I'm resting...

We sold the house!

Doesn't that sound like such a simple and trouble free sentence? "I sold the house." "yeah yeah, we sold the house last week..." etc etc... nothing to it right?!

I am a 33 year old mother of three and this was the first time in my life that I have sold a house and I can tell you it was a lot less than 'trouble free'! I have a new found respect for people who have done this multiple times and can now totally understand why some people don't do this multiple times.

First of all... its expensive to move!! Now I am aware we are not exactly doing the 'normal' upgraded house to a nearby town for example... but woah! I was not expecting that! Also, I have always thought of myself as someone without too much clutter and unnecessary things; it turns out that I am an overuser of the phrase "that might be useful in the future"! I have cleared out soooo much stuff that I was waiting to use as and when I ot only might have needed it but also remember I had it at the very moment I need it!

Either way, with a lot of help from friends helping with the kids and also helping me clean and prep the house... we did indeed sell the house. Selling a house in Norway is a different system than anything I else I know where by:

1. You first get the audits and building reports and everything else you need BEFORE the house goes on the market. This is the sellers responsibility.

2. Then your house is put on the market, usually online via the estate agents of your choice and they will compile all of the paper work and reports so that it's all available immediately to any potential buyers.

3. You then set a 'visning date' which is an open house for anyone interested. (You can also do provate viewings of course). The trick here is that once you have officially set a date for an open house no one is allowed to put in on offer on the house until midday the following day.

4. In our case we had a 'visning' on Sunday from 1200 - 1300. And at 12 noon the following day I received a txt message - YES, a TXT MESSAGE!! that someone wanted to put in an offer.

5. Now, there are (in its most basic form) three elements to an offer: 1) the amount you want to pay for the house, 2) how long your offer is valid for, 3) the take over date. We had an offer which was valid for 5 minutes. Yep, you read that right. I received a txt message at 12noon the day after our visning stating these three elements. I can either accept, counter offer, or do nothing and let the time lapse effectively rejected their offer. If someone offers asking price here, you are legally obliged to accept.

6. After trying to get hold of Victor and discuss our options we did infact counter offer... they came a little closer, we countered again and we did that three or four times until an offer was accepted at 1320! An hour and 20 minutes from when the bidding opened!

STRESSFUL!! The experience was stressful! It was confusing and I did not enjoy it!!

The great thing was that I returned home that afternoon with my three kids to an exceptionally tidy house that had officially been sold! It was done, finished and I was so relieved! What an experience!!

So the house, is sold (what a simple statement), and the cars I'm still working on! Boxes are continuously being packed and the stuff we will need in the next five or so months before our shipment arrives in Tanzania has been organised.

I am exhausted, emotionally, physically and mentally so for now... I have two kids in the kindergarten and the littlest one is sleeping. I am taking a break and preparing for the weekend with a cup of tea and a pack of digestive biscuits!

I am actively resting.

I will maybe write a blog on the different types of resting soon. Today is active and I'm loving it!

Keep Smiling,
Pen