Things are moving right along now. Just about everything we could pack & carry ourselves is in the storage shed. The movers are coming next Thursday to move the furniture that my wife and I can't (or don't want to) carry.
I sold my 2006 Honda Ridgeline truck to CarMax 2 days ago, so we're down to one car now. If you ever need to sell a car quickly, just take it to a CarMax! I was trying to sell my truck myself for $16,500. On a whim, I stopped by a local CarMax and they offered me $19,000 for my truck. Boy, was I surprised! Can you say, "SOLD!"
The dealer at Rivers RV has been absolutely great in helping me get a tow bar on my motor home... even though I haven't signed any papers yet. We took out our 2006 Hyundai Sonata to a mechanic to get a Remco transmission lube oil pump installed, a Roadmaster Tow Bar and an Even Brake set up. The dealer drove my soon-to-be motor home over to the mechanic's shop so he could wire the car to the coach. What great service! I've been VERY happy with Rivers RV here in Jacksonville so far :)
We're now set up and ready for towing. And it only cost $3,800.51. HA!
We have one final hurdle and that's the appraisal on my home. I called the apppraisor yesterday and while he couldn't tell me exactly what my home appraised for in our declining market, I figured out the we were $5,000 below where we needed to be so it looks like I'll have to lower my selling price about $5,000. Just waiting to hear from the buyers lender.
My wife & I are (were) both real estate agents and this "declining" market caught US with our pants down too. We paid $354K for our home in May 2006. We "invested" $88,000 worth of improvements in the home since we moved in: a $43K patio, granite tops in the kitchen , high dollar wood flooring, master bath remodel, etc. In a normal market, figure a 5% appreciation per year on a home, so we should have seen a worth of about $390K PLUS about 40% return on our "improvements." So add $35K + $390K and it would have been worth around $425K in the least under normal conditions.
But noooooo - it appraised at $360K. We have a contract for $365K and now we will just lower the selling price to $360K. Whatever. It's only freaking money. So the deal is NOT done yet - we still have to face the buyers and they COULD walk from this deal because my home didn't appraise for $365K. Crap.
We should know for sure by 6 May. We're in this too deep to back out, so we will have to do whatever the buyer wants us to do to get our home sold. We'd be totally up the creek without a paddle if the buyer backs out now! Sigh.
Ameriplan
