We went under contract with a builder to build our Michigan house I think around June of 2008.
We were fortunate in that we paid near the low of where new home prices went after the whole housing crash thing, but I realized fairly soon after we moved in (Thanksgiving of '08) that there was a pretty strong possibility that we were going to be selling at a loss as there were an awful lot of short sale and foreclosures happening in our general area.
So we prepared.
I did my thing and made improvements to the home on the cheap and we worked the budget and plowed through a significant portion of our mortgage...I think we would have paid it off completely had we been there another year.
In the end, our preparation took the anxiety out of the situation.
We were under contract two weeks after listing and for a price that left us with some very workable equity.
Our buyers worked with us on the closing date so we didn't have to move out until we were ready to leave the state.
There were some little drama things that did happen {the closing didn't actually happen until two days after we were planning/after we were out of state, messing with utility shutoffs, worry about sump pump failures/floods, etc}, but what real estate deal ever goes down without a little drama?
We were saved by some really great friends {Hi Quinns! and Sylvesters!} and everything worked out.
One of the most wonderful things ever is that I didn't have to pack, we had movers.
They came and boxed up everything one day, loaded a truck the next.
They are keeping everything in a climate controlled storage area until we are ready for it, and then they'll come and unpack for us.
Huge stress reliever for me.
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