Goodbye, Condo

Today we go to settlement on you, Condo.

I always thought I would be sad to leave my first home. Hubby and I spent almost 7 years living with you but I can't say I am very sad to leave.

We bought you just a few months after Hubby and I got back together for, what is hopefully, forever and always. We didn't want to rent, we wanted to buy. The development you are in was only 10 minutes from my work and was 5 minutes from both sets of parents (assuming we didn't run into red lights on the way).

We had seen you being built, although we didn't know we would be living there. They tore down a forest and built your development pretty quickly. I gawked at the fact there was a parking garage. I associated those with malls and office buildings, not condos.

You were never intended to be our Forever Home. You were our starter home. The one we bought to get into the Homeowners Club. You were supposed to gain value, making it possible for us to buy a bigger place in five years. Everyone kept saying the Metro would be here by then and with the shopping center being built next door, our condo would be highly desirable and would appreciate no problem.

First homes should be looked back on with fond memories. Not you. Okay, there have been some good ones. But there have been a lot of bad ones, too. Not too long after we moved in we noticed nail pops, which we could have tolerated if you had been older, but you weren't even a year old yet. We spent several months trying to get them fixed, to get the warranty company to acknowledge that your walls had not been installed properly and fix them for us. They wouldn't. It was a stressful time.

It took Hubby and I a while to get accustomed to living together. Then, while Hubby tried helping a friend through a divorce, he began questioning whether or not he wanted to get married. Part of the reason why we got back together was because we had intentions of getting married eventually. There was a lot of silence, stewing, and crying for the first year as he and I tried figuring out if there would ever be a "We."

Things did get better and when they did Hubby proposed. Then we were faced with the future. One that involved children, a yard, and maybe a dog.

Just a one bedroom and one bath, you were supposed so be just big enough for the two of us. But then we got married. Suddenly, you weren't big enough for us, our old stuff, and our shiny new presents that, for me, signified new beginnings and fresh starts.

You never did appreciate in value. In fact, at one point your value was $90,000 less than what we paid for you. The shopping center had been built but the Metro stop had not. You see, the housing bubble burst and the Great Recession started just after we bought you. We were underwater, not able to sell you for a profit as intended. We needed more space for our dreams of a family to come true.

We tried refinancing, but banks won't do that for people underwater unless they have a lot of money to make up the difference. We didn't. We tried modifying our loan, but we were rejected. We tried a principal reduction, but we were denied. We spent three years trying to make it possible for us to keep you and rent you out and make our dreams come true.

When I first got pregnant in 2010 we spoke to a real estate agent about what our options were. Hubby wanted to short sell but I wanted to rent you out. I knew eventually you would appreciate in value and we would be able to sell, but Hubby didn't want to be a landlord. He didn't want to pay someone else to do that for us either. And we knew we were looking at 10 years at least before we might break even.

Sadly, we lost the baby I was pregnant with. I tried to make myself feel better by saying we didn't have room for her anyway. That her loss was a sign that we needed to come up with a plan to move before having children.

We stayed put, but the thing about women is that their eggs have a shelf life. I wanted a family of my own and I didn't have 10+ years to wait until we could maybe break even before maybe moving into a bigger place and starting our family.

I got pregnant again a few months later. Again, I insisted we could rent you out. It would just mean we would also have to rent until we saved up some money for a down payment or were able to sell you. This did not sit well with Hubby who wanted to be a home owner.

We spoke to another real estate agent, this time specifically about short selling. She made me realize that the money Hubby and I would have to put forth every month to make up the difference between our mortgage/HOA fee and what we could rent you out for would be about what we would spend on a baby each month.

Knowing our baby had to be a priority, we submitted a request to short sell you.

We were lucky. New guidelines that were put in place back in June meant that we didn't have to be behind on our payments to be considered for a short sale. Our real estate agent even says our credit should not be affected (though I have read otherwise, so we'll see). These were big plusses as Hubby and I discussed what our best option was.

The bank accepted our request and within four days of being listed you had 14 offers. The professionals we spoke with nearly seven years ago almost got it right. You are desierable. But you were not a good investment for us. The buyer who won out is planning on renting you out. He'll be doing what I wish we could have done -- keep you as an investment.

We've been in our apartment about a little over a week now and I'm starting to realize I will miss some aspects of you. You were closer to work. You were closer to restaurants and the grocery store. You were close to my car and I didn't have to take stairs or an elevator to get to it.

Convenience. That is what I'm going to miss about you. Convenience and the walk-in closet Hubby updated eight months ago.

I do hope that your new owner takes care of you as Hubby and I did. I hope that his tenants take care of you, too. You were a decent place to live before we officially outgrew you.