Alright, here’s the story … of a lovely house … that was bringing us some very stressful times :). The Benton house, as I dubbed it in a previous post, is a relatively new log-cabin style home that sits on almost 12 acres of wooded land out “in the sticks.” It’s a great house with a great piece of land at a great price. Great. So, why the stress? Why, indeed.
Bryan found this house on the internet a month ago. Here’s the listing photo:
We called up the listing agent and went to look at the house. Then we went back to look at it again. Then, we made an offer, with a reasonable deadline. The deadline for acceptance comes and goes without a word. Turns out, the house is in a short sale situation, which means the seller’s bank is involved … which means bank committees and panels and such are involved … which means make yourself comfortable, this is going to take awhile.
Two weeks pass and I’m ready to move on, even if only out of spite, but Bryan really likes the house and the land. Finally, the bank comes back on a Friday to say that it has 3 potential buyers and it wants best offers submitted by 5 p.m. the following Monday. Now, it may be hard to believe, but I can be a bit stubborn at times. (I know, shocker!) So, I didn’t want to play in a bidding war, just out of principle. But even in a bidding war, it’s a great deal and it’s what we’ve been looking for so …. We, of course, put another reasonable deadline on our “best offer.” Again, it comes and goes without a word. I’m just plain pissed at this point. Not to mention that we need to get a move on.
Our current lease is up at the end of July, which means that we have until the end of this month (less than a week!) to confirm that we’ll be vacating then or … sign … a … new … lease (I’d rather have all my teeth pulled!). Finally, yesterday, Bryan starts saying that we need to forget about the Benton house and he wants me to set up some times to look at other houses. (Now, in fairness, he’s wanted me to do that for awhile, but only as a back-up and since our 3-moves-in-3-years has made me despise house-hunting … I ain’t doing anything unless it’s for real). So, I called a few realtors today and lined up 2 appointments for this evening for us to look at some possibilities. And, then, … serendipity strikes.
Bryan calls to say that it looks like we’re getting the Benton house after all. The seller rejected the other 2 offers and submitted ours to the bank. The listing agent says that the bank is going to sign off on it and we should have a signed contract sometime tomorrow. I’m officially holding my breath … someone might need to check on me tomorrow.