Well, today we closed on the sale of our current house and the purchase of our new house. We get to rent our just-sold house for 6 days, but expect to be completely moved out on July 5. (We're using professional movers, as our "stuff" has grown quite a bit over the last 10 years, so the only real grief will be the packing and unpacking).

Don't expect much content around here until the end of next week or so. Assuming Comcast gets us hooked up on time, there should only be a two-day Internet blackout (on the 4th and 5th).

Posted by: JohnL at 10:40 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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Here's a funny comment at Slashdot characterizing (stereotyping?) female and male communications styles. My wife appreciated it, so I think it's OK to post.

(Via Utterly Boring).

Posted by: JohnL at 11:10 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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A lot can change in a week.

Remember the potential money pit? During the fateful inspection, My Lovely Wife^TM ran into a realtor and a couple looking at the house being inspected. When she mentioned our contract, the couple said they (a) were aware the house was under contract, (b) lived just down the street, (c) were about to put their house on the market, and (d) wanted to check out the other houses currently for sale in the neighborhood to help them decide on a price.

My Lovely Wife, being the friendly and talkative soul that she is, got the couple's phone number, "just in case something turns up in the inspection."

Long story short: we sold our house only a few days after we took the sign down to the same buyers who had made an offer on it. And we bought the house from the couple my wife met during the inspection of the first one a few weeks before they put it on the market.

The newer house has everything we were looking for, and reminds us a great deal of our perfect-in-every-way-but-size current house. It has clearly been well-maintained and updated (in line with our tastes, even!) We'll be moving in during the first week of July, so if the postings around here are somewhat sparse, you'll understand why.

Posted by: JohnL at 11:44 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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1 Hey, congratulations.

Posted by: owlish at June 14, 2005 08:10 AM (sBj9U)

2 You forgot to mention that your lovely wife is a STAR!!! How excellent for you guys! I told you something good would turn up! YAAAAAY! I'm thrilled for you. Congratulations!

Posted by: RP at June 14, 2005 09:12 AM (LlPKh)

3 Congratulations!! Hey... I thought you were the lawyer - or does that not include negotiatior in Texas? Good job with the new house - and enjoy it!

Posted by: Lysander at June 14, 2005 04:00 PM (ShW/G)

4 Lysander - my wife's a CPA by training and I usually defer to her completely in money matters. I hate bringing work home with me, so I am usually the less-gifted negotiator on deals at home. I do a killer job at work, though ;-)

Posted by: JohnL at June 14, 2005 04:30 PM (gplif)

5 Congrats!

Posted by: Ted at June 14, 2005 04:54 PM (+OVgL)

6 Wonderful news, so happy for you :-) It's nice when the Universe is in balance, and good things happen to good people. May the trend continue.

Posted by: Alan E Brain at June 14, 2005 08:19 PM (tAq8A)

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Two words: "yes, dear." Of course, that's only for men. Wives can make up any rules they want to.

Now if you don't believe me and my almost fourteen years of wedded bliss, just ask the holders of the world record for the longest marriage.

Via Pack News.

Posted by: JohnL at 10:24 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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So what does a parrot have in common with the deal we've been working on our dream house?

They're both dead.

Stone dead.

Definitely deceased.

Bleedin' demised.

Passed on.

No more.

Ceased to be.

Expired and gone to meet the maker.

Stiff.

Bereft of life.

Resting in peace.

Pushing up the daisies.

Their metabolic processes are now history.

Off the twig, kicked the bucket, shuffled off the mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleedin' choir invisibile. IT IS AN EX-DEAL!!

We instructed our agent tonight to send a notice of termination of the purchase contract to the sellers of the "dream house" upon which we recently made an offer (accepted by the sellers). We're still in the initial option period, so we're only out the small option fee and the cost of the home inspection that took place yesterday. The inspection (done by a neutral inspector we hired, i.e., not recommended by either of our brokers) revealed several flaws, each of which would be reasonable to encounter in a 25-year-old house, but all of which together indicate a long-time lack of maintenance.

We're talking basic home maintenance here: fixing leaks, monitoring drainage, replacing rotten wood, addressing minor plumbing issues, making sure improvements are done without compromising the house's structural integrity. That, and the fact that in a termite-infested neighborhood they never had a standard annual termite inspection and as a result have six active infestations in the house. They should have done the termite inspections and adjusted or replaced gutters to prevent water damage and drainage problems as responsible home owners with any sense of pride in their home.

But they apparently didn't have much pride of ownership in their house until it came time to sell. And they want a premium price for an un-updated house with some serious underlying flaws. We could have put all those flaws aside if we had gotten the smallest amount of relief on the price and agreement to perform a detailed repair punchlist.

No deal, though, since we had unreasonable sellers, represented by an a$$hole of an agent, who refused to replace the rusting gutters and rotten wood, or to do a complete termite treatment on the house (with six active termite infestations). They wanted to spot-treat the termites and "repair" the rusted gutters. We've seen those kind of "repairs" done on houses that were being sold before -- essentially bandaids. Or clown makeup.

And we know what we're talking about, as we have performed the basic repairs and improvements necessary to keep our house sound during the 10 years we have been here. Not only that, but we have updated it, so that it looks modern, not dated.

We had already stretched ourselves on the offer price -- the new house was listed at well over the highest selling price per square foot for homes in the neighborhood over the last year. We had signed a contract at a price per square foot just about 20 cents per square foot less than the highest recent sale based on the potential we saw in the house (it's on a corner lot along one of the most desirable streets in the subdivision and has a great layout and perfect configuration of bedrooms, bathrooms, living areas, and storage. And a nice pool, to boot).

Oh, and did I mention that our offer on the house is the only one the sellers have received over the last seven months?

After their agent came back offering a band-aid repair and no monetary relief, he really iced the deal when he told our agent, "tell the Laniuses we are doing the honorable and generous thing." What's honorable about a cosmetic repair that doesn't address the underlying years of neglect??!

Idiot. F**k head. A competent agent doesn't inject emotion like that into a deal. Or only does it under explicit instructions from the principal. So we have essentially told them to go f**k themselves with their "honorable generosity" and are taking our house off the market. At least until another house with the right amount of space opens up in our neighborhood again.

Oh, and the kicker? We received an almost full-value offer on our house in the middle of the house inspection and had to decline it.

Better to ride this roller coaster and get out now than to suffer in a Money Pit.

Posted by: JohnL at 11:41 PM | Comments (12) | Add Comment
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