The Waiting Room

Last week, we put an offer in on House #1. Unfortunately, the sellers are not helping much. First, they said they wanted the appliances. OK, no problem. Besides, I don't want their nasty oven that has never been cleaned in 10 years, despite it being a self cleaning oven. So, we adjusted our counter offer to reflect having to purchase appliances. The seller wants the home inspection within 10 days. It would be a little tough, seeing as we are going out of town next weekend, Husband has a huge deadline coming up and most home inspectors are super busy as the April 30th deadline approaches, so we said OK, but if we could have an extra week to be safe, that would help us.

The seller said no.

We asked for copies of the utilities three weeks ago. We got them Friday.

We asked if they would repair the six broken parts of the window hardware. They feel they don't have to fix it.

The seller does not want to lower their counteroffer because they still think their house is worth what is was prior to the housing crash. They still think they can make money.

Husband and I feel that we have acted in good faith, while the sellers have not. We have tried to be reasonable with these people, but they just don't want to play ball.

So, we told them where to go and took our ball and went home.

Yesterday, we bid on a house two doors down from House #1. House #2 does not have the issues that House #1 has. It has a nicer layout and a more updated kitchen. The only drawbacks are that it is a little more money, we would need to install a fence in the backyard for the Boy, the yard is a little smaller and the stairway leading to the bedrooms is a little steep. We would need to install an new banister that could support me if I had trouble walking. These items would not cost too much, as we have enough in our budget, but, it would be additional work that would need to be done before we move in. But, there is piece of mind that this Seller has done what needed to be done to prep this house for sale.

Yesterday afternoon, our agent called. House #2 came back with a counter offer we can work with. They want to close by May 15th, which I guess is possible. House #1 is tried to woo us back with a counter offer too. Now, it seems that they want to play ball.

Sorry House #1, but we don't want to play with you anymore.

Husband and I ran the numbers and need to check with our bank, but I think we can meet in the middle with House #2.

I just hope that they will play ball.