The Search Continues and the Pandemic Hits

When we last "spoke," we were waiting on the other buyer.  They kept their offer, then read the inspection report, lowered their offer slightly, but said they would fix everything.  We didn't have to fix a thing.  We thought it over and then said yeah, okay, let's do it.  I felt a little awkward canceling the mold mitigation (I just wanted it gone), but such is life.  So here it was the end of February and we finally had an offer that seemed like it might actually stick.  Unfortunatetly for us, the house we had offered on and loved in December was now sold.  At that moment there was not much on the market, but within a couple of weeks we started looking at houses again.  Re:  one of them, my realtor emailed me early afternoon about one that came on the market that day.  We went that evening (after work), made a good offer (as in offer asking price) that evening as did I think four other people and our offer was not accepted.  That one hurt, but the search continued...We looked at a few places, but none we liked enough to offer on and then suddenly, everything shut down.  We were supposed to go see a house the day after everything was due to shut down, but we managed to get in a day early and made an offer.  No luck!  And now we weren't sure what was going to happen.  There was some confusion re: whether or not realtors were essential and could continue to show houses so the stress (and waiting) continued...

Inspection Time

After what happened last time, we were too nervous to seriously look at houses until the inspection on our place was over; however, that being said, on our way out of town for an overnight trip that weekend, we did decide to stop at an open house down the street.  It was kind of nice to be out looking at houses again since we hadn't looked at any since the offer fell through in December.  We had a nice mini trip and came home to the siding contractor fixing a section of siding that needed it just in time for the inspection later that day. Minutes before the inspection the stove stopped working--talk about timing, but the inspector fixed it, he thinks something got tripped when they were banging new siding into that exterior wall where the stove is located.  I called my realtor and begged her not to let the sale fall through over an oven--I'll buy a new oven if needed, I promised!  Turned out to be a non-issue.  After the inspection, my realtor called me and explained a couple of concerns with our home.  She and I were both upset the original person who offered on our place had not told us this back in November after his inspection because I could have fixed everything back in November.  The biggest concern involved some seals being broken in some windows--I thought I just did a bad job cleaning them, but it turned out they needed some glass to be replaced and there was potentially mold in one spot in the crawlspace.  I freaked about that thinking it was going to cost tens of thousands of dollars to fix (thank you internet).  There were also some suggested electrical upgrades.  So I started reaching out to mold mitigation companies, contacted my electrician, and contacted someone about the windows.  Long story not so long, the mold spot was small (thank you God!) and it was going to cost $800-$1000 to fix depending who I used.  The electric was going to be around $500-$700.  The windows were the most expensive at over $1000, but all was still doable--and after thinking I was going to have to spend THOUSANDS and THOUSANDS of dollars on mold, none of that seemed bad anymore.  I started making plans to fix things (good thing I had a few days off) when my realtor called and said the buyer was pulling his offer because of all the needed repairs.  She suggested we take the home off the market for 30 days, fix everything, get the kitchen repainted, and put the home back on the market in 30 days.  I was devastated, but I knew we couldn't sell a home with mold and it was going to be a couple of weeks before everyone could come out and fix everything.  She emailed me a form to sign.  I didn't have the heart to call my husband at work and ruin his day so I didn't sign the form right away.  I figured we could do it after work.  A little while later my realtor called again and said the other buyer--remember we had two offers--increased their offer and was interested in making a new offer.  I told her that was great, but no one was going to want to buy a house with mold in it--that being said, remember I had all ready started contacting people about mold and the estimate was not as bad as I feared.  Even my realtor was shocked.  She thought if we told them I was all ready working on the mold and glass and had things in writing, they might actually consider it. I gave her permission to share my copy of the inspection report and my estimates.  And the waiting began...

The House Saga Continues

I'm baack, well, until I slack off again ha ha.  Due to covid-19, there is no travel for me this summer. I'm so sad about this; obviously, I understand, but I was supposed to go to Finland and Sweden for two weeks, :-(  So instead I will use this time to update you on the house situation instead of blogging about fun trips. As I stated last year/time, our home went back on the market the Saturday before Christmas along with an Open House that weekend. We had a showing Christmas Eve, but then we didn't have any other showings for over a week.  I was off from work until January 2nd and it was on January 2nd and 3rd that my phone started blowing up with texts about showings.  I hoped something good would happen and while we'd have a bunch in a row and then nothing, a couple of people expressd some interest and asked about more info, but we went through the entire month of January with no offers and some positive and negative feedback from those who viewed the home.  The calendar switched to February and still nothing, but there was another Open House and some more people showed interest, requested more information and some even asked to see the house a second (and one a third) time.  We rearranged some furniture and had some more painting done and arranged to have some siding repaired/replaced.  One frustrating thing was that even in snowstorms people wanted to come see the place.  Our plow guys in the association are good, but they have over 200 driveways to plow so it takes awhile so not only did I have to drive in the snow (which I don't like to do) since you can't be home during showings, but I also had to shovel--now before you call me a lazy fool, the reason I'm complaning about shoveling is because my HOA dues pay for plowing so basically I'm paying for someone to plow, but I have to do it so the place looks good for potential buyers--and if any of them made an offer I wouldn't complain, but no one who came out in those snowstorms offered on the place.    #firstworldproblems, right?  I suppose it was good exercise though.  Fast forward 50 showings (yes, really) and it's the end of February and two offers come in (with interest from a third, but nothing materialized).  I went out for drinks/apps with some co-workers after work that day and came home that evening and had to review two offers and pick the best one.  I was shocked to have gone from nothing for months to two at once.  Things were starting to look up (or so I thought...)  We accepted what seemed to be the best offer after a bit of countering all was signed and it was time to get ready for the inspection..

Why I Haven't Blogged Lately

You know what they say about the best intentions and the best laid plans, etc.  I know I slack on here a lot, but I usually get my 30 days of pictures done within 40-60 days lol  Well, that did not happen this year and here's why.  Get comfy, this may take a while.  I like where I live, but I was single when I bought it so I didn't need a ton of space.  At some point the hubs and I would like to have a child, we'd also like a yard, and just more space in general so I met with a realtor over the summer to see about listing my condo. It sounded doable, but I needed to declutter and do some minor repairs in the bathroom.  Trying to find a contractor willing to do minor repairs anytime this year proved challenging, but I was eventually able to find someone who would do it in September.  September is a crazy month at work so the plan was to list in October.  In the mean time, my husband broke his leg while we were vacationing with my family in Alaska--that deserves its own blog post, but not right now.  During the first half of November he was cast free and back to work. Our home went on the market on a Saturday in mid-November and what a whirlwind that week was!  Being ready for stranger's to enter your house on a moment's notice is well, let's just say it's an adjustment, but the house was sure clean!   By Tuesday we had an offer on the place and after some back and forth we had a signed P&S that Friday.  Now we could start looking for a new home!  We looked at several places without much success.  Black Friday we looked at a place, liked it, and made an offer on it.  Our offer was not accepted--someone else made a better offer that same day.  A few days later another house came on the market that looked promising.  We went to the Open House, liked it, went back with our realtor that same afternoon, and decided to make an offer on it.  The following day after a little bit of countering, our offer was accepted.  We were so excited, but we did wonder is it too good to be true?  This is a really nice, good-sized house in our price range, what's the catch?  We had the inspection that Saturday and there were a few things we wanted fixed, but in general, all looked well.  Now we were really starting to feel happy and in fact we went to a Christmas party that night and started telling people about "our" future house.  Our house had been inspected the previous day and my realtor said it sounded like all went well.  But what's that they say about how things can change in the blink of an eye or the roll of die or in a heartbeat?  Pick your cliché.  It happened.  My realtor called me on Sunday and let's just say some tears were shed.  Our buyer was no longer able to purchase our home and without the money from our sale we could no longer buy "our" future house so we had to withdraw our offer.  I hoped a miracle would occur and our home would sell quickly and we could reoffer on "our" home, but no luck.  I know people say if it's meant to be it'll be, and God has a plan, and everything happens for a reason, but right now I'm just sad.  I was so excited.  I purposely didn't get my hopes up until after we had the inspection, then I started visualizing how I would set up and decorate the rooms, how nice it would be to host Easter brunch and the St. Patrick's Day parties with all that space--it gets a bit crowded in here with 37 people over for St. Patrick's Day.  :-)  And of course we had now told a bunch of our friends that all was looking well so now we had to go back and tell them (and our families) that the deal was off.  Our home went back on the market right before Christmas, which I've been reading is a horrible time to sell so who knows how long it'll take.  I really hope it sells soon and that we can find something nice again, but in the mean time I'm trying really hard to be patient and positive.  Here's hoping...

Why I'm Slacking

So I'm totally slacking on this because we made the brilliant decision to try to sell our place and buy a new one during the holidays.  So I may need to pick a new month for pictures! 

Here we go again, day 5

Here we go again, day 4