<p>CountingDown,</p>
<p>Because of the crazy way we do things in my state (MA), we can move literally 1 mile and get the same size house for 1/2 of what mine is worth, with taxes that are 1/3 of what we are paying (this is significant, my taxes are approaching $12K/year).</p>
<p>So we don’t have to move out of the area to reap the savings.</p>
<p>Fauxnom…how hard do you think it will be to sell your house?</p>
<p>Novelisto,</p>
<p>Thanks for that tip about OXY. The bathroom I need to do is small enough that I could probably do it in a day!</p>
<p>You are all scaring me! Not ready to sell just now, and hoping to put it off after reading all of your posts! Half the battle will be convincing my husband that most of this stuff even has to be done.</p>
<p>I understand the husband issues, mafool. Mine doesn’t understand why we can’t just put up a “For Sale” sign and wait for the offers to roll in.</p>
<p>Every month a group of friends and I get together for breakfast. This morning, one of us came in in tears – she’s divorced, has sold her house (closing in two weeks), but is in the middle of moving, packing, taking down pictures, etc., and to top it off she’s got some sort of flu-ey bug and has wrenched her shoulder. Her ex-husband is abusive and keeps harrassing her about when he’s getting his money from the house. Very nasty. So she just broke down in tears.</p>
<p>We’re all going over to her house tomorrow afternoon – with several husbands in tow – to help her pack, cheer her up, and just generally make her feel better. She really needs the support – not just to help her get through all the things she has to do, but emotionally as well. I hope someone helps us out when it’s time!</p>
<p>novelisto - thanks for the advice, and the grout tip (which I will use!) Fortunately, I planted a couple hundred tulips and daffodil bulbs last fall, before I knew we were moving. So if we time it right, the garden could look great. However, we also planted a brand new lawn after decommissioning our in-ground swimming pool, so it’s not looking terribly lush right now - needs more time (and sun).</p>
<p>dstark - Our house is big and a perfect layout for a family, and has a unique park-like feel that is rare for a house in the city. I’ve been renovating it for 13 years so it has many nice features, and should look pretty good once we clean it up and stage it. That said, it could be hell to sell! It’s one of the nicer houses in a kind of middling neighborhood, so it might be hard to even get people to look at it. </p>
<p>We just can’t be greedy about price, when it comes down to it. The reason we moved was to downsize while also taking advantage of the terrible market - that allowed us to move into a much fancier neighborhood and a charming house. We could not have afforded it a few years ago. But that means we can’t expect to get what we really think our house is worth, right? I mean we all secretly believe our house is worth what it was at the peak, and it might be hard to shake ourselves out of that mindset.</p>
<p>Pricing the house is going to be interesting. I had 3 realtors give estimates last spring, and the spread was $100k from high to low! Nobody knows what anything will sell for.</p>
<p>veryhappy - awesome gesture! Still in the middle of packing and all the decisions that entails, and I really feel for your friend doing that alone.</p>
<p>FauxNom…you have a good perspective…you’re going to be fine…</p>
<p>I am also getting potential sales prices 100,000 apart. I don’t think anyone knows right now.</p>
<p>I am willing to accept the lower price…I hope that price is accurate enough so the house at a minimum sells at that lower price.</p>
<p>And our house is going through a lot of work right now…so it is hard to see what the finished product looks like. </p>
<p>A good friend just walked through the mess of our house this morning and my wife and I told her what we are going to do to update our house.</p>
<p>She said we are going to have a fantastic house…I hope she wasn’t just being polite. :)</p>
<p>I am glad to read your move has worked out…</p>
<p>Very Happy – Yeah, my dh wasn’t too thrilled with the ‘fix-it’ list but it sure worked out! People get settled, that’s all. They don’t see the flaws anymore because they’ve been overlooking them for so long. Fortunately, that applies to their wives as well!</p>
<p>Besides, you’re dealing with Newton’s 1st Law…a body at rest tends to stay at rest!</p>
<p>When we were looking for our first house 13 years ago, what stunned DH was the staging. Said he could never live like that while the house is on the market.</p>
<p>Fast forward: last week, he said the only way he’s moving out of this house is when they carry him out in a box. Guess I should try to take this point and use it to my advantage re: renovations! :D</p>
<p>We sold our house last summer, moved overseas. We took stuff that were dear to us, and put rest of it in storage. I can honestly tell you that I don’t remember what we put in the storage. At our new place now, we are very light and clean. I was so apprehensive about moving, but I almost feel like it’s a new beginning now, like when H and I first graduated from college.</p>
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<p>It worked for me. When I told husband I wanted to move because our current floor plan was never going to work for me, he responded that he never wanted to move again, ever. It took me about 18 months of complaining but we just completed our master bedroom and bath renovation (added lots of new, wonderful space) and will do the laundry room and family room next year. When he realized I was serious and was never going to stop complaining about it 
he found a general contractor and we started renovating. I think it was a win-win situation. He gets to stay in the house, forever and I got the features I needed to be happy here, forever.</p>
<p>^^ What a great solution!!!</p>
<p>FauxNom – The bulbs will be beautiful…I just got around to planting my first ones down here…iris and daffs. If the squirrels don’t get them all, it should be pretty. I know the little devils were watching me!</p>
<p>Why did you get rid of the pool? Not a selling feature where you are? Most people either love 'em or hate 'em.</p>
<p>My DH says our next move will be to ‘the plot’. G.</p>
<p>The pool was the same age as the house - 1957 - and was starting to need some major $ to keep it running after it developed a mystery leak that we couldn’t locate on our own. The kids loved it when they were younger, so it was a huge plus for us. But many people around here think a pool is crazy, and many have this notion that a pool is a huge pain to maintain. The realtors who came through last year said a pool can be a great thing for the right buyer, but there are plenty of buyers who won’t even look at the house if it has one. They really couldn’t advise us whether to keep it or not, but did say it wasn’t worth putting lots of money into. </p>
<p>Counting down, maybe you could get an extra large “box” and move your DH along with everything else 
Oops, honey, I misunderstood…</p>
<p>Oldfort - you’re doing what my H really wants to do: live in an apartment in an exotic foreign city. But we’re compromising with an urban house that’s half the size of our old place. It feels tiny, but I know I’ll be a better person when I learn to live with less stuff.</p>
<p>fauxnom…did you tear the pool out?</p>
<p>Fauxnom, that is my laugh for the day – thanks!!</p>
<p>Just starting to read this very long thread. Congrats, VH!</p>
<p>Yes, we hired a company to destroy the pool walls and floor, then threw all that debris into the giant hole, along with many loads of gravel, then 3 truck loads of top soil. We probably have the flattest yard in Seattle now. And we put in a modest sized patio of stamped concrete - it’s supposed to look kind of like slate, but it’s not quite finished thanks to a flakey contractor.</p>
<p>I think I have it now…I need to say “I insist we move to a smaller house NOW…we need to get rid of all this JUNK ASAP.”…DH will say “WHAAATTT??? What junk? We do not need to move.”</p>
<p>So then I say…“OK…I’m willing to compromise…let’s get new kitchen counters!!”</p>
<p>Do I have it right???</p>
<p>If my house doesn’t sell…I would like to do somrthing similar to what you are doing Fauxnom. I haven’t priced it yet…i’m in the SF Bay Area and I am hearing second hand that it will cost me 30,000 to rip my pool out…</p>
<p>How much did it cost you, Fauxnom?</p>