Updates

Our Realtor and I found a house that would be perfect for us. But offers are due on Monday and there are already at least one on the table. That gives me two working days to put an offer together. The main thing to get worked out is the precise financing and pre-approval, etc. If I can get that worked out then we can put together an offer and then I can go abroad and have a local power of attorney sign anything on our behalf. Nerve wracking, but possible. Of course, if it doesn't work out and this house escapes us, that's okay, too. More fish in the sea.

In the mean time, I've got lots of project to finish up before my vacation begins. Not the least of these is putting the house back in order from its bachelor state. I spent a few hours on that last night and made a lot of progress. But I still have to clean the bathrooms, mop/vacuum the floor, and tidy up the living room. We are having some friends house/cat-sit while we are away, but I'd feel guilty leaving them with anything other than a ship-shape house.

I'm also aware that the owners want to show the house in the next week or two. Their Realtor (not ours) is shockingly disorganized for someone that wants to sell a $1.2 house. Neither she nor the owners have even set foot in the main or second story for a year. Needless to say, there a number of things that could be fixed/improved to get a higher selling value. For instance, there is a leak coming from the neighbour's side (it's a semi-detached house) that has damaged the wall in the bedroom. The root problem is being fixed as we speak (the roofers have been working for the last few days), but in the mean time the obvious water damage will be alarming to anyone looking at the house.

Nor have they scheduled an open-house, etc., etc. Since the landlords (or, perhaps more accurately their Realtor) has not been nice to us, I honestly don't feel the obligation to be particularly nice in return. So if they want the place to be immaculate than they are going to have pay for their own cleaners. And they are going to have to schedule showings around our schedule. Now, I would be inclined to be more helpful in the selling process if they were to agree to let us stay a few more weeks, but so far they have been unwilling to budge on this point--they want us out as soon as possible. And yet they want to list and sell the house while we are still living there.

The kicker was when the Realtor listing the place sent me an e-mail asking me to keep the lawn mowed. After the grass seed and the fertilizer and the watering and all the mowing I've done, this really pissed me off. Of course I'll mow the lawn. Obviously she didn't take the time to think, "What kind of tone in this e-mail would make the tenants most likely to be cooperative as we try to sell this place for the most possible?"

Obviously, I've got some emotions tied up with my (non-)relationship with the Realtor. Nor does it seem likely that we will ever have the chance to resolve those feelings with a heart-to-heart. I suppose if I were a better Christian I would call this person and express how I feel and give her a chance to tell me her feelings, etc., but at the moment I would rather hold onto my anger! God forgive me!

-t