An Extra Dose of Blah

I'm usually a rather positive person. Usually. Today? Not so much. I'm not quite as negative as I am annoyed. We put an offer on a house a few weeks ago. All along, his agent kept telling us that anything over $X he'd accept. So we put an offer on the house that was closer to asking price than the agent's $X amount, but we did ask for a few things to be completed. The owner/builder took forever to counter. His counter was higher than the original asking price. We declined. His agent called our agent back a little while later and said, "Please counter again. If you can just come up $Y, he'll accept." So, we tweaked our offer and put it in again. While we were waiting for a response, his agent let us know that there was another offer on the house, but that we didn't need to worry because ours was better. After a few days, he declined our offer and accepted the offer the other couple put in. So the house was a no-go. Then we looked at a ton more houses and realized we could not get a house that size and quality for that price anywhere else. It wasn't particularly my dream home, but I did really like it. The back porch/deck was amazing. So amazing, in fact, that I'd be willing to simply buy the porch and live out there. The yard was a nice yard for Linus and our dog to play in. Fabulous for cookouts, etc. You get the idea...we were starting to regret not getting the house. Regret, not resent, at least not at that point. THREE weeks went by before his agent finally returned our (rather hefty) earnest money check. We looked at some more houses and became quite frustrated with the whole process. Tuesday night we finally decided to take a break from the whole house hunting idea. I was stressing about the whole thing, so stopping just made sense. Well, what do you know...Thursday night, I'm out with a group of friends and I get a message on my cell phone, "This is (agent), please call me as soon as you get a chance. It's important." Then she called again. My cell battery was near zero, and I didn't want to waste what I did have on a lengthy call (plus, I WAS out with friends!), so I called Army and had him call her. When I didn't hear back from him, I figured it wasn't too important. When I got home, I asked him what was so important. Turns out the seller/builder was frustrated with the buyer and wanted to back out of the deal. His agent called our agent and wanted to know if we were interested. So we discussed it again, and decided to go for it. Our agent contacted his agent and set up an appointment to see it again. A little while before our appointment, our agent called to let us know his agent said the other couple found the builder's direct number and worked things out. So we're off again. I'm tired of being jacked around. I'm tired of being used as a pawn. Grr!

We actually built the home we're currently in. I know most people say they'd never build again after building one house, but I would in a heartbeat. I love getting to choose everything--colors, cabinets, counters, fixtures, etc. There are a few things that I consider musts for my next house. I have to have a desk in my kitchen. I have one now, and I use it all the time. I have to have a sink in my laundry room. It's fabulous to throw spit up upon baby clothes in there (hopefully we'll need that again someday!). I also have to have a double oven. I don't have that now, but I'd love it. I also want a gas cook top. One more thing...I have to have a basement (preferably with a main level garage, but I won't push things). Um, yeah, not so easy to find everything I want inside a floor plan I like. I probably do need to build again. I've got one small problem though. Army is on board for getting a new home, but he's completely, entirely, adamantly against building again. What a dud!

So for now, it looks like we're sitting back and waiting a few months before we even entertain the idea of moving again. Blah!