Prepack Survey, Showings, a Dropped Price and a Firm Travel Date

This week, we had our prepack survey with the movers. Our UAB is estimated to come in pretty close to the allowable weight. We may have to remove a few heavy items and drive them to Fairfax, but we have room. It shouldn't be a problem. Our HHE is at less than half the allowable amount. We have read over and over again on blogs that people regret keeping all the junk they have accumulated over the years - furniture in particular - and having to get rid of it upon separation from the Foreign Service. Our mover said that he has heard that regret reiterated time and again, as well, and said that we are wise. I feel good about how much we have pared out. The movers come on Thursday morning, and we are nearly ready for them. We struggled with understanding our travel orders last week. We heard from the travel order issuer that the Foreign Transfer Allowance: Pre-Departure Subsistence Expense Portion was to be used after training, but the 172nd class (DH's class' mentors) had been telling us that it is for before we leave. We finally heard an official ruling on that. DH's class all got an official email that said that it is for use at the hiring location (here in MN) for non-local (meaning not in the D.C. area) hires. So, after our pack-out on the 22nd, we will be able to stay in a hotel and have our meals covered until we depart for D.C. on the 30th. This will give our friends who have been putting us up a big break! Then, our travel expenses are paid until we arrive in D.C. After that, we will have to pay for a hotel out of pocket until the 8th, when we get into our apartment. Then, lodging and M&IE (meals and incidental expenses) per diem begin. The government is pretty generous with its relocation package. It isn't quite as good as what I have seen some friends get in the private sector, but it is pretty great, nonetheless. For example, those of whom I speak have gotten assistance selling their homes. That isn't happening with our move. We will be paying commissions, and we will have to wait until our house sells, with no silver lining at the end of six months where the company will buy it at a pre-determined price if it doesn't sell for what we are asking. I'm not complaining - I'm just sayin', because if I don't, I can imagine that I will get snarky comments from strangers about how taxpayer money is paying for all of this and it is extravagant. At my husband's level in the private sector, it is not extravagant at all. He is taking a pay cut to take this job, and the benefits make it so that we are willing to take it, but we are missing out on some benefits a V.P. in the private sector might expect to see. Enough said. Back to the topic of selling our house... The market has been slow in our price range all month. A house in the next neighborhood over came on the market this week, with one additional bedroom, an additional garage stall, and 400 additional square feet. They came in so far under market value that we decided we had no choice; we decided to drop our price $15K to come close to matching it. It seems to have had some effect, as we had two showings this morning and have one more this afternoon. We continue to hope that it will sell soon. We have some wiggle room, but we are a little disappointed that the price is nearly as low as we bought it for 10 years ago. That was before the housing boom really hit, and we got a really good deal on it then. At least we have been paying it off all these years, so we will get something out of it.