Closing a Chapter

July 17, 2014

by — Posted in Life at Home

Well, the moving saga has come to an end… and not in the way we had hoped.

After 3 months on the market, our perfect little house has had over 10 showings and only a few who were serious enough to go to the bank. Unfortunately, those didn’t work out. And here it sat, still waiting to be sold.

Our original contingency had long run out: closing by June 20th. The sellers graciously extended the contract to “closing by July 20th.” We knew that one of two things would happen. 1) Someone would eventually buy our house. We’d negotiate a new closing date with the sellers and we’d be moving into a big beautiful house. Or… 2) Someone else would offer on the house we wanted and we would have 72 hours to do… something.

Sadly, the latter happened. Saturday morning, we learned that someone offered on their house. We didn’t know where the offer stood, if it had even been received yet. So we waited. We weighed our options. We could do a bridge loan (which covers the cost of the down payment that would be tied up in our equity) and have 2 mortgages until our house sold. This was not even a consideration for us until the sellers mentioned that they wanted to build and might possibly rent the house back from us to help cover the cost until our house sold or they moved on.

It was risky, but still we waited. Sunday we heard they countered the offer. Hoping, against hope that these other buyers would decline, that the counter was just not what they had hoped for… we waited again. Monday they accepted.

So we went into frenzy mode. We tried to get an appointment with our loan officer, but he couldn’t see us until Wednesday. The beginning of the 72 hours was a bit hazy. Did it start when they got the offer? When they accepted it? When they signed the paperwork? We’re still not really sure, but we finally found out we had until Friday morning at 11am.

The house is slipping through our fingers. We’re panicking. This house is the house we wanted so badly. It had everything we needed, and almost everything we could want (remember no garage?). There were so many tears. Such heaviness in our hearts. Could we swing a bridge loan? What if they didn’t stay and rent long enough? Was this a smart financial decision, or were we just being emotional here? What if we dropped the bottom out of our price and the Realtor called everyone she knew and got someone to make an offer before Friday? What if?

Wednesday morning I awoke to a text from the Realtor. She says the sellers have read and reread the contract. They interpret it to mean that even if we remove the contingency, we still have to close by the 20th, which would never happen with a bridge loan. We interpreted that part to be a part of the contingency and a new closing date would have to be negotiated. According to the head guy, the wording was “too vague.”

But as I read the text, which the day before would have made my heart beat fast and tears well up in my eyes, there was only peace. I can only describe it as “peace that passes understanding.” It was over. We were done fighting for this house. I calmly got up and started to get ready, with an incredible weight lifted off of my shoulders. Ansen read the text. I can’t say what went through his mind, I’m not sure he was quite at the same place as me. We exchanged some text with the Realtor and finally said, “We withdraw our offer and we would like to remove our house from the market.”

Right now, I am sad at the lost potential. It would have been a great house for us. But I have a new appreciation for our house. A renewed fervor to make our house the best it can be while we’re still here… however long that may be. I am free, once again to consider the possibilities. The first thing I told Ansen is that I want to put in a new faucet in the kitchen. It’s what we’ve wanted for a while, but with the prospect of selling, we wouldn’t have even considered. We can relax and enjoy our home. Let it get a little messy (though I have another post about that!). I can make a tent fort in the living room with Avie and not worry that at any moment we could have showing. And most importantly, I am thankful for the peace that I have, because I certainly didn’t conjure it on my own. We are at peace in our home again.