My blog title might be too mysterious. Dramatic. Pretentious?
*insert your cool sounding word here*
The house is sold, sort of. We accepted an offer a week ago last Saturday, am in what must be one of the most frustrating holding patterns,.. and it’s a literal hold. What is crazy is that I know that the people who made the offer need a house, need to be moved out of their house by the end of March. Yet they spent over three hours scouring my house for defects with a home inspector this past Saturday. For anyone who has experienced the tension of anticipation, the agony of waiting, you know what I am experiencing. My house is 32 years old. It’s not perfect. I have been the person responsible for maintaining the place for the last 23 years. I know what they should be asking me to fix or credit them for.
Or do I? Three hours is a long time for an inspection.
It’s almost terrifying, this wait, this wondering what they are going to request. Are they going to make a request that I can’t or won’t agree to? Are they going to ask for too much of a credit?
I know the windows, except for the windows already replaced recently, are at the end of their useful life. They work, but they are old. I am already prepared to say yes if the buyers ask for a $5000 credit. The roof was new last year, the driveway asphalt replaced in 2015, the furnace new in 2014, the air conditioner new in 2013. Honestly, there is not much left except for a possibility of the mold that always occurs on the north facing side of a house in northern Illinois.
The numbskulls focused on the drywall I replaced myself last year in the garage. It was an extremely amateur job, but it was adequate. It was replaced for two reasons — the hose bib inside the garage was replaced, and there had been a leak in the roof between the front porch roof and the garage roof a few years ago, necessitating that the drywall in the front corner of the garage be replaced. I heard the male part of the couple that is buying the house obsessing about it as I snooped while they were looking at the house. My guess is that he thinks it will be a gold mine.
I hate this. I hate the waiting. Their requests have to be submitted to my lawyer, who will review and report. I did not hear anything today.
In the meantime, I have taken action to move along and prepare for where I will live if the house closes March 31 (like it should). There is a condo development close to where I live now that I have focused on. The prices are reasonable, the condos, although close to forty years old, are very nice. There is a very strong, active, condominium association there. The condo models that I am interested in are a 1024 sq ft, two bedroom, one bath layout with two large patio doors across the front, access to an awesome patio. Each model has a large wood burning fireplace. The kitchen is a galley kitchen, eat in , with another patio door that opens out to the deck/patio. Each condo has a private one car garage. It has been tough finding a place there. The prices are great and the location is incredible. When a condo comes available, it gets snatched up.
Except for one. One solitary condo at the back of the complex. It has been listed as a short sale for 82 days, enough that the asking price came down another $5000 last week. That was enough to cause me to take a look.
The location alone is worth it. It’s at the back of the complex, overlooks a meadow that borders the DuPage river. The view from the deck will be beautiful and unobstructed, no chance that anything will ever be built behind the building. That alone is worth buying the condo.
And that is what I am banking on. The price is around $30,000 less that any of the condos that have been sold there, because it is an absolute pit. All flooring, all windows, even the patio doors will need to be replaced. It’s bad. The furnace looks to be original, barely functional. My best estimate is around $16,000 to make the place inhabitable.
This crazy man made an offer, one that is being considered. I figure that working on the place will keep me occupied enough to dull the pain of the final separation before divorce. When the condo is done, it will be beautiful.. but it will take a lot of work.
Mysteries. Unknown. A part of me wants to know what is going to happen, a large part of me doesn’t want to know. I want to be surprised and I hope it will be pleasant!