Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Another Update

It's official.  The first buyers have walked. I just received the rescission of their offer in my in-box.  The new buyers that appeared on the scene out of nowhere last week are still weighing our counter-offer.  We should know tomorrow if they want to stick it out or not.  They're going through the house again this afternoon, wanting to see it in the daylight (and clean, sans vomit covered man and baby, I'm sure).  It's all out of our hands at this point (isn't is always....).  Pray for favor, please!

Friday, December 24, 2010

Weekly (ahem) Update

Is it just me or have the last "seven" days felt more like, I don't know, thirty-three days?  Without further ado, a "weekly" update.

Nothing has happened with the bank.  Well, as of yesterday morning, that would have been my post every week since my last post over a month ago.  The bank has continued essentially to ignore the fact that they have a very competitive offer sitting in front of them.  To my knowledge, based on their updates, no one has even been assigned to look at the file.  90 days has come and gone, and the buyers have not given us any notice that they are going to extend the timeline on their offer, so for all intents and purposes, that offer is dead.

However, we received another offer yesterday.  The story behind it is a bit funny.  Tuesday of this week, the older girls and I went to a cookie exchange party (thanks for all the fun, Mary!), and Mr. Four Walls and the baby stayed home.  Peanut wasn't feeling too great, none of us have been really - 'tis the season, right?  Anyway, as Mr. Four Walls was getting her down to bed, she threw-up all over him and herself.  Right at that moment, as he was attempting to contain and clean the mess, he heard the front door open, and someone hollering "Hello?  Hello?"

Apparently some friends of our neighbors had decided they wanted to see our house even though it's not listed as an active listing in MLS.  Their agent did, in all fairness, call me ahead of showing as requested in the listing.  However, he called from our driveway shortly before 8 p.m. on a week-night, and as I was at a party I never even heard the phone ring.  Plus, we weren't expecting showings this week, as technically we still had the offer in play.  The house was (and still is) a disaster.

So there was my sweet, shirtless, vomit-covered husband, standing in the middle of a completely disheveled house, holding a tired, naked, vomit-covered toddler.  And really, that is the absolute best staging to sell a home, right?  The agent saw him and apologized.  Mr. Four Walls told them to feel free to look around, but as we weren't expecting anyone, they'd have to deal with the mess.  They were in and out in under 3 minutes.  Mr. Four Walls did overhear them on the way out, and it sounded to him that they were very interested.  He thought he heard their agent tell them to make a full-price offer.

And yesterday that they did, although "full-price" is a relative term and is still almost $100,000 less than we owed on the loan before the default and accruing ridiculous interest, penalties, and fees.  Time has run out on the original offer, and we get to start the game yet again. Yay. Our agent assures us that the bank should hold our place in line, but I'm not so sure.  They haven't gotten around to setting the auction date as they could have done the week of Thanksgiving, so we're still at a minimum 90+ days out from the big "F" word. 

So the countdown is on again.  We -technically- are not mutually agreed on the offer quite yet, so I suppose I'm counting my chickens before they hatch.  I have the file here in front of me, and as soon as I'm done composing this piece of literary ambrosia, I will fax it over to my agent with our changes and signatures, for him to submit to them and their agent.  If all goes well, though, we'll have another offer to send to the bank first thing Monday morning. 

Reset the clock.......tick...tock....tick.....tock........

I'm Dreaming of a Frozen Christmas

Today is Christmas Eve. I cannot believe it! Where has this year gone? Some days I wish we could freeze time, just for a short while. It all goes too quickly. You know those moments, right?

When you look at your children and realize that, even though you just brought them home from the hospital, they're going to be grown and gone tomorrow.

Freeze.

When your love for someone fills you so fully, there's no other place for it to go except streaming down your face in the form of sticky, salty tears.

Freeze.

When an ending is approaching, and you're not quite ready to say goodbye, to move on to the next beginning that will inevitably follow.

Freeze.

We may not get a white Christmas in our soggy corner of the world, but I hope that you each have a Frozen Christmas, at least for a few moments. Although, don't forget to let those moments thaw, because there are surely many more Freeze-worthy moments to come.

Merry Christmas.

Nancy