Oh, the Drama

Seems we can't do anything the easy way these days.

We're finally closing on our house next Monday, Lord willing. But it has not been without its share of melodrama.

When J. had this house on the market before we got married, it stayed on the market for four years. Yep. Four. Years. At the time, J. wondered if God was saving the house for him because he was going to be needing it again ... and then when Janna's mom left him, he was able to stay in it for a while. Even better, when we got married, we had a house to move into, ready and waiting. It sure looks like God was saving it for him.

Still, though, it made us nervous about listing it again. We were a bit anxious about finding a buyer. Turns out we needn't have worried, because the agent we enlisted had a buyer in mind the very first time he saw the house. We got it on the market, they came to see it, and within a week of listing our house we had an offer on it! Better than that, we know the people who made the offer! It's a young married couple, Christians, and this house would be great for them. Size, location, everything. Perfectly suited for them.

We made an offer on a house the day after we accepted their offer. At this rate, we were going to set a land-speed record for both transactions. It seemed to good to be true.

And then came the drama.

First of all, we discovered that our listing agent was also representing the buyers of our house -- something he had neglected to tell us. From that point on, we began to distrust him and overanalyze every piece of information he sent our way.

At the same time, we reached a verbal agreement on the house we wanted to buy . . . only to have the seller go back on his word in a bizarre turn of events. (Long story short: He's the power of attorney for the actual owner of the home. The house needed much work before it could even go on the market. This guy decided at the last minute that he wants what the house is worth PLUS the amount he put into fixing up the place. He doesn't care that the house isn't worth that much. He doesn't care that it will sit on the market for a year or more at the price he's insisting on. He doesn't care that even if someone is willing to pay his ridiculous price, it won't appraise for that much and so no bank will approve a mortgage for that price.) It was such a crazy situation that we can only assume God stepped in to prevent us from buying the wrong house. If it had been something else, we would have tried to work around it. The only way we would've not bought that house was if something happened to make it impossible for us to get it. And this made it impossible, with no chance of us manipulating the circumstances to make it work for us.

As I said, high drama.

Eventually J. confronted our agent and aired our concerns. It wasn't a pretty conversation, but by the end things were much better. Everything was out in the open, the agent got a chance to defend himself, and we were satisfied with how things turned out. We trust him again.

SO . . . we worked through the drama with selling our house, and now we close on Monday. Our house will officially belong to someone else. I must admit it's a relief, even though we're not excited about renting the house from them. We'd rather just hand over the keys at closing, but that's impossible since we don't have a place to move into.

It's been a little stressful, knowing that our house is about to sell and we're still not sure where we're moving to. We've been considering three different areas in two different counties, so a lot has been up in the air. Janna has been resistant to changing schools; even the prospect of living right behind some good friends wasn't enough incentive for her. I changed schools a few times in my day, and I survived. And Janna would too. I've told her that. Plus, she's a positive kid, and once she knew it was a done deal, she'd get excited about it and focus on the good things about changing schools. But until then -- while it's just a possibility -- she has refused to be excited about it or even to admit a single advantage. We're trying to be considerate of her feelings, although her school preference is only a small factor in our decision making.

On the other hand, it was liberating to not have a house waiting in the wings for us to purchase. We were beginning to fret about losing the sale of our house, because that would also mean losing the house we wanted to buy. So we were giving in to more demands that we wanted to. Then our house fell through, and suddenly we felt more confident to stand our ground and not let ourselves get steamrolled by the buyers. So there were good things coming out of the fact that we didn't get the house we wanted.

Once that house fell through, we held off looking at listings until we knew without a doubt that our buyers weren't going to back out. This week we started looking at listings, and compiled a list of 31 houses to drive past and scope out. From there, we narrowed it down to nine that we thought were worth seeing inside. Our buyer's agent (Kevin Brown, with Praedium Real Estate Services. He's an exclusive buyer's agent, Christian, very ethical and knowledgeable -- I can't recommend him highly enough. If you live anywhere near Pittsburgh and you're buying a house, you need him by your side.) took us to see six of them yesterday. The other three were off the market.

To make a long story longer: There were a couple viable candidates, but one stood head and shoulders above the rest. It's a beautiful house. Very nice. And in great condition, too. It's surprisingly close to where we live now (although in a different school district), so we can keep the girls at Eden, stay in Wednesday-night Kids Clubs at church, keep the same drop-off location with Janna, etc. And I can work two days a week instead of just one, which will bring in a slightly larger pittance than what I get right now. Did I mention that it already has a wooden playground in the backyard, which is something I was insisting we'd have to buy once we moved?

So what's the problem, you ask? Well, if you guessed money, you're right. We gave our buyer's agent the price range we wanted to look within, and he expanded it slightly in each direction. This house is at the tippy-top of that expanded price range. And it's in Allegheny County, which means think of the most ridiculous property taxes you can possibly imagine, and these are even higher. (That's a big reason we were looking in Beaver County.) Since Janna and Heather are also in private school, that's another chunk out of our paycheck each month. So this house lies on the border of "we can afford it" and "you gotta be kidding me!" It might depend on whether and how much the sellers are willing to come down on their price.

But it's a nice house. Did I say that already? We've seen a lot of houses where some buddy did the repairs. And it shows. At a glance they look okay, but if you look closer you can see that it was a sloppy job. Not in this house. Everything is updated, and they used high-quality products. Kevin predicts that the home inspection will come back clean, or nearly so. That's a titillating prospect, since J. and I are not what you'd call the handy types. When something breaks in our house, we invite some friends over for dinner and then hit them up to help us with repairs. (Hey, it works!)

Kevin is checking sales in the neighborhood, and he's going to come up with what he thinks is a reasonable offer. Then we'll see what the sellers say to it. I'm trying not to get attached to it yet. I know you're supposed to be "ready to walk away" from any house that you're purchasing. If you get emotionally involved, then you can't make good decisions anymore. I understand the logic of that. But a house is a big deal. If you're going to buy something as major as a house, I think you should be attached to it! If you're apathetic towards the house, maybe you shouldn't be buying it. I'm probably wrong, but that's how I feel.

We're going to see the house again on Monday, this time with J.'s parents. We'd like them to see it, and we'd also like to get their input on it. Between their opinions and Kevin's recommendations, we should know by then whether or not to pursue this house. The only real issue seems to be price, because the house itself is great.