Once upon a time Dawn and Tom signed an agreement to sell their house. The buyers put down a deposit to be held in escrow. [Dawn and Tom's feelings = fluttery.] All month long they waited for the house inspector and the bank appraiser to arrive, but no one appeared. [Dawn and Tom's feelings = increasingly fluttery.] At the end of September the realtor announced that the buyers had missed their inspection date so they would forfeit their deposit if they decided to back out. [Dawn and Tom's feelings after receiving a few strange phone calls from the buyers = (D) cranky and exasperated, (T) grasping at optimistic straws.] Immediately thereafter the buyers sent in the inspector, who had been instructed to take many, many tests, including ones that made no sense (a lead pipe test in a house built in 1980?) but must have cost a mint. [Dawn and Tom's feelings = mystified.] Yesterday the realtor contacted Dawn and Tom to say, "The buyers have broken up: the sale is off: sign this form and you will receive their $1,000."
And now I will quote from the email that my friend Angela sent me when I told her the news:
OMG! Fuckin' shit!!! Stunning! What a kick in the ass. What a roller coaster.
OK, take a breath, have a drink or 2 or 3 and regroup.
You got an extra grand that you earned for your suffering. Jesussss!!
It is fortunate that we had Angela to say all of the things that needed to be said here.
10 comments:
OMG! Is right! Now don't be surprised if suddenly the couple is back together and want to go on as if nothing as happened! Yes, to a breath, a drink or 2 or 3 and the grand you both more than earned!!!
Now, heat, some cleaning out, some packing and a bit more time to find your next special house to make into a home.
No wonder the realty sign is still out in front... well, at least you get the extra money and can spend more glorious fall days in Harmony...
Aw crap, Dawn. Take the grand and drink away.
"If alcohol is a crutch, Jack Daniels is a wheelchair." - Robin Williams
Too bad I puke so easily. . . . I'll have to throw a non-house-warming party and open the bar to the rest of you.
Wow, what a bummer! But perhaps a blessing disguise to not have to deal with them at closing.
Here, the amount in escrow would be lots more.
Good grief! Selling a house is such a roller coaster. Another silver lining to consider is the thought of what this couple might have ended up doing there. Years ago my wife sold her house to a young couple who needed a bunch of financial breaks, etc, and so she ended up losing more money than she had hoped. And then two years later she saw a newspaper headline stating that a murder had been committed in her old house! So maybe if they had bought it, things could have been worse. (Don't worry, too, it wasn't the wife who was murdered but her uncle.)
Cash that check and keep up the search.
Home buying is such a fraught adventure. For your almost buyers, it was more real than the relationship! I know I made a pun there (REAL estate), but as a realtor I can attest that people are crazy. Be glad you got out sooner rather than later in this case. It was not meant to be. I know it's so disappointing when you have one foot out the door, but hopefully you did not already commit to something in Portland. Hang in there, and make sure your realtor explains that the buyers walked for personal reasons, NOT because of an inspection. Pour yourself a nice glass of wine and settle in for the winter :-(
Thanks, Mary. We had not committed to anything in Portland, which does make things better.
And Tom: Oy. I had not even gotten to the point of imagining a future murder!
I'm so sorry, Dawn! That really sucks. If it makes you feel any better, the first offer of my house fell apart too. People I knew, neighbors, which made things very awkward. We'd talked about their desire to down-size a few times and they appeared to be my dream buyers, like yours. But I put the house back out on the market and it sold. Your house will sell too, and you'll move to Portland. I'm sorry the process isn't smoother.
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