Sunday, March 05, 2006
Waiting To Exhale
The past week has been such a rollercoaster! First, I caused a big, big, BIG upset with my "I'm Tired" post with Mr. Chick. He read it and it became a problem. I really hurt his feelings - primarily with my comment about being tired of obligatory sex (I've since deleted the offending comment, so don't even bother going back to look for it.) He felt terrible, I felt worse. We're working it out, thankfully, but I really put my foot in it with that one and simply HATED the aftermath and repercussions. I did it to myself and have no one to blame. I shouldn't have opened my mouth and have learned a very valuable lesson. It just kills me when I'm insensitive like that and hurt the feelings of someone I love. Gah!
Secondly, we had the house inspected and it turned up a few major issues that would need to be addressed. Structural things. Plus a myriad of smaller, more petty items that we could take care of ourselves. But roof leaks? Dry rot? Foundation problems? Blown window seals? Those are major, and majorly expensive. Fixable, sure. Nothing fatal. But we don't love the house enough to dump that kind of money into it when we feel like we're already reaching beyond our comfort zone in the first place. We requested that the sellers take care of making those repairs. And they only have about 10 days to do it. Tight, tight timeframe. Nearly impossible. I have been feeling a sense of dread all weekend that it isn't going to work out. That they'll tell us to go f*ck ourselves and they'll find other buyers who'll take it as-is. Or they'd only do one thing and we'd have to do the rest. ALL of the scenarios have been played out in my head all week. Lot's of "what if's". It didn't help that our realtor was out of town and we'd been working with a partner of hers in her place. This lady was nice, but not our cup of tea. She worked hard for us, but it was exasperating. We're glad our realtor is now back as of yesterday.
So this morning we finally get a chance to connect with our realtor. And good news! She tells us that she's been speaking with the listing agent, who has gotten a verbal agreement from the sellers to take care of everything on our list! Well, except one item that we didn't really expect them to do and included because (a) it would have been nice if they did take care of it, but (b) we wanted to include something less important so they could say no to something. Sort of a political game strategy. They said no to putting up mouldings/baseboards in the living room, up one of the staircases, and the bedrooms. They say it's because there never was baseboard there in the first place, but we can SEE that there had been at some point. It's obvious, at least in the kids bedrooms and the staircase. But whatever - it's minor. Structural things, however, are NOT minor.
So now we're just waiting for the agents - theirs and ours - to scramble (and I do mean scramble!) to get contractors in there to give them bids on everything. We need to hit our closing date of the 15th because our interest rate lock is only good until the 16th and the rates are going up and we might not be able to afford the house if we miss our locked rate. And while all that is happening, Plan B is being formed. Plan B is where arrangements are made for them to give us "credits" towards closing costs, for example, to cover the cost of some of the work that needs to be done but probably can't be done in time. So they throw money at it. OR, they could agree to hold back 1.5x - 2x the estimated amount in escrow until the work is done, essentially paying for it after the sale of the house. OR, they could agree tor reduce the sales price of the house by whatever amount to cover the cost of doing the work. A few options. But it really doesn't matter to us which way it plays out because ultimately it's not coming out of our pocket. Not really.
So it's looking good that the house will be ours! Yay!! Maybe I can even start to believe that we really are moving at the end of the month. I can give notice at Nicholas's school, give notice to our landlords, and start packing! Oh how I dread packing.... but what fun to imagine UNpacking in our new house!! Now I need to start considering doing stuff like getting the utilities switched to our name, reserve a moving truck, bribe friends to help us move, sort through all the crap and figure out what we can truly take to the dump, what we can sell, etc. oh - it's endless.
But very, very exciting.
Secondly, we had the house inspected and it turned up a few major issues that would need to be addressed. Structural things. Plus a myriad of smaller, more petty items that we could take care of ourselves. But roof leaks? Dry rot? Foundation problems? Blown window seals? Those are major, and majorly expensive. Fixable, sure. Nothing fatal. But we don't love the house enough to dump that kind of money into it when we feel like we're already reaching beyond our comfort zone in the first place. We requested that the sellers take care of making those repairs. And they only have about 10 days to do it. Tight, tight timeframe. Nearly impossible. I have been feeling a sense of dread all weekend that it isn't going to work out. That they'll tell us to go f*ck ourselves and they'll find other buyers who'll take it as-is. Or they'd only do one thing and we'd have to do the rest. ALL of the scenarios have been played out in my head all week. Lot's of "what if's". It didn't help that our realtor was out of town and we'd been working with a partner of hers in her place. This lady was nice, but not our cup of tea. She worked hard for us, but it was exasperating. We're glad our realtor is now back as of yesterday.
So this morning we finally get a chance to connect with our realtor. And good news! She tells us that she's been speaking with the listing agent, who has gotten a verbal agreement from the sellers to take care of everything on our list! Well, except one item that we didn't really expect them to do and included because (a) it would have been nice if they did take care of it, but (b) we wanted to include something less important so they could say no to something. Sort of a political game strategy. They said no to putting up mouldings/baseboards in the living room, up one of the staircases, and the bedrooms. They say it's because there never was baseboard there in the first place, but we can SEE that there had been at some point. It's obvious, at least in the kids bedrooms and the staircase. But whatever - it's minor. Structural things, however, are NOT minor.
So now we're just waiting for the agents - theirs and ours - to scramble (and I do mean scramble!) to get contractors in there to give them bids on everything. We need to hit our closing date of the 15th because our interest rate lock is only good until the 16th and the rates are going up and we might not be able to afford the house if we miss our locked rate. And while all that is happening, Plan B is being formed. Plan B is where arrangements are made for them to give us "credits" towards closing costs, for example, to cover the cost of some of the work that needs to be done but probably can't be done in time. So they throw money at it. OR, they could agree to hold back 1.5x - 2x the estimated amount in escrow until the work is done, essentially paying for it after the sale of the house. OR, they could agree tor reduce the sales price of the house by whatever amount to cover the cost of doing the work. A few options. But it really doesn't matter to us which way it plays out because ultimately it's not coming out of our pocket. Not really.
So it's looking good that the house will be ours! Yay!! Maybe I can even start to believe that we really are moving at the end of the month. I can give notice at Nicholas's school, give notice to our landlords, and start packing! Oh how I dread packing.... but what fun to imagine UNpacking in our new house!! Now I need to start considering doing stuff like getting the utilities switched to our name, reserve a moving truck, bribe friends to help us move, sort through all the crap and figure out what we can truly take to the dump, what we can sell, etc. oh - it's endless.
But very, very exciting.
// posted by MP @ 1:09 PM 
Comments:
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It sounds exciting alright and wonderful! It will be hard work but it will be soooooo worth it uh? Good luck and enjoy!
Jerri Ann
Jerri Ann
# posted by 
: 6:29 PM
: 6:29 PM
First of all, I'm glad that the major things are workable with the house. It sounds like you and Mr. Chick have a good plan for backups. I'll still keep my fingers crossed until you have to sign in blood on the 15th lol.
I'm sorry to hear that you had such a fallout on your previous post. It's so hard to walk that fine line of being honest about hard times. You had just reached your limit that day. It wasn't a permanent thing. As a woman, I can completely understand that. Men don't work that way and it's harder for them to understand that it just feels good to let out some steam. I didn't take your vent to mean that you felt that way all the time for months on end. It was just a temporary situation. We all can read how much you love your husband, in all ways.
Hugs to you!
Post a Comment
I'm sorry to hear that you had such a fallout on your previous post. It's so hard to walk that fine line of being honest about hard times. You had just reached your limit that day. It wasn't a permanent thing. As a woman, I can completely understand that. Men don't work that way and it's harder for them to understand that it just feels good to let out some steam. I didn't take your vent to mean that you felt that way all the time for months on end. It was just a temporary situation. We all can read how much you love your husband, in all ways.
Hugs to you!
# posted by : 5:21 PM
: 5:21 PM << Home
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