Stats

Months between buying our new house and selling our current house: 5

Years I've actually aged during these five months: 8.6

Weeks our house was on the market: 19

Total number of showings we've had: 37 (37!)

Number of make-it-or-break-it second showings we've had: 6

Number of people we've had at our open house in October: 30+

Average number of people at an open house in our neighbourhood: 4

Number of viewers who gave really negative feedback: 1, but it hurt

Difference between our initial listing price and the closing price: -$19,000 (including an earlier 10K price drop)

Number of offers: 2

Bidding wars between the prospective buyers: 0

Leverage we still had because of the two offers in terms of move in date: 2 months

Weeks left before moving: 10

F's age when we bought the new house: 9 months

F's age when we will move into the new house: 17 months

Chick who now feels pretty stupid for having worried so much, because of course things were going to be all right: 1

Chick who feels more relieved than she has probably ever felt in her life: 1

Little boy who has now realized that we're moving and is a little sad and upset: 1 :-(

Family who has gleefuly started making plans about where the bookcases will go, what to do with that extra room next to the kitchen, which color to paint the bedrooms, and what material we should cover the bare fireplace mantel with: 1

Family who, despite their elation, still feels a little bittersweet about leaving this house, where they put so much work and love, and which is filled with so much personal history: 1

Profile of the buyers: Couple in their early thirties, he manages IT at a digital media firm, she went back to school and is working part-time at a nearby clinic. Never owned a house, but have been dutifully saving for it and worked with an agent for years. Visited over 60 properties, and it was never right. Until ours.Which, after so many "rejections", feels comforting. No kids, but want them, hence the three-bedroom house. Miraculously don't seem to mind the pool. (The other offer came from a middle-aged single guy, which was not the target buyer we had in mind at all... He seemed perfectly OK, and was a homeowner already. Told our agent that the house was "absolutely perfect for him" (comforting, again). It's not why he didn't win but his offer included asking us to leave behind several vintage Coca-Cola memorabilia signs and objects. There was NO WAY.)