Selling the old home place

My mom and dad sold their house this week, with plans to move into a retirement center. At 93 and 94, I think it is time for them to take this step. The process is funny though.

They put the house on the market in January, thinking that it probably would not sell; the market is bad, and the house is in a declining neighborhood. They were fine with that. Their thinking was that they knew they NEEDED to sell, but they did not WANT to do it. Only a couple of people have even looked at the house, but, Monday, they got a contract. The house was listed for $92,000. The contract was for $89,000. Pretty good offer. Nope, my dad said, “No, we want $92,000. (You can do that when you really don’t want to sell). Ok, a counter offer came in, $93,000, but asked my parents to pay part of the closing cost. My Dad agreed to take $93,000 and pay $500 in closing cost. The buyer accepted the offer. Does anyone see something strange about this? I guess the man decided he better quit negotiating before the price got any higher.

I have noticed something. It seems that when a person gets to a certain age, they just get away with things. You have to understand, my Dad is an absolutely honest man with great integrity. He just has nerve in his old age. A while back he returned a coffee maker to Wal-Mart, telling the clerk that it did not work and he thought it should have lasted longer. He had had it over a year, but he insisted that it should have worked longer than that. The manager told him to get another one. He just can do that kind of thing.

I talked to my mother, who was sad about selling the house they had lived in for 50 years. She said that she knew that God provided the house for them and it was hard to let it go…but, the retirement center would be good; there would be people around, and activities, and they would probably have church services there she could go to. That would be good because she has not been able to go to church in a while. I appreciate that so much about my mother. She chooses to make the best of any situation, and look for the positive.
It will be hard to see this transition, the home I grew up in owned by strangers. My active parents living in a retirement home. Change is part of life, and I am so grateful to have them with us, and still able to be a part of the family in every way.