. The good news, we were told, is the second potential buyer is still interested. Their deal has moved forward and everything is in place for them to close on September 23rd. They will resubmit a full price offer, immediately order the appraisal, and waive the home inspection requirement. they would also be ready to close soon after their September 23rd closing.

So on Tuesday, we will cancel contract #2 with buyer #1, and enter into contract #3 with buyer #2. I did say it was a roller coaster ride!

So, where do we go from here?

Well, since we have been living in the motorhome full time since May 12th, technically we met our goal to become full timers by September 1st. We still plan on hitting the road this Friday and head to South Dakota to change our residency at the mail-forwarding facility. Before we leave we will have signed all of the necessary closing documents as well as provided our attorney with the wiring instructions for our bank.

So it’s on the road we go!

This is the first leg of our adventure  and will be posting almost daily.  We have stops planned in Pennsylvania, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, and South Dakota. And then we’ll head south for a couple of months, before heading back east to attend a wedding in December.

The adventure has just begun.

Stay tuned!