One HUGE step closer to our goal of fulltiming! Everything closes on March 16th and we will stick around here in AZ for a 2-4 months in order to get our rig and truck. Just need to finish up with my clients and than it is all open roads for us. It is really exciting to be getting this close. 

Oh, I still need to learn how to drive a 5th wheel!!! 

Jerry & Kim

PS The gentleman that is buying our house is also buying 90% of furniture and belongings!!! The universe is smiling down on us right now and we are smiling back :)

Thanks! We are not sure yet but it sure will be fun figuring it out :)

Huge load! Thanks!

Jerry and Kim, I know you are happy. I have been looking at your blog to keep posted on the house sale. We hope to see you on the road in a few years.

James

Congrats!  No luck here on selling.  So far, not one lookie-loo.  I have a feeling the realtors aren't in a hurry to show it because we did not stage it.  The house is neat, not crammed, fresh paint etc.  It is in the country, but close to the local AFB.  Hopefully someone will see it on the internet and ask to see it so someone has to show it.  But I don't think a realtor is mentioning it when people come looking.

We've heard of the bonus idea.  After the comments from the realtor walk-thru' we are considering that option.  A couple of realtors liked it.  Their comments were very positive.  But most have the buying public so brain washed that if the house doesn't look like a model with unrealistic furniture and accessories, that whom ever is looking can not see the house for the floor plan and if it would work for them.  The only thing they push is "Is it staged".   Yes, the house looks lived in...we're still here and it isn't a model.  Hubby is a retired organist so we do have a small, but full sized organ in the living room.  Looks pretty good since the room isn't crammed with anything else except a couple of chairs.  All but the 2 who liked the house said it had to go.  Where in the world we are going to move it is beyond me before it is sold!  The price is right where it should be and it gives us a bit of lee way for offers.

When we get our coach, we'll start moving into it, then clean out the house.  So before too long, it will be vacant except for the organ and that heavy thing stays put until it is sold or we have to finally pay to have it moved to a storage facility, which we'd rather not do.

Thanks. And I will make sure I have a big note on the windshield that says "NO DRIVE-THRU!!!"

Thanks James and Cindy. We hope to see you two in the future too!

Thanks Richard and Bonnie. Hope you two are enjoying your new fiver!

Thanks Sue.

It has been a rollercoaster of a ride for us here. We started out with one realtor, its one of those situations were I should have listened to my wife in the first place but hey I am a guy and this realtor is friend of my frineds. Big mistake! we wasted three months with him (he was not that experienced, did not like to do open houses and I would have to honestly say a little lazy). Ok, lesson learned, so we hooked up with a realtor that was the selling agent on our house when we bought and she lives in the neighberhood and has been in the game for over 18 years. She sat us down and explained EVERYTHING that we needed to know to sell the house. She had open houses all the time (which we love since that is how we bought our house), had two realtor tours and is very proactive in marketing & networking! A month and half later we had two cash offers on the table. 

Sorry for the rambling but I wanted to say that with the first realtor we tried the cash incentive for our house with $5,000 to any realtor that brought in a full price offer. That is also when we had the house priced rather high though. Nothing happened. My 2¢ to you to maybe help with your house is to think really hard about getting rid of the organ. For someone walking into that room and that is what they see (even though its nice) it is will stick in their mind and probably cloud their decision about your house. Yes, we all know that it is going to be moved when the house sells but a lot of people out there just see past things. We really stripped our house down to the bare bones (sure makes it hard to live in though). Just my 2¢ :)

Good luck with your house Sue!

Jerry and Kim,

Driving and towing a fifth wheel may be easier than you think.  Once you get your rig, find an empty shopping center or large church parking lot.  By using the marked lanes as a guide, you can get a feel for the turning.  While there, you can set out some traffic cones (or other markers) and practice backing in between them.

Until you get REALLY comfortable with managing in tight turning situations such as fuel stops, always try to use the truck lanes instead of automobile or RV lanes.

From what I've seen here in Oklahoma, Flying J (owned by Pilot) truck stops have fairly easy RV lanes to use.  The only thing I've run across here in OK is that their propane tank is close to their RV lanes.  Thus, someone may be in filling a cylinder and be in the way of an RV'er getting into an RV fuel lane.

Congrats on the house, and good luck with the truck and fifth wheel search.  Always remember, more truck than necessary is better than not enough truck.

Terry

Congrats on selling the house and contents.  It doesn't get any better than that! We just listed our house with a realtor yesterday and hope we have your kind of luck.  The realtor we chose is pretty internet savvy and we're already seeing our house come up on a Google search.  Fingers are crossed for some offers!

KnJ wrote:

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And good luck to you Ron & Joan (sounds like you have a pretty good person working for you!)

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 We think so!  The realty office just called and we have our first showing this afternoon!

Congrats Jerry!  Such a great feeling to get that big obstacle out of the way.

Sue, We lived in our old 30 ft 5er after getting rid of almost everything in the house.  Left a couple of chairs and the TV in the living room, the bed and dresser in the bedroom and a bed in each of the other bedrooms.  Small table and chairs in the dining and practically nothing in the kitchen.  Nothing in the closets.  I think it really helped that it looked already moved out of.  We just kept the 5er in the driveway and stayed in it while it was showing.  We were very lucky and sold in a week.  We had an excellent realtor that did her homework and we had it priced just right with comparables.   Good Luck.  We'll all be happy to hear when you sell, so let us know when you get the good news!

Seems like we can't do anything until something else happens.  Finally, things are starting to happen.  

We cleaned out the 5ver and had to store boxes of stuff in the 2 garages.  So that doesn't look good, but there isn't any other place to put it.  The new motorhome was delivered last night so now we can start figuring out where to put stuff.  That should help eliminate some boxes.

With the trade in of truck and 5ver, that eliminated any way to get things to a storage shed, so last Friday we traded in the car that wouldn't tow for a 2011 GMC Canyon, crew cab.  Bob ordered a hitch receiver and when it comes in he'll put it on the little truck.  Then we can start removing stuff from the house and use the truck and utility trailer we have.  That should help the house.

And finally the realtors are starting to show the house.  Just as the RV was delivered a realtor showed up with some folks to see the house.  And we have another showing Wednesday.  Eventually this rat race will settle down, but right now we seem to be going every direction at once.

That is too bad but sometimes that happens.  We had on guy who was really hot on the house.  He really wanted the workshop.  He said he needed to talk to his wife.  Guess she nixed the idea of living on the prairie.  Darn.  Oh well, at least the "take one fliers" are being taken.  The realtor had to replentish the supply yesterday.

KnJ wrote:

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Two lessons learned here:
1. This is strictly a business transaction only.
2. Do not get excited until the COE and the check clears the bank.

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 I was in sales most of my life and lost countless sales that I thought were definitely in the bag.  I came to realize that I never really lost anything when that happened because in reality I never really had the sale to begin with!  It sucks to get your hopes though and I can sure relate!  We held our breath all the way to closing and really didn't relax until we had the check in our hands. Hope you find another buyer soon!

Just when you think things can't get any worse!  What a horrible event.  Let us know your outcome and thanks for the heads up.

So far no lookers as of the past 4 weeks, but the last week we saw the internet activity pick up.  So...here's hoping someone might want to come look at it.  Our realtor says activity is picking up in town...now doesn't someone need horse property???

Congrats, good news for you!!  We just closed last week and are now scrambling to get a motorhome bought.  Seems to be a buyers market which is good.  Traded in 3 vehicles today for one new toad, Colorado 4X4, so we are hoping to be on the road early June. It is a new chapter. Wifes Corvette was one of the traded vehicles so she is sad but also looking forward to a new adventure. Brad. 

Tom & Marci- Yes we actually meet our buyer and maybe that became the problem for us. You see I am a little to honest and like to share. So, he had actually came over a couple of times to look at the house and all the stuff and each time he and I spent over a good hour talking and me showing hime things. I shared way too much information and I think he got spooked. Plus, he was originally going to be a cash buyer and tried to switch but our realtor said we had another cash offer on the table (which we did) so he decided to stay as a cash buyer. We think that also spooked him (having all his cash tied up in the house). Sorry to hear about your scam. Relators are different breed of people! Hope you have better luck with your new person!

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