Slight change in plan....

Yesterday, we wiped the stardust from our eyes and took a more critical look at the house we'd talked ourselves into loving so much. We agreed that there were some considerable drawbacks but more importantly, after talking with our realtor, agreed that we would be in a better position to sell our place first then buy.

There are LOTS of places on the market that meet our basic criteria (size/price/location); we've got a mortgage pre-approval that is good through November and even though condo sales have stalled overall, townhouses (entry level family housing) are still selling quickly. Plus, selling first means we won't have to carry some very heavy interim financing charges.

So, now we kick into HIGH gear to get our place ready. That includes letting a professional stager come in and give us a plan for action, though really I'm pretty sure we already know what we need to do -- basically de-personalize the heck out of the place.

The really interesting thing is that another townhouse in our complex, two doors down, just listed. It's one less bedroom, one less level, and about 100 square feet smaller. It's been completely renovated -- much more so than the renos we've done -- and they are asking about $50K more than we were guessing we'd get for ours.