I just want to get this over with...

I just had a couple of days off from work and set up a meeting with a real estate agent.  Mo had done his research, had a good list of comps and if I can sell for the price he is suggesting, I will walk away with about $30K above what I put down initially and the cost of my improvements.  That’s certainly not what I had in mind when I bought the house, but in this market it’s not bad.  I would be happy with half of that; it’s just time to move on – start the chapter of my life before my move abroad.  Sure, I would like my profit to be more but as I have mentioned before, I hope to make up some of what I will not make on the sale of the house by buying on the cheap for a condo.

I will miss my house… not because the house itself is so wonderful, but it is full of memories of Andrea.  May 19 will mark one year since Andrea passed away.  This is not a day I am looking forward to.  I am thinking of going to Key West for a few days around that time both to see friends and to place some of her ashes at Duval Gardens, the B&B we owned there.  I think she would be happy knowing that part of her will remain there.

I need to make a list of repairs so that I can do this in an orderly fashion.  Fortunately, most of the repairs will be relatively inexpensive.  I have made good progress on going through boxes of records so I can get rid of that mountain of paper, as well as deciding what trinkets, kitchen  supplies, books, etc., etc. that I can get rid of in a series of garage sales.  I’ve never done this before, so I am unsure how to price things.  I am going online to get prices of items as they would be if new, and then comparing that to what I think I might pay for it used.  This is not an exact science, but it is capitalism at its most basic level – an item is worth what someone is willing to pay.

I’m thinking of selling the china on eBay; I seriously doubt I would get a decent price via garage sale for high end Noritake.  I also have several dozen Lladro, Herend and Nao china collectibles.  Some of the Herends have been passed down within Andrea’s family so I will likely give those to my sister-in-law.  Since all of these items together don’t take up that much space, I will just pack them up when the time comes and sell them over time.  We also inherited quite a few paintings from my in-laws so I will have to talk to them to get an idea of what they feel comfortable with.  Many of them are very nice, but not what I would have picked out for myself, so this will have to be handled very diplomatically.  Good times.

I also need to get rid of a lot of furniture.  None of what I own is expensive, so I will just try to get rid of it as best I can and pare down to what I need for a two bedroom condo.  I just want to get through these next few months so I can get on with my search for a retirement spot.