Thoughts From A Government Statistic

As we prepare to leave the St. Louis area, one of the main transition items is selling the house we have owned for almost 10 years. We purchased this home at a very good price because it was a work in progress. The previous owners had done some updates and remodeling, but there was a lot of work to be done. In the ten years we have owned the house we have added a full bath, added a fourth bedroom, installed new windows and back entry doors, put on a new insulated garage door, a high recovery fifty gallon water heater, painted every room, updated the master bath and many other improvements. With the passage of about five years and all the improvements, our house appraised for $45,000 more than we paid for the house in 2007. While we were pleased, it is still a work in progress.

Then came 2008.   Kathy and I watched the news stories, read the articles, and heard the horror stories of people trying to sell homes as the real estate market started its free-fall. While the falling prices affected us, just as they did everyone else, they really didn't affect us because we weren't trying to sell our house. It is interesting how we all react to bad events or bad news. The more distant the event, or news, the less it affects us. We may feel badly for the people affected, but in reality, because these events or news do not impact us personally, they quickly lose their punch. Even though some events take years to recover from, like the Gulf hurricanes, the Joplin, MO tornado, etc., because the majority of us are not affected, the news becomes old news fairly quickly.

In the summer of 2011, our world was shaken with the loss of my job I had done for nine years. At the worst possible time to look for a new job, and to sell a house, we were doing both. Suddenly all the housing articles and television stories took on a whole new meaning. Now we were part of the statistical base. Suddenly reality hit us in the face. The house that had appreciated in the first five years we owned it, now was probably only worth what we had paid for it in 2002. But since we had added approximately $30,000 in improvements, we now had a house that was worth significantly less than what we had expected it to be worth. From July, 2011 until just before Christmas, 2011, we tried to sell our house. While we had a few people look at it, we did not have anyone interested enough to submit an offer. For awhile in 2012, it appeared we might be able to stay in St. Louis. In June, however, I received the job offer that we accepted, in Tucson, Arizona. Now we are trying to sell our house again. This time, all the stories impact us. We are government statistics. We are looking at alternative selling options, like a short sale, or the possibility of leasing the house until the market improves. Some experts believe that may be ten years. What should we do? There aren't any good answers.

The bottom line for us, in the face of very dismal news, is that we are still blessed. We have been able to make every mortgage payment on time. While many good people have had to walk away from their homes, and lose everything they have invested in them, God has helped us keep our loan commitment, reputation, and faith in His ability to help us, intact. So, in spite of being a true government statistic, the more important thing is that we are God's children. "Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!" Luke 11:11-13 Waiting on God's will and direction can be difficult, because we want everything to happen on our schedule. As I have learned with a new job, His schedule works pretty well. Well, I need to stop writing, we have to clean the house for another showing...