The Winds Of Change

Firstly, I would like to say "thanks!!!!" to everyone who had every appendage crossed for us. It has finally paid off!

Now, the big news. And the other big news.

The big news is that we just closed on our new house. It's awesome. It's huge. It has a ginormous yard. And now, it's ours. I'm so excited I could wet my pants. What do we do first? Paint? Yes. Clean? Yes. New kitchen? Umm, not yet. New bathrooms? Umm, not yet. Fix the fence? Yes. Oh, the list! It's so long and fun and exhausting, I can't stand it! Yay!

The other big news is that our townhouse is now under contract! We received TWO offers on our house, but one was leaps and bounds ahead of the other one. Why? BECAUSE THEY OFFERED US OUR ASKING PRICE! Seriously. We're still spinning, and as long as the bottom doesn't fall out of this deal, we CAN redo a bathroom or two at the new place! Yay!

So, side story about slimy Realtors and another reason we chose to go the for sale by owner route:

A guy comes to our door the afternoon before "the offer". He says, "Hi, are you folks still cooperating with Realtors?" I say yes, we will. He says, "Great! I just need you to sign this contract, as I have some clients who would like to see your house." He waives a piece of paper under my nose, and then thrusts it at me with a pen. I say, um, no, I'm not signing jack. He says he understands and gets all flustered. So, to be polite, I say it doesn't really matter, as it will be under contract by end of week. He says, "Right, with THE NAME OF THE CHICK WHO JUST PUT IN THE OFFER."

I look stunned, and he continues: "When she came to your open house, she said she was working with a realtor. I get 2.5% of this sale, and of course, she has a contingency that she needs to sell her condo first. So I need you to sign this contract." Of course, Offer Lady mentioned zero of this, and I am livid. I refuse to sign again, and tell him that he has not been present during any part of this transaction. He insists he is her realtor anyway, and he gets a cut. So I tell him, "Well, that impacts her offer dramatically, and we may end up going with the other offer then." He looks surprised with a capital UH-OH, since they didn't know we had another offer on the table. I suggest to leave the contract and I'll fax it to my real estate lawyer. He leaves the contract with me, and I file in it the big round filing cabinet marked "garbage".

Fast forward to 5pm that evening. I receive a phone call from Offer Lady, apologizing profusely for Realtor Idiot who showed up at our house. It seems that, not only does this guy not have a signed contract with her to sell her house yet, but that she explicitly told him that he had nothing to do with her purchasing this house. Zero. She could not have been more upset or embarrassed. I politely suggested she fire his shady ass and then reassured her we wouldn't hold the visit by Realtor Idiot against her. We've met a lot of shady Realtors in this journey, but he takes the cake.

So, that's it folks. The winds are changing, and soon the address will be, too! I'm so excited!