Love Letter to the Sellers of our Current Home

Looking at our pond the day we closed on our home

To the Sellers of (our current address):

First off, we would like to take this opportunity to thank you for working with us and giving us the time that you have. It means so very much to us.

My husband and I wanted to write you a little letter so that you would know how hard we are working to try and get our beautiful home sold. We also wanted to share with you how much the current home you are selling means to our family.

Shannon and I have been looking for the perfect property that would fit our family’s needs for the past two years. Shannon was a bit more obsessive about it and I was the one sitting off to the side, daydreaming about a place that had some acreage for our three children and two dogs to roam. In our minds we wanted somewhere that had a pond or even a creek for our boys to fish and to enjoy (the fact that your property has both is truly phenomenal). Somewhere that my husband and I could listen to nature and enjoy our own little haven of peace, once the kids were snug in their beds.

See, I am not a country girl, I am actually from a Suburb in Cleveland with houses that are all very similar and small yards that sometimes have the luxury of a patio (we had one. Many fond memories of that patio). I did not come from much but my Grandparents did the best that they could. I would never have envisioned wanting this life, but now that we have begun to raise our children in a suburb, I realize that the country is where we need and want to be.

Our first week in our new home.

I think that this vision of living our fullest life truly came to fruition when I was diagnosed with Thyroid Cancer and had my thyroid and the cancer removed, just eight short months ago. Life has changed a lot, but we are a family that tries to see the good in every situation and more than anything it has shown me the life that I want to live and the person I want to be for my family.

When my husband found your property he automatically fell in love. I thought he was crazy to want to put an offer in the next day and get our house on the market. How could we? We have 3 kids, 2 dogs, I am a PTO member, I am still recovering and our life can be a bit chaotic at times. However, if I know one thing, I know that no matter what, my husband and I get it done and we do it to the best of our abilities. And that is exactly what we did. We invited our realtor over. Asked her what we needed to do and we got it done. We fixed all of the nicks and marks, because let’s be honest two active boys and a little girl know how to scratch up your walls. We shampooed all of the carpets. We sanded any of the rooms that had something like buildings for Spiderman drawn on them and kitchens walls that we thought would look great with stripes (until you decide to sell and need to sand them down!) and then we proceeded to paint just about every room in our 4 bedroom, 3 bath house. Later, in our spare time (I know, comical) my husband stayed up until 3 am one work night to paint all of the baseboards and most of the doors. We even went as far as painting a bunch of the cabinets in our kitchen and bathrooms. Writing all of this down makes me tired all over again.

Our clearance christmas tree. The perks of buying a house right before Christmas.

Shannon and I do not have family nearby, so except for a few days it was just Shannon and I doing it all. Once the house was on the market in a week, yes, we did all of that in a week and looking back I have no idea how. We had about 7 showings and 2 Open Houses in the span of time that our house was on the market before we got an offer. We never stopped working on things throughout that time, we even rented a storage unit to move any clutter and make our house look even more presentable. It was tough but we were hopeful that it would sell. We made the decision to get estimates on carpet, based on feedback and had the install scheduled. The weekend I was in Cleveland for my brother’s wedding and my husband took our 3 kids to Kings Island we had a couple that was very interested. If we are being honest, they were not easy to work with at all and made us complete nervous wrecks but it was an offer that we had to take because we wanted to move into our dream home.

The buyers took almost two weeks of the three and a half weeks we had to sell before our contract was up with your family. Then they decided they would back out of the contract. They said they were backing out because of the apple trees and the possibility that they would affect the foundation. We had the apple trees approved by our HOA, they were there when they placed the offer but in reality, they just wanted to place an offer on another house down the street from us. We were devastated when we got that phone call. It also happened to be at the same time that my husband was driving back from his doctor’s appointment in which he was diagnosed with Shingles (for two weeks he had just thought he had poison ivy with lots of pain from all that we have been doing around the house). I swear, I cannot make this stuff up! I don’t tell you this for sympathy, I tell you this so you can see that through it all we will continue to work very hard to make this home sell.

I bawled. I couldn’t help it. We were so thankful that you have all worked with us for this long and we really thought the end was in sight for selling our home. I mean, we were only ten days away from closing.

I cried because I pictured the vision in my mind of our own little getaway, slipping away. We knew that we shouldn’t get too attached to the property but, well, we did.

We have had three separate roofers check out the property and give us estimates. The one that we are deciding to go with is actually our kiddos guidance counselor’s husband. We appreciate and support small business. With a lot of thought and research put into it, we have the carpet picked out and ready as well as the laminate flooring. My husband has watched all of the necessary You-tube videos and is ready to take a week off work so that we can get the walls painted and the flooring installed. We are do-it-ourselfers. It may be because of the money, it may be because we can, but in the end, it feels so good to look back at your work and know that you did it all on your own.

Working on the flooring as promised.

Now, here’s the part that really tugs at my heart. The kids.

Tristan (our nine-year-old) and Grayson (our six-year-old) have also fallen in love with the property. When we go there they take off as soon as their car doors open. You can find Tristan running towards the wooded area and exploring the creek, Grayson likes to go by the pond and look around. The littlest, Aubrey starts hopping up and down and running through the grass. The girl was born a country girl without any prep work on our part. She has been known to run out into the free space in her stocking feet to have them covered in mud to her knees, without a care in the world.

The boys are excited that this Christmas Santa may bring them a trampoline or even a basketball hoop because they will no longer live with a driveway that slants right into a street that people drive far too fast on and don’t pay attention. Heck, we could even set these things up in the basement or pole barn because there is just enough space to do so.

They cannot wait until the Spring when we get our ducks and chickens that we have been talking about. Our middle child Grayson, has ADHD and he has a hard time expressing himself, but he truly has a tender, nurturing, old soul that was born to be around animals and nature. It would be very therapeutic for him and we feel it will help him get out some of his extra energy. Tristan, at the tender age of nine, is already very much a green thumb and talks about all of the plants he would like to grow, along with the dream that Mommy will have her little “Secret Garden” that she has always dreamed of having. He is so excited to have friends over that have common interests and would love to explore our little getaway with him.

Shannon and I have talked a bit too much about this home. We know that we shouldn’t, but it’s fun to talk about together. Yes, there was a chance our buyers could fall through, but it was very unlikely. We tend to be dreamers, but we also tend to do our very best to make our dreams become a reality.

I can tell you that currently one of the biggest dreams of mine is to open up a non-profit, as an extension of our home. I would love to have a space to offer to those with mental illness.

Somewhere people can go for some companionship, understanding and most of all to not be alone. I envision coffee and baked goods in a comfortable setting like a barn that has been decorated in modern shabby chic décor with soft lighting. When I saw the pole barn on the property, I felt that maybe I may be a step closer to making my dream a reality. It may be some time before it can happen, but I hope that one day I can do this for others and also for myself.

My husband is an avid gardener, which is where my nine-year-old inherited his green thumb, because it is most definitely is not from me (although I am learning). That has been the hardest part about leaving our current home. We came into a home with no plants to decorate the outdoors and we are leaving it with lots and lots of plant life and vegetation. It’s gorgeous. He impresses me every season with his skills and has begun to teach me his ways.

I hope that this letter finds you and your families, happy and healthy. What we are hoping to gain from this heartfelt letter is an extension to sell our home. We know that it is asking a lot and we hope that this does not cause any inconvenience to your families. We wanted you to know that we value your time and we are not just any buyers, we are a family that has worked very hard to be where we are, we value community and we want to make your house our forever home to pass on to our family for generations.

We would be more than happy to share our journey with you, once we move into the home. We will send you updates on all that we have done and keep it fun to share with all of you. We would even love to send each of you a Christmas card and to have a connection with your families.

If you would accept this extension, we would be forever grateful for the time that you have given us.

We would like to offer to give you back half of the closing costs that we had asked for in the contract, as a token of our appreciation of you accepting this extension to help cover the expenses and any inconvenience that this extension may cause.

Thank you so very much for taking the time to read this letter.

We got the house! Yay!

With lots of thanks and appreciation,

The Bird Family

Amanda, Shannon, Tristan, Grayson, Aubrey and even Joeker and Joezie (our Boxer Rescue dogs)

#adayinthelife #ourjourney #lovelettertohomesellers #homebuying #buyingahome