The Next Step

Yesterday sucked.  Let’s just get that out there.  There were 3 things that went right (I sold the home gym, the dentist’s office finally coordinated with insurance so we owed them less money, and my gluten free peach cobbler was marvelous) but they just weren’t enough to drag me out of DANGER!  ANEURISM POSSIBLE! territory, wherein I put my extensive knowledge of forensics, anatomy, and murder to work coming up with vicious and painful ways to pay back this buyer.  Never mess with murder mystery writers.  Do you know how much time we spend planning the perfect murder?  She seriously better hope she never meets me in person when she moves here.  I might deck her.  Or more likely a roundhouse to the face.  My feet are tougher than my knuckles and my legs much stronger than my right cross.

Me being me, I didn’t have my fall apart hissy fit, even though I REALLY WANTED TO.  Instead I moved forward to the next thing.  Calling a structural engineer and describing the sagging eave that was the problem (the buyer claimed that it was a structural issue, one of “many” she claimed we wouldn’t fix–yet her home inspection said our foundation was rock solid…; we had been told when we purchased the house that it was not).  He was like, “Well I don’t really do that…it has nothing to do with the walls or foundation.  You probably need a roofer or a framer to look at that.”  Not A Structural Issue Exhibit A.

The buyer had an estimate from a licensed HANDYMAN, not a licensed CONTRACTOR or ROOFER or some other actual professional, that claimed that it would be nearly $4k to fix that sagging eave.  On top of an estimate to replace the roof that was $2500 more than the one we had from our PROFESSIONAL ROOFER, PLUS another $1500 to replace all the decking.  Guess what?  Our PROFESSIONAL ROOFER, who is one of the most highly regarded in town says there’s nothing WRONG WITH THE DECKING.  And that droopy eave?   He came out to see it yesterday.  It’ll be about $400 to fix.  So I’m already on the schedule to get the roof replaced (without ripping everything out, thank you very much), a ridge vent added for ventilation, and the droopy eave fixed week after next so that this does not come back to bite us in the butt on a future buyer.  It’s another $5k out of pocket, but it’s gotta be done.

It’s common practice here that earnest money is not paid until the home inspection contingency is removed.  As that was where things fell apart with this deal, we don’t even get that for our troubles dealing with this woman.  Did I mention we are the fourth people she’s done this to?  She is an example of the worst kind of person in a buyer’s market.  One who thinks she can totally screw people over to spend a fortune fixing unnecessary things, ripping all sorts of stuff apart to see if MAYBE there’s a problem in old houses, and then getting angry when the sellers say no or won’t be screwed with.  I don’t care how bad the market is, when you are buying a house, you need to remember that it’s still PEOPLE on the other end and employ some COMMON COURTESY.

So now what?

Well before all this insanity started, I had made peace with being in this house longer (can’t say I’m going to be able to get back to that place mentally).  I’ve figured out what furniture I am getting rid of and replacing with the nice furniture from my mom’s.  Some of my extra furniture that she’s got is just gonna have to move into her attic at the new place when she moves in a few weeks.  But I’m repurposing two rooms in our current house.  Neither of us actively uses our office, so I’m moving the day bed into hubby’s office, bringing down an armoire and making that a nice guest space, which will show better anyway.  And I’m bringing down my nice pretty desk from mom’s and a pair of wingback chairs to put in my office to turn it into a formal library.  I think I’m bringing a nicer pair of side tables down for the living room and I’ll try to sell the pair we have, which will give us a bit more money to put toward a pair of those nice dial-a-weight dumbells, which was our compromise for getting rid of the gym.

So tomorrow we’ll go get that furniture.  Today will be all about rearranging and CLEANING.  The house is a wreck because I’ve been packing and we haven’t been showing and I just can’t deal with the mess anymore.  And of course we have to get it back into showing shape.

The silver lining in all of this  is that the sellers whose house we want to buy were not yet REALLY ready to move when we made the offer.  They were scrambling to try to accommodate us, but they haven’t found anything to buy yet and are not themselves in any kind of jam (which I was really afraid of–OUR contract with them was contingent upon the close of sale of our house but as they aren’t working with a realtor themselves I was afraid they had gotten into a contract on a new house that was not under those terms).  We told them we still want to buy their house if it is still available when ours sells, and they seem cool with that.  We are going to talk to them about getting right of first refusal if another offer comes up on their house or they find the perfect one for them.  I don’t think they’re in a huge hurry and they KNOW that we are a guaranteed buyer if our house will only sell, so maybe it will give us all more time and maybe things will still work out that we can get THAT house.  I can’t say I’m crying over not having to move in AUGUST.  It was a heat index of 110 yesterday.  And there’s always the benefit of paying more stuff off, which is never a bad thing.

At this point we are hoping that we can find a buyer during football season this fall who wants to have a Bulldog weekend house (which is what happened to our neighbors across the street when they sold).  It’s a bit late in the season for someone who’s coming in for the university to work or go to school.

I’ve lost most of this week for my writing.  Too much stress, too much to do.  Since I no longer have to move August 5th, then I’m removing my August 2nd deadline for finishing Red.  I’m not even trying to get back into it before Monday.  I need to reset my equilibrium and reclaim my sanctuary, get the house sorted out and clean and organized again.  It will be finished when it’s finished (probably mid-August).  Then while it’s with my crit partners, I will reread ALL of my Mirus stuff to get back into that zone and dive into finishing Riven.  It will be good to get something else out there, hopefully in mid-September.

Off to start laundry.  Have a good Saturday y’all.

5 thoughts on “The Next Step

  1. That’s one of the things I admire about you. You’re strong enough to take a bad situation, deal with it, and move on the the next thing. Good for you! And I know things will eventually work out with the house situation.

  2. Oh, an upside to it too is that I get to see you after all! (pretty sure that is not your primary concern, but I’m excited.)

  3. Kait, good for you for marching forward. If the buyer has pulled this kind of crap several times, it’s likely she’s either not committed to buying a house or that she’s looking to get something for nothing. She’d have found a way to make your life miserable either way.

  4. Throwing a hissy fit is understandable. From what I’m reading, it seems to me that the buyer is thinking of all the reasons why not to buy your property. Maybe she doesn’t really want to buy the house? Good luck! Hope you’ll have luck on the next one.

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