So my wife and I are selling our house.

Although we have been thinking about it for more than a year now, we did not know we would be doing it for real until about a month ago.

That is when, by chance, my wife ran into a realtor who offered to give us his take on our situation.

Let’s just say he was a good salesman.

So good, that not only did he convince us to sell our house with him, he also got us to commit to a long list of minor improvements that we had been putting off for the past four years.

I won’t bore you with the details, but let’s just say we spent a couple thousand dollars sprucing up the place.

It is a strange thing to put so much trust in a complete stranger, especially when there is so much money at stake.

I wonder if most people have had the same experience that we are having when selling or buying a home?

To make things more interesting, we found a house we really like that is closer to both our places of work.

The problem is that it is a foreclosure and, according to our realtor, the bank would almost certainly reject any offer contingent on us selling our home first.

Fearful of someone stealing the home while we barter with the bank, we decided to make a strong offer without the contingency of our home being sold.

That means — if our offer were accepted — we would have to sell our home before the closing date to avoid being stuck with two mortgages.

Either that or lose the earnest money we put down.

I don’t mind saying that both options make me nervous.

The whole situation has made me realize that there is a lot of more faith in real estate than I first thought.

Faith that our realtor knows what he is doing.

Faith that he is acting in our best interest.

Faith that the painter will finish painting before the “for sale” sign goes up in our yard.

Faith that the improvements we have made are worth the investment.

Faith that the home we are pursuing is worth what we are willing to pay.

Faith that our faith has not been misplaced.

It is enough to make me want to go to church.

 

Craig Haupert is the community editor for the Niles Daily Star. Contact him via email at craig.haupert@leaderpub.com, or by phone at (269) 687-7720.