It has been brought to my attention that I may be a hypocrite.

So, I know that I have been devoting quite a bit of the blog to venting lately.

I don't mean to be so cranky.

I just do not do well with limbo. Particularly when it feels like unnecessary, drawn out, dramatic, back and forth, stupid stupid annoying limbo.

And, apparently my hypocritical side comes out with all of my home-selling/buying rants. I apparently get all righteous when I'm selling "that's the price, dude, what's your problem?", and all cheap and "you think you can get that price, dude, what's your problem?" when I'm buying. It's the same when I'm a pedestrian or driving.

When I'm trying to cross a street, hello---I'm crossing the street, don't try to run me over. But, when I'm driving, hello--I'm driving, can you maybe move your cane a little faster, Grandma?

I'm trying to be a better person. Truly.

But, the exciting news is...we put an offer on the second place, and despite my whining and complaining yesterday, I'm really excited about it.

This new place, the sellers (so far) have been TOTALLY reasonable. We offered, they countered, we countered, and then we collectively decided to split the difference--I've heard rumors that that is how it generally works, right? And, get this, all within 2-3 hours. (Actually, we took last night to think it over because it moved so fast we didn't really have a chance to process it, but we came to the right conclusion.)

The place is great. I'm really looking forward to living there.

So, see, I am not always crabby! Sometimes I'm happy. Thrilled even!

I'd put up a link to it, but...I'm a tad superstitious now. Both places where we put in offers did not take after we showed pictures to our friends. Coincidence? Aye, but at least let me get a signed contract in my hands before I jinx me-self.

Straw...camel...moving on.

So, what day is today? Wednesday?
We started the negotiation process for the condo we're trying to purchase last Thursday, and these people...

I swear, I know after multiple experiences like this, I should think it's us...but I really don't know what we're doing wrong. We aren't being pushy, or greedy, or stubborn, or asking for weird things. Well, perhaps slightly stubborn, but mainly straightforward and (outwardly) patient. We're behaving and it has gotten us absosmurfly NOWHERE.

We have tried to respond quickly (immediately) to multiple counters.

We contacted our lender at the sellers' request to make sure that we could get a mortgage within a 14 day turnaround instead of 21 because they are nervous with such a quick closing date.

We have been patient with their 48 hour deliberations before they come back with a virtual non-move forward. We're told the price of the offer isn't an issue, but the $11,000 special assessment that has been levied prior to this is. We try to work with them.

Then, we're told the price is part of the issue. They have a number in their head they are stuck on. We try to counter, guessing at this magic number.

We were straight with them from the initial offer that this is a higher price-point for us, so we completely understand if they can't work with us, but ask them to please let us know soon because we are looking at another property.

We are told "we are close." Then they "sleep on it" for days and come back with another counter, like they still want us to pay the $11,000 special assessment that has been levied on their place. I thought we'd been through this already.

Fine. We agreed to pay part of it, so they come back again with a counter that still has us paying the majority of it.

We came up again in price, which is really stretching it for us. We are literally within maybe $2000. We can taste the final agreement. But they are hemming and hawing, and even though their agent is going out of the country today, and they were supposed to respond last night, they still haven't responded...but it's "looking good."

I have started to arrange our furniture...in my head, of course...in what will be our new, awesome and cool condo. I'm actually excited. I can't wait for the close. I can't wait to move our stuff in, and repaint the dining room from the navy blue they've coated it in.

And then this morning they tell us they can't move until August.

Of course they can't.

Now, why we would need to make sure we can secure a 14 day turnaround on our mortgage that we wouldn't then close on for three months...I can't possibly fathom, but let's see if there's another hoop we can jump through.

When we looked at the place we were told they wanted to move quickly. We were also told they've already had two offers fall through prior to this.

I simply can't imagine why!

So, now we're putting another offer in on another place in the building. It's not quite as cool, but it's a lot less expensive and it doesn't require a strightjacket...which is a definite perk.

The waiting game played with absolutely no patience.

I haven't been posting lately mainly because we've been spending a lot of our time trying to find a place to live in the city--without much success.

We put an offer on one place a few weeks ago, and I really and truly thought that our offer was actually more than fair, and would be snapped up in an instant...but then they negotiated by coming down on their original price by two cents, and wouldn't budge.

(And that was exactly what happened on our Michigan place too--which I also thought was strange... Don't people price their homes, knowing there is a negotiation process?**)

**Thanks to the input of the anonymous/angry real-estate girl in the comment below and then my own husband, I apparently need to clarify that in the case of both of these properties, according to market comps, they were overpriced and on the market for a long period of time. That is why when they came down by two cents, it seemed greedy, stubborn or stupid, and possibly all three.

So anyway...that one went away...and I'd just about given up and decided we should rent...and then Thursday, we saw three in the same building that were very cool.

Then, we bid on the "pipe dream" one we liked the best but couldn't afford at their price, and knew we would probably get immediately rejected. Only they appear to be considering our offer...the key word being "appear."

The problem is, we've gone back and forth now between our realtors, and since they didn't just laugh at us...I now have it in my head that we actually have a chance of getting it...which we probably don't. But, the realtors say things like, "I think we're close" which means...absolutely nothing.

So, now, I've totally gotten my hopes up, and I'm not as excited about making an offer on the one that is the much better deal, almost as nice, etc.

Had these people just said No from the get go, I would totally be excited about the other place. Brendan says I should never go to Mexico because I have no bartering skills.

Brendan está correcto. Voy loco.