The Letter We Got from Our House Buyer

The letter below has to be one of the most favorite letters I’ve ever received.

A little background: As many of you know we made some huge life changes recently….including selling our dream house. We sold the house furnished meaning we sold the furniture, plates, silverware, pots/pans, vacuum cleaner…everything. Even our pet fish were included in the sale (it was the first time our realtor had ever heard of fish being listed by name in a household inventory).

As soon as we moved we started receiving communication from the new owner…every message expressed appreciation at the condition we left the house for him:

I hope you’re all doing well.  House is great. Fish are fine.

Even though it was a nightmare closing, we tried to maintain a positive view of the situation. We left the house the way we would have wanted someone to leave a house for our family:  We fixed more than was requested in the list of repairs, anything that might be a safety issue. I ordered parts that needed to be replaced, even though they would arrive after the closing. I also left the new owner with the most detailed owners manual imaginable.  It included, among other things:

• little quirks about the house that took me forever to figure out
• a map of the surrounding neighbors and contact info
• pre-paid pest control, landscaper and pool service in hopes that he would continue to use the wonderful people that had for so long taken care of our home (plus short stories/bios about each person to personalize them)
• the mailman’s name, trash days, etc.
• paint colors and swatches
• directions and manuals for every appliance
• how to take care of the pet fish

I guess I’m a tad OCD.

Anyway, as a family we look forward to the correspondence with the new owner of our old home.  It’s bittersweet (and funny):

P.S. I wrote him a letter back…to tell him how impressed I was that he had filled all 47 photo frames on the gallery wall with photos.  And to tell him that the black fish has a name: Smokey. ” and the fish with the mustache is Penelope.”

P.P.S. Everyone wanted to know about the earring.  It was a faux pearl earring of my mother’s.  It’s still in the envelope.  I noticed at my sister’s that my mother had two faux pearl earrings that didn’t quite match so I think I may have completed one of the set.  Now to find the other odd earring. Maybe that will be a follow up letter one day.