More news

I bet you thought that since I haven't written in awhile I was storing up a bunch of good news and was going to rain down sunshine on you. Not. So. Much.

I appreciate any hope of good news, but that's just not the theme of this summer. We passed our inspection on the condo, but are still waiting for the assessment. If the assessment doesn't match the sale price we both agreed on, the deal is off. Well, we can pay the difference, but we've paid out enough just to get out of the place, we can't pay any more! The seller can make up the difference, but I am fairly sure that since she's only putting 3% down, she's not rolling in dollar bills either.

It's been a week since the assessment so we're getting nervous. Margot the Agent has been awesome, as usual, and is not only keeping us up to date on progress each day, but she's been helping us find a place, too.

About two weeks ago, we found what we thought was a pretty close to perfect house on Baker Lane in Hopkinton.

Four bedroom, a HUGE family room with a fireplace that you can see from the kitchen (one of my big requirements, I want to be able to cook dinner and still be able to keep an eye on the kid(s) while they play in the family room), a decent yard, a quiet cul-de-sac location in a good neighborhood, a finished basement and tons of little upgrades (like molding, hard wood, renovated kitchen, etc.) We JUMPED on it. It was on the market for 1 day and we scheduled an appointment to see it. We actually decided IN THE DRIVEWAY to make an offer immediately. We made one that night, and found out that another couple had also seen it an made an offer right away.

Guess what happened? They chose the other people. Well, not right away. First, they asked for our 'best offers'. Without knowing what the other couple is offering, it's hard to decide. We upped our offer to $100 over list price. We hoped that the other couple would think that list was good enough, and we'd beat them out by what would amount to pennies a month! Good thinking, right? It's all those sick days in elementary school when I got to watch the Price is Right. I learned a bit about bidding! :)

They still chose the other offer. The other couple had nothing to sell. Technically we didn't either, but because at that point we still needed the inspection and the assessment, they thought there was still a possibility the condo sale could fall through. Sigh. With our luck, I am not so sure they won't be right.

So, we lost Baker Lane (that's now the 3rd home we've tried to buy since May and have been rejected in one way or another).

Last weekend, we found another house that we really liked.  It's very similar to the home we lost out to, but a bit nicer. It's in Ashland, on Wadsworth Road. It's number 22. We think it's slightly overpriced, and so do other people apparently because they've already had to drop the price and they have not had much interest. We are a little gunshy now because of Baker Lane so we asked our agent to find out more and will be going back to see it tomorrow night. We found out that the couple is relocating soon and has to sell fast. We hope that we can get a good price because of that and the fact that they have not had much traffic!

There's also another house on the same street that came on the market today. One Wadsworth Road. It's a slightly smaller home (only by about 600 square feet), and not as well done inside, but it looks to be mostly cosmetic. It's like Grandma's house with the flowerly wallpaper, sea green living room, fake ivy around the doorways and copper tea kettles hanging from the ceilings (seriously, there are tea kettles hanging from the ceiling), but that is fixable. Oh and the exterior is this outrageous robin's egg blue... so that will have to be changed, too! See?

It will need a new kitchen in a few years, but that's what tax refunds are for! It's what we're calling our 'bones' house. It has the structure...the family room viewable from the kitchen, a full basement (not sure if it's totally finished or not) a really good yard (1.1 acres), four bedrooms, a nice deck and is in a cul-de-sac in a nice neighborhood that happens to run parallel to Ashland's second fire station. I like EMTs near by!

We are scheduled to see that house on Sunday. Both homes on that street were built in the mid 1990s, which means they have higher ceilings and door jams so John won't whack his head walking into the rooms, and they come standard with central air and things like larger walk-in closets and master baths that you won't see in houses that are 25-30 years old already.

We're feeling pretty good about both houses, so please think good thoughts. We need to catch a break!