Monday, October 31, 2005

When It Rains It Pours

Now we're freaking out! Last night after dinner was eaten and the pumpkins were carved Mr. Chick and I opened a bottle of wine to celebrate receiving the offer on the house. Then the phone rang.

It was Mr. B, a law school friend who has a job locally and is staying in town permanently. He's single, our age (another "older than average" student) with a cool Golden Retriever. He owns a house about a mile away. He was calling, randomly, to ask what our plans were with the house. What timing! Mr. Chick told him about getting the offer just that day. Mr. B told him he was interested in buying the house as well, hence his call. WTF??! It seems that Mr. B is in a fat hurry to build up some assets to make up for lost time savings towards retirement during law school, blah blah blah. He's always liked our little house and envisions living here and renting out his current home, which has 3 full baths and is a better set-up for renters than ours is.

He came over last night. Late. He's been here many, many times before but now he's looking at the house with new eyes. The eyes of a buyer vs. friend. The wine was gone. Mr. Chick and I were feeling sort of weird about the whole thing. It would be strange to sell a house to a friend. Sort of like mixing business with pleasure, in a way. He started asking questions about what sort of heat we have and looking in the master bedroom. Pretty much our bedroom hasn't really been on display to casual friends before. He looked in the bathtub/shower. Thank God I'd slaved cleaning the house from top to bottom in anticipation of the other potential buyers coming over! They never even left the living room/dining room area. Mr. B, on the other hand, inspected everywhere. He started talking about turning our teeny tiny half-bath off the master into a full bath by putting in a stall shower into the space that is now the hall closet and is on the other side of the wall. Stuff like that.

We told him about the other offer we've received. It's a solid, decent offer and they're willing to work with us and be super flexible. Mr. B acknowledges that. But from the sounds of it, he wants the house, too. He said he wants to come back and look at it again in the daylight. The yard is a big draw for him because of his dog. He commented in a slightly offhand manner that we might just have a bid war on our hands. Oh great. And GREAT! But in an uncomfortable sort of way, if you know what I mean.

This development was so unexpected and has left us reeling. We want to be fair and ethical, but in all honesty it might come down to money and the terms. If Mr. B can offer more money and the same flexibility on closing date and potential to rent back, then we'd be fools not to take it. Ahh! So now we wait to see what happens next. We have until Friday to respond to the first offer, and Mr. B knows it.

Let's not forget that all of this is happening on sheer word of mouth. We've never actually put the house on the market or established an asking price. When it rains, it pours!

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Happy Halloween!! May none of your jack o'lanterns get smashed to smithereens and may all of your goblins get only the "good" kind of candy!

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