The Drama of Buying and Selling a House

So last Friday we headed out to the O'Fallon/Winghaven area (for those of you that aren't from St. Louis, this is about 30 minutes from where we live now, technically not in St. Louis County). It was a breath of fresh air for us. We had looked at so many homes that just didn't suit us. Finally we were looking at homes that felt to "fit" our growing family. We were surprised at how quickly we made it out there and looked at 6 homes that night. Let me say, the boys were troopers! The first and last home were our favorite. We came home slept on it and were back at it on Saturday. We ended the day by looking at our 2 favorites and invited my mom out to give us her opinion. After discussing lots of pros and cons we decided we had a favorite. We decided to take ONE more look at it with my dad on Sunday morning. Thankfully, my mom kept the boys. My dad liked the house as well and we decided to write an offer. We were really excited because it looked like everything was going to work out.

We gave the owners until 5pm Monday to get back to us. At 6pm Monday we still had not heard. Their realtor told us we would know within the hour. Well the countered back, which we expected, but they only came down $1,000 and took out some very minor things we included, which we did not expect. It was disappointing but we knew we would just counter back and see what happened. One of the things the owners took out was a contingency we added for us to put in a fence and we would abide by the subdivision guidelines. We thought this was quite bizarre and knew we would not be able to buy the house if we could not put in a fence (the house backed to a pond). We were wondering why they couldn't just "fill us in" if there was something we needed to know. Between that and a few other inconsiderate things they did Drew was becoming quite irritated with the owners.

To add to the drama of Monday, we were having a lateral sewer inspection as ordered by our buyers. Well it ended up the guy couldn't get through the outside line and need to come in. Apparently he knocked (as hard as an ant) and didn't think I was home. So he called the realtor of the buyers and the next thing I knew the other realtor and the buyer were standing in my MESSY house. I was so embarrassed; I mean I was feeding the boys lunch, there were toys everywhere, I hadn't cleaned all weekend because we were looking at houses...oh it was horrible. Anyway they were here for over an hour and they guy doing the inspection was unable to do it...it was drama.

I spent the entire morning Tuesday trying to get ahold of someone from the subdivision "board" to answer my questions about a fence. They were actually VERY kind about it and helpful and told me a fence would be no problem. Once we got that taken care of we countered back and to make a really long story short they didn't budge much after that and we were becoming more and more irritated and realized these were all signs that this was not the house for us...even though we LOVED the house and the area. Guess it was time to get back on the horse and keep looking.

Drew and I got back on the internet and made yet another list of homes to look at. Thankfully, Kathy was able to take us out on Wednesday night to look at 4 more homes. Oh man, talk about depressing. Of course we were comparing everything to the house we wanted so the bar was set high but still...it was depressing. I tried to be a big girl on the way home but lets just say thank goodness my sunglasses were on.

We decided to give it one more try on Thursday. Soon we had a whole team working for us trying to help. My good friend Tracy who I played soccer with at TU just bought a house in the same area and was so helpful. We came up with a good list and headed back out. Thankfully my mom came over to stay with the boys, they can only take so much house hunting. Before we went out we had Kathy talk to one of the realtors about our situation. We loved a house in the neighborhood next to the one our original house was in and it was the exact same floor plan. This house was priced higher but had a fence and some other "extras". After talking to their agent Kathy discovered we could probably get the house for a price we could afford. Drew and I were so excited but thought it may be too good to be true. So we exhausted all of our options and looked at 4 more homes before going to this one. The second we walked in I said, "can we write and offer tonight?" Drew agreed, there was no reason to drag it on. We were writing another offer!

Side note: On the way home from looking at houses Kathy called and told us the new owners of our house wanted to come over the next day at noon to check our shower. REALLY? Obviously they don't have kids but of course we complied and got out of the house so they could check our "shower". Not sure that was the whole truth since I came back at 12:50 and they were just leaving our house from the shower check. But whatever, we're doing whatever we can to keep them happy until September 16.

Well it wasn't too good to be true! We got the call Friday afternoon that our offer was accepted!!! THANK YOU GOD! We could not be happier. We knew it was meant for us to lose the first house and end up with a better house, in a better neighborhood, with a bigger, fenced yard...just perfect! Here is a link to our new home!

http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/63-Blue-Sage-Ct_Dardenne-Prairie_MO_63368_1107813504

We close on both houses September 16, the day after my birthday, 2 days after Drew's birthday...guess I won't be spending my birthday at the spa:)

We also received the inspection report from the soon to be owners of this house last night. Let's just say RIDICULOUS! The report was 31 pages from the inspector. I could go on and on about some of the unrealistic requests but I won't bore you. This morning we talked to Kathy who let us know she would talk to their realtor (I thought Drew was going to go into cardiac arrest while on the phone with Kathy, his blood was boiling!). Then we took a trip to Lowes to get the things we knew we would be able to fix and put calls in to our handy man and electrician to come out and look at some other things. It's so frustrating that at any point during this process these people can "walk away". We are doing everything we can to keep them happy without basically giving them the house.

Well that was long winded but I know one day I'll be glad I wrote down these memories.