Day 141

So I was advised by my mother and my grandmother (evidently the only wise ones) that I should jinx this by telling anyone yet, but the house that we loved so much in Orangewood is ours. We have signed the contract and sent it over to their realtor and we are awaiting the owner’s initials on everything, but according to our realtor, this is a formality and “it is a done deal.” My mom and grandmother said “never count on anything until the papers are back and signed” and while I agree with that, I am too excited to hold it in anymore. I am writing this entry 30,000 feet above you all on my way to Louisville for the next couple of days for yet another meaningless GFS trade show. This is the last of the four of these. Four down, one to go. Next weekend is the Edward Don Texas/California convention in Dallas. Back to the important stuff. This house has everything. It is so perfect. Leah knew it when she saw it the first time, and so did I. It was “the one.” The layout is perfect for our needs – it has a first floor office for me to work in. Three bedrooms upstairs – the master on one end of the hallway, two more on the opposite end of the hallway. It has a huge basement, nice deck, etc. It’s the house I always wanted. We close at the end of August, so after we sell our place (hopefully soon), the plan is to live with my mom for a little before we move into the house. We cannot wait. (EDIT: I found out from my mom that the contract has indeed been signed!)

The whole process of buying a house is interesting to say the least. Why is it that the negotiation aspect of it is so ridiculous? We saw the house a couple of times, we made an offer, they waited two days, and rejected it. They countered. We told them we came in with our best offer, which they already knew, and we would stand pat. We waited another week. They came off their price significantly. We said, we were at our top figure, but needed a few days to think. Three days later, we met in the middle and got the deal done. Like Rafal said to me yesterday: “to quote Larry David, compromise is two parties getting together to settle something and both walking away unhappy.” They wanted a certain price, they didn’t get it. We wanted a certain price, we didn’t get it. Bottom line is a deal is done. Anyone want to buy our condo?

I have to thank my mother on this. She was incredible throughout the whole house hunting process. She was so diligent. We received email listings every day or whenever new ones came on the market. If we mildly liked one, she went and saw it the next day. She took Leah, Stacey, and Jessica to see a few houses when they were all in town. She took Leah and I around when we did the day trip two weeks ago. Without her, this wouldn’t have gotten done. Period. I owe you big time mom. Whenever you need us, we will be there for you – that is a promise!

Song of the Day: “Deacon Blues” by Steely Dan – dedicated to the great Rob Paradise.