And Now, Another Episode of House Buying Hell

Last time on "House Buying Hell"...

• Mr. Seller was unreasonable in his demands for the purchase agreement.
• Mr. Irony and CelticBuffy were dismayed, wondering if they could work things out with Mr. Seller.
• Ms. Realtor was trying desperately to negotiate a deal.

• Will Mr. Seller sell?
• Will CelticBuffy and Mr. Irony have to start over on the house hunt?
• Will Ms. Realtor come to the rescue and save the deal?
  

And now, welcome to this week's episode of "House Buying Hell".

Sunday saw Mr. Irony and Ms. Realtor going through the house again, making a list of items to go over with the contractor on Monday. Not so much a list of what we'd like done to the home, but rather a list of what might not pass inspection.

Monday brought me another trip to the big city (or rather a suburb thereof). We had a meeting of the minds: Ms. Realtor, Mr. Contractor, Mr. Irony, and yours truly. Everything that had the potential to not pass inspection was looked at, discussed, and a plan of action chosen. It was decided that 8-10 pieces of siding would be replaced as well as the house repainted in a color of our choosing (light yellow! white trim!). Both bathrooms would have the tub surrounds replaced and the walls re-sheetrocked, as well as the downstairs bathroom ceiling replaced (mold prevention due to former major leak). The deck needs some boards replaced as well as the open railing closed up with a slatted railing. The floor in the sunroom will be replaced as well as concrete footings added to support said sunroom. One outside door will also be replaced as it looks like one good kick would topple it in. Once all of this is completed it should pass inspection. The only questionable item was if we would need to install sheetrock (for a firewall) on the garage side of the wall that divides the house and the garage. The contractor thought that based on the age of this house (built in the early eighties) it would not be required as that was not a must at the time of construction.

So. Now it gets interesting. Mr. Contractor and Ms. Realtor were scheming, err, I mean discussing, the best ways to convince Mr. Seller (Mr. Contractor's uncle) that this was all well and good and that we weren't deadbeats planning to repair the house and run; but rather, a soon to be family that really wants to be in this suburb and really really wants this exact house. Then they moved on to which inspector they wanted to do the inspection and the exact appraiser they wanted to use for the appraisal. Mr. Irony and I are starting to figure out that we lucked out with our mortgage broker, our realtor, and the contractor. Apparently these three are part of the "inner circle" of real estate in this suburb and can exert considerable influence among others in their sphere. Case in point? Not only did they convince Mr. Seller yesterday to sign our original purchase agreement,

• Mr. Seller is covering the cost of repairing the flooring of the deck, the flooring of the sunroom and the concrete footings underneath! But, now, get this . . .
  

• they also got the housing inspector of their choice to jump right in and do the first inspection on. . . wait for it . . . (drum roll please). . . Friday the 4th of July! I mean, WOW!, who the heck does a housing inspection on a major holiday!?!? (Vanessa wanted to know if he's from Canada, LOL!) So we are getting our initial inspection done this Friday!

We get to meet with the inspector afterwards to go over what needs to be done to pass final inspection prior to closing. With the initial inspection finished, Mr. Contractor will start next week with replacing the siding and working on the deck and sunroom. He plans to start the bathrooms towards the middle of July in order to be finished by August for a closing date of August 4th! Woohoo! Not that I'm not getting my hopes up that we will actually close on that date, but it should be somewhere right around that time.

Following all of this drama and power-weilding by Ms. Realtor and Mr. Contractor, Mr. Irony took ourselves off for a celebratory Chinese lunch . We then took a stroll through the local building supply store; daydreaming of light fixtures, landscaping supplies, hard wood floors, and paint. I'm not sure if I scared or amused Mr. Irony with the number of paint samples I took home with me! It's such a relief to have gotten this far in the house buying process. I was seriously beginning to think it wasn't going to happen any time soon.

Stay tuned for the next episode of "House Buying Hell" in which CelticBuffy informs family members that she and Mr. Irony are going to be living together with no intentions of marrying. I'm sure much drama will ensue (or possibly be ignored as that is what my mother is apt to do).