One of our favorite stories is Make Way for Ducklings, by Robert McCloskey.
Mr. and Mrs. Mallard were looking for a place to live. But every time Mr. Mallard saw what looked like a nice place, Mrs. Mallard said it was no good. There were sure to be foxes in the woods or turtles in the water, and she was not going to raise a family where there might be foxes or turtles. So they flew on and on.
I thought we found a place where foxes didn’t live in the woods and turtles didn’t live in the water. We’ve been circling places for months now, flapping down to test the waters occasionally. If I don’t find a place to land soon, my wings might fall off. They are starting to ache.
The answer was no. Apparently, the sellers received an offer on Saturday for the full asking price, no contingencies. If this were true, why did their agent fail to mention this when we had our showing on Sunday? Why didn’t their agent mention this when they received our signed offer yesterday morning? Why didn’t their agent mention this when our agent called him repeatedly yesterday to ask where we were? Why did we find out at 8:15pm last night that supposedly a far superior offer was made on Saturday?
Is real estate another of those professions (like prison snitch) that attracts people with iffy ethics and morals? I know it is their job to find the best deal for their client, but would it kill them to be honest? If they had an offer since Saturday which made our offer look unattractive (not the full asking price) then why not save us some grief? Our agent thinks the better offer came in after ours, actually. I understand the seller wanting to take the best offer—I have no issue with that. Why string us along for a good portion of Sunday (and say you will think about our offer) and nearly all of Monday if you have a fantastic can’t-be-turned-down-offer on Saturday?
We are not supposed to fall in love with places and things for a reason. Material things cannot be counted on to bring happiness, yet why did it make me so happy to envision our family moving in to this particular house? Why do I allow myself to get caught up in the dream of it all?
So they flew on and on.
I am sad for you. I have to tell you what others told me when the same thing happened to us. God has something better. I was crushed when I found out someone else had offered more than asking price with no contingencies, the day after our offer. The agent stacked the offers over the weekend, and I learned, that is how the game is played. We were told the owners were out of town, which I do believe, but still it hurt. Ours came first. I fell in love with the house first! It was perfect, I had us all moved in, in my mind. Than our new house came along and I saw that the other one was not as perfect as I thought. Hard to hear right now, but don’t loose faith. He is looking out for you. I suppose that is why you are not in the house of mold. ((((((mopsy))))))
Thanks, jasmine…I know that is why we aren’t in the House of Mold. I thank God every day that we didn’t end up living there, as much as I liked every other aspect of it.
I feel better about everything this morning, but I have to admit last night I was pretty upset. We are lucky to live in a place with literally thousands of homes for sale on any given day. Finding the one home with the right mix of location, price, size, and that “ohhhhhh!” factor has proved to be more difficult than I ever imagined. Keep the prayers coming. Our realtor has found four more that meet our needs and I hope to go see them soon.
I’m sorry Gretchen. The house just wasn’t your house. It’s still out there! Good Luck!
I feel your pain! We’ve made two offers so far (in Pheonix), & it appears our recent offer will fall through as well. So our search continues… My desire is to be in Pheonix searching because hubby doesn’t want the pressure of finding a home for us, but our time in Denver is not complete, so we hang on. There’s house out there for both of us!
Thanks, JoAnn, and good luck to you, Maria! We can commiserate. You have even added pressure because you’ve sold your home and the buyers are going to be taking possession soon, right? That’s double the stress…