And the ride is over.

I had a bunch of titles written for this blog post: It must have been love, but it’s over now.

The house that never will be.

We lost.

But, it seemed fitting to just stay along the theme of my rollercoaster post.

If you’re my friend on Facebook, you know that we submitted an offer Wednesday evening and by 8:25 am on Thursday morning I was walking down the hall in tears to the employee bathroom.

I didn’t think I’d be THAT upset, but I was. Which seems kind of funny given that I did say that part of me hoped they rejected our offer because I was scared. The fear didn’t mean I didn’t want the house, because trust me I did and DO still want that house.

Apparently, they showed the seller the offer at about 8:05-8:10ish and then the seller’s agent broke it to my realtor who then called me at about 8:20 am stating their counter and that she knew we were basically out of luck. It all happened in like 15 minutes. It’s almost like the seller didn’t even truly consider our offer. He immediately dismissed it is what I feel. Is that true? I don’t know.

Here’s a brief overview of the house (that is not mine…yeah, still bitter, sorry)

The house was bought as a foreclosure for about $78,000 in March 2008. The owners/sellers then flipped it. They put a new AC, roof, tiled bathrooms, laminate flooring, carpet, and ceramic tile. In addition to that, they refinished the cabinets, added tiled granite countertops, and a rock like backsplash. Oh and all the light fixtures, ceiling fans, etc. were all new and sparkly. I understand that is a TON of work. I do. However, they own the local flooring/tile place in town, so we know it was all at their cost, not the general public’s cost. But, we can all agree that they did a TON of work. We get that. And they never lived in it, so it’s all new and shiny.

It came on the market November 2nd, 2008. Yes, EIGHT. Yes, almost 2 years ago. Yes.

The original list price was $169,500. It then dropped last SUMMER down to $159,000. Then it dropped this past February to $149,000.

We offered $135,000. They countered at $149,000.

WTF.

Now, I understand the amount of work they did, but if the house was truly worth the $149,000, wouldn’t someone have snatched it up already perhaps?

Mike Aubrey would say they have a price problem. I love Real Estate Intervention.

Now, we come into the picture. We love the house, but it has no appliances. So, right there, we’d need appliances. It also only has a 1-car garage and the door opener to the garage does not have a remote, so we’d just need a new unit. The backyard is a mess. It’s small, but it’s sloped, and would need to be leveled. The house has NO gutters, leaving all the rain we’ve gotten lately just sitting around the house at the foundation. The driveway and front yard are sloped. It was built in the mid-1970s. And the big one- we don’t get the $8,000 tax credit anymore.

Oh, and it’s been on the market for almost TWO YEARS.

So yeah, that’s why we offered $135,000, which was the absolute highest we could do, per our loan officer.

And we were rejected.

And I cried.

I don’t know if I cried more because I felt rejected, which is an awful feeling that I have felt often lately since I feel like I have lost friends for no apparent reason. Or I cried because I truly wanted the house. I do still want the house, but I know my husband does not think it is worth $149,000. I don’t know if I do either. If it was worth that price wouldn’t it have been sold already? I think so.

I think I’d be willing to go up to $140,000 or so, but the fact that we’d immediately need to plunk money down on appliances (fridge, stove, washer, dryer) and just the associated costs of moving leads me to think maybe not. I also know we’re approved for up to $135,000, so any extra money we would offer would have to be in the form of cash to bring that price down.

I don’t know what to do now. There are no other houses on the market that we like, so for now we wait. And wait.

I pray the sellers have a change of heart, but since they are investors who have like 10+ properties in town, I doubt they want to budge.

I am beyond tired of apartment living. I’ve never lived in a house, and I want to so badly it simply hurts. I am also pretty sure our apartment has mold either from the AC leak or the constant bathtub faucet leak, and I’ve told our landlord a million times about all this, and she never fixes anything. As I am typing this, I can hear my dog licking his paws raw and crying out in pain because of the severe allergies he has which are likely caused by mold and carpet everywhere. Nothing we give Pee Wee has eased his discomfort- he licks his paws raws and scratches his ears until they bleed. It breaks my heart. Then there are my migraines which aren’t cured no matter the amount of meds, relaxation and prayers to please end this severe pain I have in my head. And the OGRES upstairs who stomp around so much they shook our toothbrushes off our suction cup on the mirror and into the TOILET. Two days ago, they stomped around so much that a shelf of mine in my office came crashing down. Luckily I had tightly closed my bead boxes or else I would have gone mad.

But like I told a friend yesterday, I can step back and look at my life objectively and realize how lucky I am. I am in a job I enjoy and love. My husband is great. I love my dog. Everything else will come in time.