Trust and Real Estate - Part 3

Part 1 is here.

Part 2 is here.

By God's grace, there will only be 4 parts, and the next one will be one of resolution.

For better or worse, my habit of turning life updates into sermonettes will not avail today, since I can't think of anything new that I've learned from this process. Not to say that I've mastered the old lessons either.

However, since many of you inquire periodically about the state of our home sale, we wanted to give an update. If you are reading this, you likely already know that our departure has been delayed for two months, while we raise some capital to cover any contingency plans for our home sale difficulties, and we are spending that time working at a Navajo facility in Gallup, New Mexico.

After much deliberation and talking over the nuances with a few trusted people, we decided to pursue a short sale of our house. I won't go into the details of this, but basically we find a buyer for less than our mortgage balance, and propose it to the bank, who hopefully then accepts the offer and forgives the rest of the debt. I know we are far from the only people going through real estate difficulties, and if you have questions about the details, you can contact us.

The next step was to find a buyer. Thankfully, we did not have to lower the price too much more before we had an offer. We have now proposed this offer to the bank (with the help of a short sale expert), and we have anywhere from 6 weeks to 6 months before we get a verdict. Thankfully, the proposed buyers are local, and thus are more likely to ride out the long wait. Though this may seem like a headache, we are actually quite excited, that this may signal the end of a very long ordeal.

First, we want to thank those of you who have looked at our difficulties and asked whether or not God wants you to be an agent of help. This is amazingly humbling to us, and we believe it is very near the heart of Christian faith. Thank you.

Second, we hope that this update helps you all to know how to pray for our situation, namely that the buyers stay interested, and that the bank says yes. We're pleased to have crossed this threshold, but the need for trusting God is still very prominent, which I guess is a lesson that is worth continuing to learn.