Well, its all over. After nearly one year, my home selling/buying process has come to fruition. For those of you who have read my previous posts, you've heard some of the scenarios I went through as a home seller.

In short, we closed on both homes on June 7th. Both closings lasted 40 minutes each and from what I hear, that's pretty good. No issues, no complaints, and no last minute negotiations. Everyone just signed on the dotted line, waited for the wire transfer, and handed over the keys. That's it. Right now, we are just settling into our new home and I am learning what its like to cut the grass again, trim the hedges, and adjusting to higher gas/electric bills (we came from a townhouse).

I have to say that while real estate is in essence a business aspect, it also is a life-changing one as well. Many times we were stressed about the status of our unsold home and wondered if it would ever sell. It did. We thought we were magnets for bad and incompetent agents. We found a good one. We thought we lost the home of our dreams due to not being able to sell our home. We found a better one.

All in all, it was a lot of work on our part and at times, created a great deal some tense situations. I didn't know the first thing about selling a home and unfortunately, (and many times) thought I did. I thought selling a home was easy. I won't go into all the details, but I'm sure you as realtors deal with these type of people on a daily basis. I thought it was easy to price a home. Take the latest sales in your area and of the same type, add few thousand for upgrades you did and being a few months later and you have your price. When my realtor told me that my house probably would sell at about 15k less than "what I thought", I was appalled. It did. I also thought when a buyer put in a contract, everything was set and ready for the closing table. I never imagined the detailed and strategic negotiations that a realtor does to get to a middle ground between offers and get the seller the most on their return. I would have taken the first offer (just to sell the house and not lose the buyer). My realtor got me $4,000 more. I wouldn't have known how to negotiate issues (although minour in nature) from the home inspection. I probably would have said no to everything. My realtor advised me that it was in my best interest to address some of them and while they would cost me some money out of pocket, it would save me more money, time and stress in the end. He was right. When I wanted to put in an offer for our new home, I wanted to get as close to list price so we got the home without issue. My agent did better, $8000 better.

I like to think I helped the process along by doing research on the industry, being honest and open with my realtor, and learning to be humble about the process. I also don't know how I would have gotten through the tough times if it were not for ActiveRain and some of the nicest people who are members. The information I received from this site was priceless and for those who commented and provided advice, I am forever in your debt. I now know this is what made everything go as smoothly as possible.

I know the real estate industry has gotten a bad name in the past (as have mortgage brokers, appraisers, etc.), but I have to say my experience has provided me with a much different experience. I used to think that realtors  were similar to Mary Kay agents and used car salesmen. After seeing this process first hand and being a part of it for the last year, I don't know how all of you do it everyday. I know I never could.

I have to say its a bit odd right now after being officially done. I don't have to worry about showings, viewing potential homes, or wondering if "that" home is something I can afford. Its all over. We love our home and are imagining what we can do to it to make it officially ours.

After the closing, my agent stopped me and said, "Whew, everything went well...you said you were not a big fan of real estate...I hope my services have helped change that.." I replied, "Your services sure did and I've learned alot about what you and other agents go through everyday, its not as easy as I thought and I'm just glad you were involved..you saved us a lot of time and money.."

As we were walking to our car, my agent said one more thing that caught my attention, "After all this, you should write a book about your experience.." I replied, "(Laughing) What for? The book would only have two sentences, 'Call a realtor. Its in your best interest'."

Once again, thanks to everyone on ActiveRain. My final take on your industry and what you do is a good one..