Buyers

Incidentally, while David was in the fore-mentioned flour/sugar/oat mess I was trying to clean the house to my standard of showing it. Which is absolutely sparkling clean. My part in trying to sell the house was to present a home in a "nice hotel clean" state--where someone could walk in and imagine moving right in without having to do a thing. (As I've toured other homes for sale, I am seeing that my approach was more unique than I would have thought.)

So because of the extra mess in the kitchen, I was running a little behind schedule this particular day. The 1:00 appointment showed up at 12:40. I was nearly done--just had to empty and load the dishwasher, then close a few upstairs windows from airing out the rooms. I asked them for 5 minutes--which I thought was fair, since they were so early. The realtor returned immediately and just let herself in with her clients, without honoring my request for 5 minutes. I felt totally invaded, thinking, "Wait! This is my home! You can come in only when I invite you in! It's on the market, I know--but it's still my home!" I didn't say anything, I just tried to keep David from offering his lecture about shoes on the new carpet while I was putting dirty dishes in with the clean dishes into the dishwasher--just to get them out of sight. I shined the sink, asked David to get his boots and coat on, and ran upstairs to close the windows. 

At the top of the stairs, the realtor met me. "Do you need something?" I wanted to say, "Yes, this is my home, and I can go anywhere I want without your permission." But instead I said, "I have more showings right after you (which was true) so I need to close the windows before I leave the house for that long of a time." The realtor let me through, I took care of the windows, and then we left for a couple of hours.

Turns out it was a good thing those people let themselves in--even if I wasn't quite ready. 

That was the family who made an offer on our home.

(Was it helpful for them to know that others were looking? Maybe so--their offer came in almost immediately after they saw the home.)

So we're in contract.

It has been crazy fast, and we're supposed to close in 11 days.

We're packing and doing the required repairs from the inspection, and trying to look for another place to buy. We'll rent and house sit until the end of July--so we have some time. Let the games begin!