Apparently the practice of paying the cash difference between appraisal and offer has become a standard thing in the current market because while prices are dirt cheap, the competition per house is ridiculous.  We’re looking into other properties as a backup because while we still prefer this home for its size and a few other details, we obviously need a plan B – and C, and possibly D.  The only really shitty part of this deal is that the idiot brigade should’ve stated what they wanted up front if they expected that kind of deal.  We could’ve saved everybody’s time.

We do have a couple of other places on the radar – one that’s currently overpriced and slightly on the small side, but will probably come down to realistic price levels in the near future; and another that’s priced right but which comes surgically attached to a set of tenants.  The rental is on a month-to-month basis so it isn’t a deal breaker, but it does add a layer of nebulosity (It is too a word!  Spell check says so!) to any possible offer we’d make.

The smallish house is still a 4 bedroom 2 bath and location is spectacular (considering it’s still out in the boonies).  It would be walking distance to Wally World and other businesses, among other things.  G likes that aspect.  And assuming the child and grandchild ever move into their own place, it would give G and I more room than we’ll ever need.  It’s over 1500sf, so while not huge for 4 bedrooms, neither is it ridiculously tiny.  It’s double the size of the house where my siblings and I grew up in Phoenix and about 400sf higher than our current digs, plus with a garage for car and for storage.  BIG difference.

The photos are crappy but you can get the idea:

If it were just G and I it would be much simpler because we could do a 3 bedroom easily, with less space to boot.  With daughter and baby added to the mix, and G insistent that he needs office space (which is frankly very reasonable) we have to do a 4 bedroom or a 3 bed with a den, and a commensurate increase in available space.  That narrows our choices considerably.

We also can’t do stairs.  If my knee (and G’s ankle) weren’t factors, we’d have a LOT of 2-story places to choose from.  So…  we’re where we are, crunching numbers and dealing with the frustration factor.

I just keep holding onto knowing we will find a place and it will be the right place, for the right price, in the right time.

No.  Frigging.  Way.

The asshole quotient is off the charts and I told my realtor thanks, but no thanks.  Legal or not, it’s definitely not kosher.  My reservations were already growing about this place.  Throw in this latest twist and I’m very content to blow off the whole deal.  We don’t have to move, and we won’t move if it’s something that will screw us over in the long run (or the short run, for that matter.)

Poolie‘s latest post might have been written to me.  There is a difference in wanting the stability of owning my home and letting it become an obsession that overrides common sense and destroys my peace of mind.

I’m thinking of stepping back, taking a deep breath, and reassessing a whole buttload of stuff.  Yes, I know this is probably a now or never situation as far as us getting a home.  There are worse things than “never”.  If all else fails I’ll rent a crappy mobile home on the cheap for a while.  It might even give pause to the hangers-on, which has its own appeal.  That would also give us the autonomy to get a better car.  Or more accurately, would give ME the autonomy to get MYSELF a better car.  There are a few considerations to take into account these days, matter of fact.

So…  *deep breath*…  I’m not sure which will be my next step.  I’m definitely thinking a lot of things through these days and giving serious consideration to just walking away, even if only for a few weeks, and letting things ride.

That would make me very, very happy.  We asked for a closing date of July 12.  I had enough of a good feeling about this deal that I had already asked for (and have been approved for) the day off of work.  That date will dovetail nicely with the end of our lease, and give us plenty of time to get done everything we need to get done and get out of this apartment prior to August 1.

It will retire a nice chunk of my stress to know we’ve got things pinned down.

G kind of cracked me up this morning.  We went out for breakfast and he got downright indignant over my daughter’s comment that the kitchen on the house needs to be updated.  The cabinets are fine but she’s somewhat right – the dishwasher looks to be very old school.  G and I are of the opinion that who cares what it looks like, long as it works!

If push came to shove, G would like all stainless appliances.  He might’ve gone through homeless days.  They didn’t quash his caviar tastes.  I frankly prefer all white because they’re easier to keep clean and I can’t see paying a premium for the exact same product just for a different color.  I’d probably even settle for the antiquated harvest gold or avocado that was popular in the 70′s.

Well, maybe not that old, since anachronisms of that pedigree would also be energy eaters, but you get the idea.

The cold that smacked me this week is still hanging around, but after sleeping for a good chunk of the weekend (and knowing we may finally be making progress on the house) I’m feeling a bit better.  I threw some meat into the crock pot for dinner and will make some veggies and real mashed ‘taters to go with.  Dinner solved.  Been to the grocery store to get the odds and ends we needed.  The rest of the day is for kicking back and letting my body recover a bit more.

G and I are operating on the premise that this house will go through, but the promised glut of foreclosed properties is also starting to appear so if for some reason this deal went kerplooey we’ll still have other options.  Still, this home just feels right, for a lot of reasons.  It did when I first saw it listed – it more or less called to me.

In numerology it’s an 8 house, good for getting our finances in order.  I could definitely deal with that.  It’s a good location – far enough out of the Phoenix metro proper to mean less pollution, which would probably be better both for my allergies and for the baby’s respiratory issues.  It’ll mean a grass yard where doggy and baby can romp.  G’s already planning to construct a play house for them.

I have faith.  Everything will work out as it should, when it should.

For all my friends who are mothers, who have biologically or otherwise have mothered anyone – happy mother’s day.

NOW I realize that there was a simple, understated, obvious answer staring me in the proverbial face for a while.  Not sure exactly when it went into effect, but auto makers started painting a teeny arrow alongside the dash fuel indicator, an arrow pointing to the side of the car where you fill ‘er up.  For older vehicles, the fuel indicator was a bit more subtle; the gas pump emblem’s “hose” pointed toward the side where you put in fuel.

It was staring me in the face all along, though the arrow indicator is a bit more obvious.  It’s a simple and smart idea, the kind of thing that generates a whole lotta facepalm moments of, “I should have thought of that!”

If only it were that simple.

I actually DID have a good idea, and still think it’s a good idea, but it would take around $10K to develop it fully and it’s too close to other things that are out there now.

But I digress.

Another day, another house.  Given the gradually encroaching end of our lease, we’re aiming now for a traditional sale, which offers more than a few advantages over short sales and foreclosures – not the least of which are laws which require known issues to be stated at purchase.   This place doesn’t have great pictures of its indoor spaces.  The current owners are clutterbugs stuck in the 80′s.  But the home has the 4 beds 2 baths and square footage we need, with the added bonus of a back yard that’s absolutely lovely.

Very pretty place. I actually have hopes for this one.  Fortunately G and I agree that the first thing to go will be the salmon paint in the kitchen.

The previous house deal is still out there pending too, as a backup.  We already know have to make multiple offers to get the job done so we’re slamming ‘em out these days!  Sooner or later one of them is bound to stick, just on the law of averages.

Perhaps the saddest part of this entry is that when I started out referring to myself as an old fart, it was with complete oblivion to the title I’d just typed.  The mind is definitely slipping.  Or maybe I’m just a subliminal comic.  Yeah, that sounds more like it.  Flatulence jokes, car education and house porn.  You won’t find it anywhere else, folks, not for any amount of money.

Last house didn’t fly, and I’m fine with the fact.  We’re back on the market working with an investor, which in theory gives us a leg up.  I am not holding my breath, though the latest option would put us right where we need to be in terms of money and time, has the 4/2 option we need and has a couple of added bonuses.  It is a corner lot, which means most of the windows actually look out to the street and to desert landscaping, vs. a solid block wall or the neighbor’s windows.  It also MUST have flooring replaced to qualify for our loan, and we’ll be able to work with the investor to choose our flooring.  The could well have knocked us out of some of the other options anyway.

So in short, it would be a good option for us – if it flies.  We’ve been doing this for long enough I’m not holding my breath, lol.  If it works out, it’s about $10K-15K less than what we were resigned to paying, including the new flooring.  Paying less is a good thing.

A couple of pictures for good measure – not going to do slideshows again unless there’s a bit more definitive news.

I like the place; with decent flooring and a coat of paint it would do very nicely.  We shall see.

This house is over the price we really wanted to pay, but with the recent market changes that’s true of any home.  It’s 4 bedroom 2 bath and decent sized yard.  The house I like – the electric tower over its shoulder, not so much.  Still and all, it is a lot more house than we could otherwise afford AND it permits us the luxury of avoiding the cash-offer-kills-us pitfall.

If it is meant to be it will be.  If not, the right home will open up in the right time.

House scenario: no change, still waiting one way or t’nother to hear on it and crossing my fingers.

In other areas of life as I know it, exasperation rearing its ugly head in a big way, which isn’t a good thing for me.  When I get in the mood I was in at o’dark thirty this morning, I go shopping.  Yup, I’m a stress shopper, and stress driver.  I really, really can’t afford to do random shopping with a house on the horizon, and at the price of gas I probably shouldn’t have driven off at the crack of dawn either.

Unfortunately remaining on the premises would likely have resulted in the murder and dismemberment of my spouse, so I figured a shopping-driving trip was the safer bet.

Spouse didn’t do anything drastically wrong today, other than his typical Cancerian long-term pout and the combined weight of a whole lot of cumulative bullshit.  It’s not even technically a pout, for that matter (though God knows he can out-pout anyone when he’s of a mind). He literally becomes ill when faced with unwanted social situations, whether they be one-offs or long term, whereupon he curls up in his shell and goes practically catatonic for days or weeks on end.  I know it’s psychosomatic and normally I dismiss and go on with my life in spite of it, but that coupled with clusterfuck of other little crap that’s been building, and I just hit my limit today and hit it hard.

I threw out an ultimatum that the spousal unit couldn’t win and I knew it.

It is also 1000% justified and G knows it, too.

I woke at 1am over this same psychological tar pit, for the fourth time this week.  Never went back to sleep after.  I’m not someone who deals well with sleep deprivation, which just exacerbates matters all the more.

I’m not going to play the poor-me card.  I know in many ways I am blessed and I’m smart enough to appreciate it.  But when somebody decides to twang my last nerve like a cheap guitar, and keeps hitting the note over and over again and I allow it, shame on me.  Einstein called it:  the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.  I’ve had my crazy on for a long time and I’m done with it.