Friday, August 12, 2016

House Changes--Part 4

After house hunting for only a short time, Ward and I thought maybe we had found what we were looking for, so we decided to make an offer.

I spent another sleepless night before we met with Tom, our agent, to begin the paperwork. (In case you don't remember, spending big money makes me anxious.) I began the session with putting my feelings up front. I wanted to put in a very low offer because that's all the money I wanted to spend and was feeling anxious about the whole thing. However, I said that wasn't exactly what I was going to do, but I wanted to put it out on the table where my thoughts were coming from. We started filling out lots of papers even before we got to the offer part. At one point, I was getting cold, so I told Ward I was going to the car to get my sweater.
I wonder how long our 94 year old seller has had this oil?
Notice the pictures on it.

When I returned to the building, the door was locked. I knocked to no avail. Tom and Ward were in a conference room not close to the door and didn't seem to hear me. I knocked some more. I knocked on the glass, I knocked on the wood. I knocked continuously and I knocked in patterns. I went around the building to see if any other door was open. No luck. I figured sooner or later they would come looking for me, so I waited. I should also mention that my cell phone was in the conference room with them. I was only going to the car for a minute, so I didn't think to bring it. I waited some more and knocked every little bit until my knuckles were getting sore. Finally another agent showed up and let me in. I joined Tom and Ward and they exclaimed, "There you are." I told them the door was locked and I couldn't get back in.

They hadn't heard me, but they thought I was so stressed that I had left the room to gather myself. Ward said I was probably calling one of my sisters for emotional support. All the time I was trying to get back into the room, they were giving me time to collect myself. And all I wanted was in.

We all had a good chuckle over it and I was feeling better. A short 3 hours later, we were finally done with all of the paperwork. The offer was ready and Tom would present it tomorrow to the other agent. Now it was a waiting game. Interestingly, we learned that the person selling the house was a 94 year old woman, who just moved into a 55 and over community. If she is any indication, we could live a good long time in this house.

Well, we had done it. I don't know if you are keeping up with the timeline, but after only four days from our first meeting with Tom and seeing only two houses inside, we put in a offer. Yes, my head continued to spin and a good night's sleep was eluding me.

So what did our 94 year old think of our offer?

Stay tuned...




12 comments:

  1. A goof reminder to take your phone everywhere with you? i rarely get calls and 99% of the time my phone is with me. But you know that the one time someone calls me, my phone is on the other side of the house!

    How long were you out there?!

    I love the little oil can. I just recently got rid of paints and other things that the previous owners had left (but nothing as old as that!) and we've owned the house coming up on 14 years.

    I'm guessing the owner accepted your offer and you've put your house on the market. Yes, I am impatient! You're very good at building the suspense.

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    1. It seemed like I was outside for hours, but I guess it was more like 20 minutes. Thank goodness, it was a cloudy day and it wasn't blazing hot.

      The first house we moved into had half a truck (it was being worked on) behind the garage. The owner said he was coming to get it right after the closing. Well, he never showed up and we couldn't find anyone who wanted it. So, 6 years later when we were selling the house, we had to pay to get rid of it. We learned a lesson with that truck.

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  2. I was right! You put in an offer! I think you are enjoying keeping the rest of us on pins and needles right now. :)

    Ah, the saga of phones not being where you want them to be (or not working when they need to!). Glad you finally got in the building. BTW, I am taking the plunge and getting a smartphone (with Ting). I just ordered it last night. Not as anxiety-provoking as selling a house, but it's a lifestyle and expense change for me.

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    1. Before all this house stuff started, I was very close to finally getting a smart phone. However, now it's going to have to wait. No time to research the whole thing. You try yours and your service out for a while, so when I get ready, you can tell me what you think. I certainly understand the expense change anxiety. Although before the house, the new phone would have been okay. I think.

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  3. Oh my goodness, that was fast!!!!

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    1. Yep. But it was going to be hard to find what we wanted so we had to jump on it. Our agent has been in the business for 30 years and agreed that it was a rare find. But, yes, it was fast. Too fast for my liking.

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  4. Holy Moly! T don't know that the market is like where you live, but around here, most houses sell for significantly above the asking price and they go in a day or two. Can't wait to hear how this pans out...

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    1. Houses are not going that fast around here. Usually in a couple of weeks although things are slowing down--a normal thing around the end of summer. We hope we can get our house on the market before the election. Who knows what will happen to the interest rates after that? Whoever wins.

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  5. Oh gosh, again, you leave us in limbo, wondering. You would be a good mystery writer.

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    1. I wasn't intending to write these and make you wait until the next one to see what happens. However, I was relating the process in such detail, I needed to break the story up so the posts won't be so long. Then people started asking what was going to happen next, so I did the next one that way just for the fun of it. I'm not sure I will be able to keep it up though.

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  6. Wow, Good luck, June and Ward! I hope everything works out.

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