The Timing is Just Not Right

So, I previously posted about our house FINALLY selling... Well, it's back on the market. Many of you have already heard me venting my frustrations about this, but for those of you who haven't, I will vent a little more... ;-)

About a week and a half ago, we had the inspection done on the house. The inspector picked out every little nit-picky thing that was wrong with the house. A couple of days later, the "buyers" gave us a long list of things that they wanted us to fix. Most of it was stupid little stuff, but we said, whatever- we'll fix it. Well, the big thing was that they asked us to put new vinyl siding on the WHOLE house!! I was furious! I mean, I don't think I would even consider asking someone to do that. This house is not a brand new house, and they should not be expecting to get a brand new house. Our realtor was even surprised that they asked us to do this. She thought maybe they were just trying to get us to come down on the price, so she called their realtor to try to find out what the real deal was and what they were really expecting. Their realtor said that they DID want the siding replaced. (Another thing that upset me is that the inspector put on his report that there was too much stuff in the garage so he couldn't access the attic to inspect it, and inspectors aren't allowed to move personal possessions. Well, I was at home at the time he did the inspection!! So, all he had to do was come ask me to move some stuff so he could get the ladder down. He just wanted to get paid to have to come back out to inspect the attic!)

So, Jared got together with our realtor one day after work, and they went over some options. He came home and said Jayne (our realtor) had already set up for a couple of siding companies to come out and give us an estimate on the siding. So, one option was that we could see if there were only certain parts of the siding that needed to be replaced, and we could pay to have that replaced and maybe put a cap on how much we would spend at $1000. Another option was that we could lower the selling price $1000 for them to put towards having the siding replaced themselves. As Jared went over the options with me, I just got more and more upset, and I didn't feel right about any of it.

Unfortunately, I feel that I've been a little judgmental about this couple that I don't even know. I know that they are a really young couple- 19 and 20 years old. I know that the inspector knows the girl's father. When the couple came to look at our house the second time and brought their whole family, our neighbor's mom was being nosey and noticed that one of the parents was driving a Mercedes. So, I just started thinking that this was a young couple, they dont' know anything about buying a house, they're probably spoiled and expect to get everything they want.... yada yada yada Yeah, I'm not very proud that I've been judgmental and had these feelings, but this house is very sentimental to me, and I'm being very defensive about it.

So, anyway, our decision was that we were not going to budge. We said we would fix everything else on the list, but we were not going to replace the siding, and we didn't offer to lower the price. Luckily, we're not in a huge hurry to leave this house. We haven't found another house that we want to buy yet, so we haven't put ourselves in a position where we have to be out of the house by a certain time. So, our realtor told them that we felt that our house was a good deal- we had already lowered our asking price by $2500, we were covering closing costs up to $2500, we gave them a one-year home warranty, all appliances were staying (which are all a couple of years old or less), the air conditioning is just over a year old- and she said we would be happy to put our house back on the market if they did not wish to proceed. They came back a couple of days later and said that they wanted to terminate the contract, so we signed the paperwork today, and our house is back on the market.

I've really had mixed feelings about it. As you can tell, there has been some anger and frustration. I was actually a little bit glad they decided not to buy it because by this point I didn't want them living in MY house anyway ;-) I also felt a little discouraged just because when we were looking for a house that we wanted to buy all of the houses that were the size we need and in the area we wanted seemed to be out of our price range. Then, I started to question whether we could actually afford a higher house payment than what we're paying now, and I just really started wondering if our timing was right. It really felt right when we first put the house on the market. I just want all of this to be over! The whole thing is so stressful! Jared and I are wanting to start trying to have another baby pretty soon, and I had hoped that our house would be sold before then. Pregnancy is stressful enough, I think, and I don't want to have to worry about having to have a clean house ALL of the time and trying to sell our house on top of that.

Anyway, I think I've vented enough. Just wanted to update everyone on how the house selling is going- or NOT going. Fortunately, I know that our Heavenly Father has a plan for us. I know that He knows what is best for us, and when the timing is right, everything will fall into place. We just have to be patient and trust in Him.