But I have some real news this time, about what happened last Friday regarding my mom's house--the ongoing story this summer.
On Friday morning, we drove down there, and I dropped off my wife at the house--I had to cover a football scrimmage nearby. That went from 9 a.m. to about noon. But I had other things on my mind while getting my pictures and interviews. I had an appointment that afternoon.
I got back to the house about 12:15 p.m., and a few minutes later we heard knocking at the back door. It was the neighbor, her son and daughter-in-law, and they had come to look over the house.
Thus commenced a tour of the place. I showed him the attic, the basement and everything in between, including the garage, which I hadn't been in for over a year.
I told them that if they are interested in some of the furnishings, I would include them with the house, which is being sold as is. That includes my mom's organ, my dad's old riding mower, the kitchen stove, the fridge and the pool table in the basement. Items that I had no idea what to do with.
I also showed him the latest tax bill, which indicates the estimated market value (it was reassessed last year), and I told him that's my price. They said that's very reasonable, and they would be starting the process of getting a VA loan on Monday. He is an Iraq War veteran. Nice fellow. About 40 or so.
So now we are nearly finished with cleaning out the house and at the very start of the process of actually selling the thing. Much remains to be done. There will be an appraiser, a title search, and other things like that. But it appears to be a matter of time and jumping through all the hoops. The couple seems very eager to move in as soon as they can.
To explain the situation: The neighbor has two grandchildren living with her, children of a daughter who died about a year ago. This couple is the kids' aunt and uncle (the neighbor's son), and all of them want to live near each other. Right now, the couple lives a few miles away. They work in the Iron Mountain-Kingsford area, which is just on the other side of the river--the house is on the Wisconsin side, along a county road in a rural-forested area.
The neighbor called me late last year, asking what I planned to do about the house. At that point, no plans had been made. She told me about their family situation and how much they would like to live next to each other.
She and my mom had been good friends while she lived there. Just after her fall in September 2005, she had tried to help my mom at home. After my mom went to the hospital (and from there the nursing home), she has visited and then asked about her when she saw me/us at the house.
In March, I bumped into them (the neighbor and her DIL) at a store in Iron Mountain, and they repeated their interest. After that, I told my mom about it.
A year earlier, I had tried to talk to my mom about selling the house, once it became evident that she would not be able to live by herself again. But when I brought up the subject she would get too emotional and start crying. This time I told her about all the house expenses that I have to pay myself (heating, electricity, insurance, taxes), how it's sitting empty, and how the neighbor's son is interested in buying it. That is when she started thinking it might be a good idea.
So we (my wife and I) started working on the house in late May, and we've been going pretty steadily at it ever since. There's nobody else to help--my late brother was my mom's only other child.
But now we're at the point where we have gone through almost everything we needed to. We have some things that will be going to others according to my mom's wishes (to a close friend and members of her family), and more things to take to St. Vinnie's or Goodwill.
In early July, the living room had been jammed with boxes of stuff. Now there are just a couple boxes left and just a few things that haven't been packed away. We are getting close to the end. Just as summer is getting close to the end.
That brings us to last Friday, and I told you about that already. So we are both finally feeling hopeful, that we are starting to see that light at the end of a long, long tunnel. I can't begin to tell you how much relief I will feel (and how much stress will be lifted from my shoulders) once the deed is done.
We'll have to do something special to mark the occasion. Exactly what, I don't know yet. There's still time to figure out something suitable.
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