Belay On

Yea, so the house inspection came up with some little items and major repair items.  We heard from the seller that they were willing to fix the little items but not the large yesterday.  All afternoon I was ready to burst into tears (this is probably a good reminder why you shouldn't check personal email at work!).

The seller claimed that from the inspection report, the items deemed as needing "attention" did not warrant necessary repair or maintenance for function or safety reasons; thus, they weren't interested.  Our realtor tried to reason that these items would come up with any potential buyer and the seller came back with, that's part of the reason the house is priced what it is.

I called our inspector and walked through the list again. I was happy to learn that he truly doesn't not think the roof needs replacing, rather there are a few shingles that need repair.  The other large issue is the sewer line is close to one hundred years old and that definitely needs repair, if not replacement. But given the neighborhoods we want to be in and knowing the majority of the homes are the same age; this issue could come up anywhere. My dad has worked in the water industry for years and cautioned that yes, we need to get on that. We'll have another sewer scope done when he's out here to get more important and understanding on it's condition.

Otherwise, the last major issue is the A/C. We decided we can try living without central air and see how it goes.  There are always window units until we decide to bite the bullet. Plus, so many have reached out to us to say that they've lived in houses without central air and that summer heat here is dry; unlike the humid mess in the Midwest; so we're taking our chances.

Back to yesterday, pretty much as soon as I got in my car, the tears started flowing. I tried to place the emotion and reason for the tears, but couldn't. I couldn't decide if it was the fear of walking away or something else.  Now looking back, I think it was the fear of how much I wanted the house and worrying Ben wouldn't feel the same.

Good ole Dad called to talk through some items and the biggest one that stuck was, okay, adding on the worst-case costs for sewer, air conditioning and roof repairs, to the sale price of the house; how does that pricing compare to other listings? Thinking of it in that light, even with the add-ons (which we'll take care of as we need to and won't impact our monthly mortgage, which is comfortably what we budgeted for), the house is still a fair, if not good, price, given what the house has to offer and the location.

I was pretty shocked when I sat down on the couch and said to Ben, "so....", and he said, "well, we love it...and I think we should do it". Relief rushed over me and I was thrilled we were on the same page!

So there you have it! We ARE buying our current dream house and closing on the 28th!

Now to get onto the fun things; like decorating and I'm already on top of that (although I'll take your ideas too!)