I have decided that we will never sell/move/buy a house again! This whole process is extremely frustrating to me. Don't get me wrong, it has its great points - less clutter, a constantly clean, straight house, etc. But it also has its less than great points - hoping for a buyer, looking for the perfect house, etc.
The funny thing is - we weren't *really* looking when we found the *perfect* house. I have this habit of searching online with a real estate company - even if we aren't looking to move. Well, way back in December I was searching and found this awesome house for sale, in our price range and in one of the areas we always talked about moving to. The dear hubby drove by and was as smitten as I was. We made an appointment to see the inside and we were hooked (even with the dirty carpets, windows and outdated EVERYTHING). The only big issue - it was a foreclosure and we would have to sell our house first since really we don't have THAT much extra money sitting around.
Fast forward to February and we are ready to list our house. We find out that an investor actually bought the house and it was not in foreclosure as originally thought. We list our house and write a contingent contract on the dream house, sure that our house would sell instantly! (Have I ever mentioned that I am an extreme optimist?) May 28th came with no buyer for our house and the end of the contingent contract on our dream. The seller was no longer interested in a contingent contract and decided to take the house off the market and do some work on the house. Fine - be that way - we decided. And we began to look for dream house #2.
No such luck. Everything was either too small for our family of seven or out of our budget. But really, that was okay - no one had made us an offer on our house. Then out of the blue, we have showings left and right and boom an offer for our house, which we accepted after a little back and forth. Hmm - now we have a contract on our home, but NO house to move to. Unless...dream house was still available for purchase.
After a hunt down by our agent, dream house could be available, but only at the price we previously offered. Well of course we did it - this is dream house! Or is it?
This house has been vacant/on the market for an entire year or more (depending on which neighbor you ask). We had an inspection this past weekend and now I am not so sure it is a dream - maybe more like a nightmare. We knew that the house is pretty original to its 25 year life (roof, windows, kitchen, fixtures, tile), what we did not know is that there seems to be a pretty major water issue in the basement, and the roof leaks and there are some stupid electrical and plumbing issues. Oh did I mention that the house was sold as is?
So now that we have had an inspection, we are getting a bid on the repair of the water problem, etc. We have less than 10 days now to decide if we are going to walk out on this house or stick with it and see what the seller will do about the price.
The most frustrating thing right now is this - school starts in less than 4 weeks. Where will my kids be going to school? I need to have physicals, buy school supplies, etc.
I have to keep reminding myself that God knows what is best for our family. I keep turning back to Proverbs 3:5-6 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding: in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight".
I will keep you posted on our journey - and if you wouldn't mind, say a little prayer for us!
