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May 03, 2007
Real Estate 101: How to Sell and Buy Houses
I was going to do a cheeky little run-down of the past five months and the lunacy of the home buying and selling process but fact is, I'm too damn tired and my brain has trickled out of my ears like undercooked oatmeal.
So I'm picking up where I left off, wherever that was.
When we last left our heroine, she was slamming her head against the floor because - oh, the irony! - the same day her crapshack finally sold, the house she wanted had been usurped from under her! Homeless! We're going to be homeless because our buyers want to close at the end of this month and there isn't a single solitary suitable house in all the land! Homeless!
Some melodrama ensued. It wasn't pretty, so I'll spare you.
We did take the offer on our house. Of course, we would have been stupid not to. We made one wee little change to the contract, and we're waiting to hear if the buyer accepts it. If not, no problem. We'll take what they offered.
Upon realizing my intense malaise and penchant for melodrama yesterday, the dear PKB drug me out of my house and said, "Get yourself east of the Mississippi River and let's find you a house." I really didn't want to, since putting on clothes and brushing my teeth seemed like monumental task in my melodramatic state, what with all the time I was spending weeping bitter little tears and flinging the mosaic tile I took from the house I thought would be ours at the stupid fucking dirt bike riders who zoom up and down my street 24 fucking hours a fucking day. But she made me go.
Good thing, too because guess what. We're buying a house. Well, not PKB and me, although we've discussed having that sort of lifestyle. B. and I will be doing the purchasing and living together and whatnot.
Remember back in January, when we first started looking at houses? I really liked the first house we viewed that day, but it was a weird situation. Our brains were already wrapped around The House. We were meeting our new real estate agent for the first time. And, it didn't help that when we opened the door, we were greeted by a very sickly, very startled young woman. Apparently her real estate agent hadn't told her we were coming. She was four months pregnant, on bedrest, being fed via IV, and completely mortified at the condition of her house.
Come on. She was that sick, with two little girls already. If I were her, I probably would have burned my house down at that point. I'd think I was doing well to not have piles of poo throughout the house. Regardless, we looked very quickly. I saw enough to know I liked the house. B. nixed it.
On Tuesday night, when I was frantically trying to find a new house through the bitter, bitter, bitter tears, that was one of the houses I was trying to find. It didn't appear on any of the real estate websites I checked. Neither did the other two houses we liked.
So, yesterday. PKB and I started at one end of Prettytown and commenced driving up and down every street in search of for sale signs. Lo and behold, where did we see one? The Bedrest House.
Long story short, B. and I took another look today through new eyes. We're making an offer tomorrow. Hopefully, by the end of the weekend, we'll be on our way to calling it home.
Posted by Robin at May 3, 2007 04:03 PM
Comments
An infrequent commenter, I have been watching the House Saga carefully. Somehow, in my mind I had tied your getting into the other house to my selling mine (it's crazy, don't ask). I rooted for you ending up in that house the whole time; it just felt meant to be.
But. The truth is, when something keeps NOT coming together the way that kept not coming together for you, there's a reason.
It's not ours to ask, but I am sure that some day, you'll find out something that makes you realize you dodged a bullet.
I have no doubt you'll be incredibly, beautifully happy in your new home for as long as you stay there. Enjoy.
Posted by: Heidi at May 3, 2007 01:37 PM
Well I'm glad you took the offer on the crapshack.
And can I just say how much I love the house, and the leaves! Its perfect! Good luck to yoi.
Posted by: Tiffany at May 3, 2007 05:27 PM
It's gorgeous, and I can't wait to visit you and the clan there in Prettytown!
Posted by: Exena at May 3, 2007 05:58 PM
a happy house in prettytown!
Posted by: robiewankenobie at May 3, 2007 06:37 PM
Wow. That is way cute. Cuter, even.
Posted by: Julie at May 3, 2007 06:51 PM
Oh happy day! It's lovely - and big old trees. Neat. Can't wait for the flickr house tour!
Posted by: christine in portland at May 3, 2007 09:36 PM
Ack! The cuteness!
Fingers crossed...
Posted by: Summer at May 3, 2007 11:20 PM
Ahhh! Oh my god! The cuteness of that house! It burns!
Posted by: Rachel at May 4, 2007 01:07 AM
Love it. Love it. More than the other one. Keeping fingers crossed.
Posted by: m at May 4, 2007 01:33 AM
Now ya know I agree with all Heidi said. But I really like this house better. Do you have pictures of the inside?
Cassie
Posted by: Cassie at May 4, 2007 09:50 AM
This house is beautiful! I'm sure you'll be incredibly happy there. Clearly the other wasn't meant to be - while this one is!
YAY you!
Posted by: Hilda at May 4, 2007 11:34 AM
Hey, we can all bring broken tiles over and make a mosaic on the porch!
Posted by: Amy in StL at May 4, 2007 12:22 PM
I love it! Can't wait to see pics of the rest of it. :-)
YAY!!
Posted by: BarefootCajun at May 4, 2007 12:35 PM
Very, very cute! This house has character! I'm seriously digging the two entrance thing.
You know the other house - the one that you seemed to have to jump through hoops over? - it doesn't seem that it should have been yours after all because of all the hurdles popping up. This one? It just waited patiently for you to come back. I reckon it already knew you belonged together.
Posted by: Dixie at May 4, 2007 02:24 PM
CONGRATULATIONS!
Pretty house.
I have a question and the answer probably has something to do with basements which are but a myth in Texas (because the ground shifts so much if you had a basement you'd wake up with your house next to it someday), but why is the front door at one height and the side door at a different height which does not seem to be a full floor difference?
Posted by: liz at May 4, 2007 03:22 PM
I'm so glad you took an offer on your house -- now you can get out of that neighborhood! And the new house is really cute. Does it have a good kitchen?
Posted by: Katya at May 4, 2007 06:02 PM
I think that house looks even cuter now that it's spring.
You know I LOVE LOVE LOVE that house. As soon as I saw it, I had a good feeling.
I immediately pictured myself there hanging out.
OMG, you're going to be so CLOSE!!! I so needed this good news.
Posted by: pkb at May 4, 2007 06:53 PM
Heidi, Cassie and Dixie, I think you're absolutely right. It's obvious we're not supposed to have the first house. I'm so okay with that now. Good luck with your own house stuff, Heidi! Let me tell ya, it's a relief when you see the end in sight.
Christine and Cassie, I fully intended to have a Flickr tour all set yesterday, but two things happened: 1)the current owners left the house pretty untidy and I felt like I'd be invading their privacy by photographing it, and 2)I brought my camera but forgot to put batteries in it.
Summer, Rachel, the cuteness is, indeed, downright paintful. It's even cuter inside. Two words: wet bar!
Amy, perhaps my first party in the new house should be a tile-breaking party. I must admit, I'm happily trading the pretty but useless mosaic porch at the first house for the huge, covered, made-for-sittin' porch at the "new" house.
Liz, I don't think it's a basement issue, although this house has a wonderful, refinished basement. Did I mention the wet bar? We love our basements here in Tornado Alley. The new house sits on two slopes, as does our current house, although the slopes at the new house are much smaller than our current slopes. It's not uncommon around here to see houses where part of the basement's fully underground and part of it's on ground level.
Katya, the kitchen's good. I'm not a fan of big kitchens. This one's 10x10, which is just right. It has a Lazy Susan corner cabinet, two windows, a pantry and my favorite part - a huge floor-to-ceiling built-in china cabinet/buffet. The wood's almost black, and it's got frosted glass windows and silver hardware. My Fiestaware's going to look amazing in it! My only kitchen complain is the lack of dishwasher, but we'll take care of that quickly. And did I mention the wet bar downstairs?
Posted by: Robin at May 4, 2007 06:54 PM
I use Fiestaware asw my "company dishes". What colors do you have? My main plates are pink and aqua, and then all the other stuff is in different colors. I even have Fiestaware espresso cups!
Isn't setting up a new house fun?
Posted by: Hilda at May 4, 2007 08:42 PM
I've been lurking and reading your blog and I love it!
that is so cool! congratulations!! I don't live far from that house and drive by it all of the time!!
cheers!
marianne
Posted by: marianne at May 4, 2007 09:29 PM
Gorgeous, gorgeous house. I am in bungalow envy. ;-)
Posted by: Nancy at May 19, 2007 07:02 AM
