July 20, 2013

We need a new roof.  What has that got to do with the Grand Adventure.  Well, the question is do we put on a new roof before we leave or negotiate the price on the sale of the house?  A call to our Real Estate Agent was needed and by the way how is the housing market in Barrie?  Farida Jones has been our real estate agent for the past 15 years.  She found the perfect houses for us each time we decided to move and has given us great advice when buying and selling the three houses we have lived in.  Need a real estate agent in Barrie call Farida Jones (Royal LePage).

Back to the Grand Adventure – o.k. Farida if we decided to sell now instead of February 2014 what are the chances of selling and what do you think we can get for the house?

Farida as usual did her homework and on Saturday July 20, 2013 came around with all the listings that are similar to ours and what they were offered at and sold at.  We discussed what she would price ours at, if we decided to sell now. After our discussions we needed time to digest the information and to look at the consequences of us leaving earlier.  We talked it over, slept on it overnight and after breakfast on Sunday called Farida and put the house on the market.  The For Sale sign went up on Monday and then Farida told us what to do – she knows exactly how to “stage” a house but still making it looked lived in.  We had to declutter the kitchen.

Ralf went on a Kijiji selling binge – putting everything we are not keeping on Kijiji (a website for selling unwanted items).

Last week was a whirlwind of getting the house decluttered, selling stuff, getting ready for viewings and still going to work.

I called my family on Sunday July 21, 2013 and told them about the change of plans they were all really excited for me.

What a week.

We do have the proviso that if the house does not sell by the end of September we will take it off the market and go back to the original plan of February 2014.