How to Sell Your House While Home Schooling During a Pandemic

The same day we reported our decision to List It, the house we were looking for came on the market. We saw it the next morning and made an offer, which was accepted. At exactly the same time, the gravity of the coronavirus pandemic in the U.S. became evident.

But first, the house. It’s in our dream neighborhood, with just two houses between it and the home of some of our closest friends. There are also many, many other friends and the kids’ friends within walking distance. There’s a great bike & hike path in the neighborhood. The house also checks the boxes of a larger entryway and more storage space for pantry items. It even has a fireplace and a sun room, wish list wants we weren’t sure we’d find. It’s far from updated, but there’s nothing we can’t live with, and with Neil’s DIY skills we can change things affordably over time.

How does one sell during a pandemic? For one thing, we changed our time frame on listing. Rather than wait we decided to list ASAP. So for two frantic weeks, we packed, cleaned, painted, and Neil even installed a wall and a vinyl tile floor to finish the unfinished half of our basement. All while having everyone home all the time, with Neil working from home and me trying to “crisis school” my kids, and with social distancing, i.e. no help and no babysitting. Let’s just say this was not my favorite.

Probably the worst part was having to make major decisions, for which no one had the experience to offer guidance. Do we buy a house right now (this was before all contingencies were released)? Do we list sooner, in presumably worse/messier condition than if we’d moved first? Or do we wait it out, risking a possible housing market crash? Do we want strangers in our home during a pandemic? When the stay at home order was issued, we didn’t know right away if you could still sell your house (our realtor quickly informed us it was covered under essential business in our state). What price should we ask? We also had a carpet order that got cancelled, hence installing the vinyl tile. Turns out home office carpet is not essential.

We decided to move forward since we have no mortgage and can afford to keep both homes for quite some time if needed. We are using a bridge loan, a low fee, low interest loan based on your home’s equity, which is used to smooth the gap between buying one home and selling another. Once our current house sells, we’ll pay back the bridge loan from our proceeds. Then we’ll re-cast our current loan, applying almost all of our remaining equity. We have one year to repay the bridge loan.

During most of the first week our home was listed we stayed at a cabin in the woods to cut down on germs and clutter. It was a great place to social isolate and it was amazing to have a change of scenery, which we never would have had were it not related to essential business. We enjoyed hiking, a hot tub, cable TV, and home schooling via my new cell phone provider Mint Mobile‘s current offer of free data add-ons.

We’re back home and after just under a week on the market, we’ve had good showing activity according to our realtor. We got an offer today, and while it was a good offer on the surface, several details left us wondering if the buyers would be able to secure financing. Since it was an FHA loan there would have been a long wait on securing the loan, and a lot of hassle on our part. Our realtor did some digging and determined that since one of the buyers is unemployed during the stay at home order in our state, the loan would not go through.

I’m realizing we’re going to have to be way more patient than we’re feeling. We’re trying to sell during an unprecedented, uncertain time. I’d really hoped for a good offer during our stay in the woods, but mainly so I can be messy and not worry about germs. The latter is a valid concern, but the former is more about convenience than anything serious. We are limiting showing times and taking precautions such as cleaning before the kids go back inside. Since we move in 3 weeks, we don’t have too much more of this to put up with. At least that’s what I’m telling myself.

To top it off, I’m “crisis schooling.” The real crisis in this schooling scenario is my sanity. My kids are extreme know-it-alls (like me). As a former teacher, people seem to think I’m somehow more qualified to educate my own brood. Let me tell you, it is not the same thing. First, I used to get paid. Second, I taught high school. Third, I taught one subject. And lastly, I did not teach anyone related to me, whom I also have to tell to use a napkin, unload the dishwasher, brush their teeth, and any number of other seemingly obvious and routine statements that my kids react to as if I’d cast an Exruciatus curse on them.

Then there are the mood swings. My oldest stares into space until I tell him what to do next, and then cries half the time when I do tell him (he’s getting better, though). My middle one swings between wild enthusiasm and wild defiance. Our very first lesson consisted of me trying to convince her that rabbit is in fact two syllables, not one. She DID NOT believe me. I dropped it, concluding that my kids are just going to be one nine-weeks dumber than they’re supposed to be. There’s nothing for it.

And then, I have a toddler. Like all toddlers, she wants nothing more than to mash keys on a computer keyboard. Most of the kids’ work is done on the computer. So in addition to running between two kids in different rooms helping them sign into 20 freaking different apps a day, I have the babe screaming at the top of her lungs because she wants the computer. And if you’ve ever tried to listen to a video, or read or write or think with someone screaming next to you, you will understand why my kids are going to be one nine-weeks dumber than they’re supposed to be.

Let’s just say the kids are learning some interesting vocabulary words this quarter.

I can’t even imagine if I was working from home on top of all this. Seriously, I feel for those parents. I’m in the best of circumstances as a stay at home mom, and one who supposedly knows how to teach people things. I’m also so grateful that Neil’s job is secure, that we have health insurance, and that we’ve stayed healthy thus far. I’m grateful that we don’t have underlying health conditions. I’m grateful that we live in a state that took early action to fight the spread. And I’m grateful for the many chances we have to connect with people virtually. We’ll get through this, we’ll move to our new house, and who knows? Maybe some day we’ll even be able to visit our neighbors again.

How crazy is this social isolating / home schooling making you? What are you grateful for in the midst of it?

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