We met with the Realtor on Saturday, and we’re going out to look at houses tomorrow. The realtor will be stopping by Brian’s house on Sunday to let us know what we need to do to get it ready, and my house on Monday evening. We’re hoping to put Brian’s house on the market at the end of September, and mine no later than the end of October. Luckily, a house down the street from Brian sold in 6 days, with the average for his neighborhood being a little over 30 days. I haven’t seen the numbers for my neighborhood, but I’m not as optimistic. I can count about 14 “for sale” signs as I drive to my parking spot (luckily, prospective buyers won’t normally drive that route, and they’ll only see about 4). Still, 14+ in a neighborhood with 70 houses total is not a good sign.

I’ve sent in the money to the contractor to have him replace my fence, and as soon as that’s done, I’ll be doing “something” with the backyard - what I don’t know, but all the crap that was in the backyard (except the trees) is gone. I *might* plant grass and just leave a walkway with the stone I have, or I may line the fence with pretty flowers and plant grass elsewhere. I also had a lot of junk hauled out of the house by the “College Hunks hauling Junk” guys, as well as what I took to the trash last night. Mark’s completely moved out, and basically anything he left is mine or trash, so I’ve been getting rid of a lot of stuff that’s not necessary.

I’ve also started packing some of the stuff that I probably won’t need in the next 3-4 months (like my surplus of mason jars), and putting it down in the basement. I bought a lot of boxes from u-haul last night, and my books are going to start getting boxed up. I had a passing thought about selling them or donating them, but I have quite the attachment to them, and Brian said that I could keep them However, they don’t need to be out, and can be packed. I’m wondering if I should leave a few on the shelves though so that they don’t look empty when buyers come to look at the house. (I could literally pack 5-6 boxes and still have plenty on the shelves to look “full”. Good labeling will be very important on this move just in case I need to get to anything while it’s stored in the basement.

We got our first listing of potential houses last night, and there are a lot that look nice, and within our price range. Quite a few are “owned by bank” or “as-is”, which could be good or bad - I’d like to talk to the Realtor about the pros and cons of buying such a house (since we can still put an inspection contingency in the contract).

It’s a bit overwhelming, but I’d much rather have the new house and gotten rid of the old houses by the wedding. Then we can go “home” to our house, rather than still be in limbo between houses. Also, the wedding planning is a bit on the slow side at the moment, so I’ve got the time to work on the the house and do homework