From the Editor’s Desk: Downsize (Premium)

I’ve often written about and voiced my desire to downsize, but it’s not real unless you do it. Granted, my wife and I have also taken steps in that direction, through various decluttering waves and, most notably, by actually moving, in 2017, to Pennsylvania. The house we moved into here is about twice as big as our previous home, which may seem contradictory. But it also cost about half as much, so it was at least a financial downsizing.

And then 2022 happened. Using home equity, we went against type and impulsively purchased an apartment in Mexico City, setting us up for some future where we could split time between there and the U.S. But with a don’t-call-it-a-recession also hitting that year, interest rate increases doubled and then tripled our monthly payment, turning a semi-affordable purchase into a major problem. And so we used this reality as the push we needed to do something we’d been planning for a long time anyway, by putting our house on the market. Once the sale is final, our apartment will be fully paid for, and we can figure out what’s next.

Figuring out what’s next is, of course, the trick.

But getting through this period of uncertainty comes first. We had contacted an acquaintance in the neighborhood who’s a realtor in early 2022 and discussed selling the house then. At that time, conditions were ideal, as interest rates were still low and there was explosive post-pandemic demand from people as far away as New York City who no longer needed to go into an office every day. So prices were through the roof. The only thing that wasn’t ideal, for us, was the timing. With a son fresh out of college but facing bleak work prospects and our daughter about to finish year two of her own four years in college, it just wasn’t the right time.

We told the realtor that we would still sell the house … eventually. But with interest rates exploding in the ensuing months, doing so seemed increasingly important. And so toward the end of 2022, we contacted her again and discussed how to proceed. We even looked at a couple of apartments in the area at that time, though we weren’t sure where we wanted to be.

We also continued and then accelerated the decluttering work, filling our trash and recycle bins each week and selling or giving away things on Facebook Marketplace and elsewhere. I feel like we’re usually in a better place, clutter-wise, than most. But a home full of stuff is still a home full of stuff, and the sheer enormity of it all can be daunting. But we got through the holidays, with both kids home for a time and big family events over Christmas and New Year’s, knowing that these would likely be the last in this house.

In January, we settled on a date and then changed it because it was Super Bowl weekend. The week before the open house, we used a moving truck our realtor’s small company keeps on hand for clients to move as much as possible into a storage unit we had just rented. Driving this junker around the area was instantly reminiscent of our 2017 move to Pennsylvania, though my son wasn’t here to help—he lives in Rochester, New York now and he was nice enough to take our cats for the duration—and we didn’t have as far to go. But we got it done, cleaned our newly decluttered home, and hoped for the best.

Two Saturdays ago, we had a two-hour open house in which 45 (!) groups of people—most of them young couples or couples with small children—toured our home and clogged our circle and the adjacent street with cars. Our neighbors started texting us, freaking out at the traffic, and sending photos. By the time the weekend was over, we had had an additional 21 groups through the home in private showings. And by the time Monday ended, we had seven “solid” offers, according to our realtor. I’d say that five of them were solid, but whatever. It was a whirlwind weekend and there was clearly a lot of interest.

Tuesday night, we met with the realtor to go over the offers and we chose the best one. I can’t reveal the details of it now because it’s not final, and if this deal falls through we will have to approach the others that made offers or perhaps even have another open house, which would be a nightmare. But I guess I can say that it was a terrific offer that relieved us of any financial burdens and other responsibilities we’d otherwise have as a result of this transaction. It was, of course, the best offer financially and is reminiscent of the experience we had when we left Massachusetts. They really want the house.

One thing has changed since the last time we sold a house: now there are escalation clauses built into each offer so that each can try to beat a better offer by offering up to some amount in increments of some amount. For example, if the best offer was $500,000, but someone had bid $490,000 with an escalation clause of $502,000 in increments of $1000, that latter bid would win and they would pay $501,000. So that was interesting.

One thing that didn’t change was that several of the couples making offers had written letters explaining why they wanted the house. These letters are designed to pull at the seller’s heartstrings and they often include passages about their children learning to walk in the sunroom or playing in the yard, “surrounded by pine trees,” as one letter read. I can see how some might be swayed by this kind of thing, and I suppose we could be as well if two competing offers were otherwise identical. But they didn’t factor into our decision this time, and the couple that submitted the winning bid was one of the few that didn’t include a letter.

Pennsylvania has its own laws when it comes to home sales, of course, but the net result for us is that the process is much quicker here, and that we have to be out of the house by the end of March. That’s fine, except that we of course had already scheduled a three-week trip to Mexico City that starts this Thursday, March 2. We may cut that short for obvious reasons, but I don’t want to cancel it because this is the trip where we finalize our temporary residency in Mexico. Speaking of major life changes.

Anyway, we spent much of the past weekend dumping/selling stuff and looking at apartments. And we did pick one that’s close by and in a small development of two-story buildings that’s semi-ideal, though it’s only two bedrooms and not the three my wife thinks we need. We’ll save some money that way, but we chose a shorter lease so we can change our minds later this year if it doesn’t work out. We’ll find out today or tomorrow if we’re in. But this rocket sled into a new future is happening regardless.

We’ll figure it out.