Neighbors

I finally saw the inside of our neighbor’s house.  Now that she’s moving, she’s suddenly friendly.  No, that’s not fair of me.  She was always friendly, but it was more of a talk-to-each-other-over-the-fence-in-the-backyard friendly, not so much invite-me-into-her-house-to-chat friendly.

This neighbor (let’s call her Stella) was the seller’s real estate agent when we bought our house.  She adopted two kids from Russia (a boy and a girl) who came home for the first time just a few days after we moved in.  They were 5 and 9 years old.  She already had a son (also adopted, I found out today, but from Ukraine, not Russia, and as a baby, not a walking, talking child) who was about 6 when the other two came home.  And I think she has an adult son (stepson maybe?).  I’ve met him several times, he works with her as a real estate agent, shares her last name, and sometimes lives with her.  Maybe he’s her much younger brother.  I never asked.  Anyway.

Stella put a for-sale sign up in her front yard less than a week ago.  I’ve wanted to ask her about it, but, like I said earlier, we’re not exactly the kind of neighbors who just knock on each others’ doors to chat, so I was waiting until I caught her outside.  Tonight I took the dogs for a run, and on our way back, we met her two dogs.  No leashes, no kids, no Stella in sight.  (She is also the neighbor whose dogs routinely get out of her house and yard and wander the neighborhood.  She doesn’t always notice.  Oh, and these are the dogs (Ginger and Bear) who bark.  And bark.  And bark.  And bark.)  They’re nice dogs, and I was pretty sure they’d follow me home, since I had Roxy and Riley with me to hold their interest.  I got them into Stella’s backyard (the gate was open), threw my dogs in the house, and went over to her door to let her know her dogs were back (in case she was worried (assuming she knew they were gone, of course)).

Stella greeted me at the door with an immediate, “Come in, come in!” – something she’s never done before.  So I went in.  She showed me the house from top to bottom (and it looks great), and we sat in the kitchen and chatted.  She said she decided to sell her house now because if she waits any longer, the price will go down below what she paid for it.  So she’s basically breaking even by selling now.  Depressing.

I’m not sure what my point is here.  Oh!  Well, this may not have been my point, but the house sold on the second day.  I didn’t think anyone was able to sell that quickly right now.  And her price was not THAT low.  She’s closing at the end of January and moving by the end of March.  I should have asked her what the buyers are like.  Didn’t think of that until I got back home.