Home frustrations

We've been feeling frustrated lately with the sale of our home, as this is the second time it's been up for sale in the last two years. Really, it's two years longer than I thought I would need to be here. Not trying to be unappreciative, just stating the facts.

We've officially been in our home now for over 14 years. Can you believe that? Very few people do that. Our house has been fine for us, really it has...other than my youngest has never had a room to call her own. Her belongings are spread throughout the house: she sleeps on the bottom bunk in her brother's room, her clothes are in her sister's room and her toys are in the computer room. How sad is that? She's old enough now that she's starting to notice that she doesn't have what her siblings have. It makes her sad at times and unfortunately, she just has to grin and bare it. She's been a real trooper!

The first time we put it up for sale we did the "For Sale by Owner" way of selling our home. We had 4 or 5 hits on it with one of those being that there was a potential buyer who was really interested in it. And was looking to make an offer on it. Because of a series of unfortunate events, and one thing leading to another, they had to back out on our home. Which caused us to loose the house we were interested in. Believe it or not, that house is still available after all this time. It even has lower asking price on it.

So with that said, I also must say that I truly believe things happen for a reason and when the time is right it will be to our benefit. I mean, we've always talked that we would love to take advantage of someone's foreclosure or something along those lines. Sad as it may be! But it might be the only way we can get into a bigger house. But it took about 3 or 4 months after that ordeal for us to realize that we were truly being watched over. Because that's when the economy started taking a nose-dive in this area. Our income was practically cut in half. It would have been a horrible situation for us to get into a bigger home with a bigger payment to only have the economy get more worse like it is now. Our income has been cut in half once again in the last 7 or 8 months. It's been very difficult, very stressful and we HATE it! But some how we make our bills every month. I don't know where we would be if it wasn't for my employment at the temple. Again, it's a blessing in itself.

So my new frustration with our home is that we've got it up for sale once again. But this time with a realtor. The sign has been in the yard for two months and he's not brought over one person yet to look at the house. Kerry called him about two weeks ago to find out what's been going on. He found out that the realtor hasn't bothered to list it on the MLS, nor has he done up any documents stating he's our realtor and what the commission structure is. I was furious! Kerry said that our realtor doesn't believe in listing it on the MLS. He believes in "word-of-mouth" sales. WHAT THE HECK? So we've decided that we're going to remove the sign and give it a rest for a few months. We'll probably do the "For Sale by Owner" thing when we're ready to sale it again. But it's priced right at $235,000 and I don't understand why no one is interested in it.

In the last 3 1/2 years we've either upgraded or replaced the following: new interior paint, new exterior paint, new tile and carpet, new lighting in kitchen and living room, new blinds throughout the house, new cabinet handles, replaced the door locks on 4 doors, purchase a new dishwasher, major plumbing was done in guest bathroom and replaced the garage door opener. Our lot is fully landscaped, but suffers of dandelions and weeds in the grass. I can't imagine that our grass is holding someone back from seeing our house. Seeing is truly believing! We've put so much work into our house that I hope we find someone who will truly love it. I know when the time is right, this will happen. It's just so frustrating having to wait.