FOR SALE....

That is what the sign reads in the front yard. The last time I saw a sight like that was when Tony and I bought it....15 years ago....
What an emotional roller coaster of a week. We got pre-approved for a mortgage, on the contingency of us selling our house...YAY right? Well, first off, it wasn't a huge amount. Tony and I were so excited that we were gonna put our house on the market, put a bid on the house we fell in love with. The one that needed a lot of TLC, the one that would be the perfect size for our family...only to find the bank putting a new roof on it! Well there goes the idea of low-bidding it because of the roof. There goes the 203k renovation program that we had along with our pre-approval. Now the bank is definitely not going to look at our low offer...there goes the chance of fixing up "THE" ultimate family home for us. It would have been big enough with over 2500 sq. ft., not including the basement, where there would have been more than enough room for Tony to set up his sign shop. It would have still been close enough for us to send the kids to their school and our church. I have written letters to the bank telling asking them to give a family that has struggled, a chance at happiness. I plan on giving it to them when we TRY to make the offer on Monday. At that point, our house now, will have been on the market for a few days and it will give them the idea that we mean business on selling our house FOR that one.
Oh...as I mentioned...yes, our house has a for sale sign in front of it. It's not finished, by all means, but we HAD to put it on in order to show the bank that owns the other house that we really, really want the other house.
I feel sick to my stomach about this whole thing. We are working our butts off fixing things and fixing up the house quickly...with money we really don't have (hello...Christmas is a month away), in hopes of this one house. We don't really even have a fighting chance...see, we got pre approved for $145,000-ish, the bank bought it for $150,000 but have it on the market for $195,000....UGH...its a big mess...if we just had $160,000 or more to offer...As it is, we are not making anything on the sale of our house. With a mortgage, second mortgage and line of credit (from all the hospital bills), we will be breaking even on our house...
I am just scared that if the house that we want falls through, and our house sells, WHAT THEN? Where will we go? We are leaving our comfort zone here.
Everything that Tony and I have experienced in our married life together happened here. Our first Christmas, our dad's building the deck together, the births of all our kids...bringing them home from the hospital...everything. Its on the market and we don't have anywhere to go...for $145,000...there isn't too much out there that is big enough for a family of 9...sure, there are plenty 3 bedroom homes...which wont fit our family...that's what we are trying to get out of.
Could you all please say a prayer for us that we ARE doing the RIGHT thing. We are scared but want the best for our family, and living scrunched up in a small house isn't going to make it. I now that things will fall into place, but for us...it hasn't always been. We have been in need of a break for a long, long time...still waiting...Please pray that somehow, someway things will work out for the best for us...