It's now late September, 2019. We spent a lot of time at home this summer working on the house, and we made some big advancements. But, it still isn't finished and we are facing down another winter. We did some research, got some expert opinions, and decided to list the house with a realtor as-is at quite a lower price than we were hoping. The fact is that the market in this area for houses over $200,000 is very small - two per year sold over the past four or five years. Plus, no matter how much we've spent or how nice the things we did are, it's still an unfinished house and that cuts our market down even further.
When making our decision, the main question that came up over and over again was "How much is it worth to us to be able to start living the life we want to live right now?" If the answer was "not that much," then it was worth it to stay and finish the house and try to get a higher price. But that wasn't our answer. We're in our mid-50s, with hopefully a lot of years of good health left to enjoy, but of course we just don't know. I've had some vision problems lately - I lost some of the vision in my left eye and doctors really don't know why. Will it get worse? Will I eventually go blind in that eye, or even both eyes? I really hope not, but I have to face the fact that it's a possibility. And of course either one of us could face any number of health issues at any moment. Anyone can. But there was also our mental health at stake. We spent six months living in Weepy last winter and got along great. As soon as we came home this spring the tensions rose and we found ourselves sniping at each other more than we ever had. The stress of the house is something we both want to be rid of. It affects our health both mentally and physically. So, we found the answer was that it was worth a lot to be able to move on with our lives and leave the house and property behind.
So we are home right now, cleaning up for an Open House this Sunday. We won't be here; I'll mow the lawn between rainstorms this week and we'll head out, leaving it in the realtor's hands. There's a good chance of course that the house won't sell this fall, but at least someone will be looking after it and showing it to potential buyers. We've done all we can do and it's time to move on.