Selling the house: the last piece of the puzzle.(The Last Laugh)

When I happily signed an offer to purchase my new condo townhouse in October 2002, my eyes were on the waterfront pier and my heart was full of joy. Little did I know that the other half of the equation, selling my home of 25 years, would be a problem.

"The happiest days of a boater's life are the day she buys a boat and the day she sells it" applies to houses too.

A hot neighborhood

My house is in one of the hottest neighborhoods in Madison WI, in the heart of a trendy shopping district with many funky stores, great bars and restaurants, a lake surrounded by park and arboretum. Most neighbors are faculty at the University of Wisconsin, less than a mile away.

Few sell their homes through realtors, instead using the for-sale-by-owners strategy to save the 6% sales commission. We decided to go that route, after I calculated that the house could be on the market for 15 months before the extra mortgage payments equaled the realtor's cost.

Once summer hit in Wisconsin, my resolve weakened. Although still living in the house, I bought a 17-foot speed boat for the new condo's pier. Some nights I camped out on the condo floor on a borrowed twin mattress.

Slowly I started bringing over boxes of stuff, to get a start on moving. That meant whatever I needed was inevitably in the wrong place. I never knew where I'd be ... or where were my tennis bag or clean underwear.