When Your Cash Cow is Really a Piggy Bank

We finally closed on our house this week.  We sold our rental house.  It was actually the first house we bought.  It was one of the most drawn out, messed up closings ever...says my realtor of 35 years experience.  Ugh.  We are so thankful it's over.  I can't even begin to express how grateful we are to not have to pour money into a second mortgage.  That was awful and stressful...and not very profitable.  I realize we are rookies at the house selling part of this equation, but we were disappointed to not walk away with more money.  Here's what we learned.

1. When you have an FHA loan, you may not put any money down, but they take that loan guarantee fee out when you sell the house.  Ouch.  We might have been told that when we purchased the house 9 years ago, but we didn't remember that and that pretty much sucked to give the government a huge chunk of our profit.

2. If you have things that need to be repaired or replaced (like a roof), then just do it.  Ideally, do it while you still live there, so you can enjoy it.  There was a slew of things that happened when we were trying to complete the roof on a deadline--like a week long rainstorm like we never have in our sunny region.

3. It's okay to ask questions.  I'm sure I drove my realtor and her team crazy, but they never showed it and always answered my questions promptly.  They are the experts and that's what they are there for.  

4. Prioritize.  We did walk away with a little money, just not near what we expected.  It's still a big chunk out of our debt snowball, but not the chunk we wanted.  We're starting with the small stuff and paying it off and then working our way to the bigger.  Now more than ever, we are communicating about where this money will go.  

We are on the same team, my hubby and I.  We deal with disappointment and victories together. That's part of why we have been married for 17 years, and why we'll be married for another 17 and then another 17.  That makes it sound like we're perfect and always communicate well.  I wouldn't be telling the truth if you thought that.  Sometimes we have to process for a bit and then come back together.  We have to be honest that we are hurt or disappointed or maybe even blame one another for sucky circumstances.  But then we forgive and move on because we are on the same team--even when the cash cow turns out to be a little piggy bank.

Make it a beautiful day, friends.

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