You ever feel like no matter what you do, life just throws road blocks in your way?
I tell ya – the past few weeks have just been FULL of road blocks for us. Last month, we found some land we decided to buy. It was 3/4 of an acre, with a half acre next to it for sale (same price). We asked if the seller would consider making a deal for both, to give us 1.25 acres, and they were unwilling to work with us, so we said, “That’s fine. We’ll take the larger lot.” Squatch got the covenants that went with the purchase prior to us signing anything, but didn’t get around to forwarding them to me until after our offer was accepted. Holy Haberdashery, Batman. There were so many dang covenants and restrictions on what you could build, minimum square footage (we don’t want a ginormous house, but we also don’t want a tiny house), limitations on outbuildings/sheds, and more. I was not happy, but focused on making it work.
Fast forward two weeks, and it’s 1 week before closing. The realtor forwards us a notice from the town – crazy high levels of manganese in the water. You guys, this report was from December. It was not disclosed to us prior to the sale. The notice came from the town, who was the seller of the property. Their idea of remediation – purchasing testing kits for every home in the town. Yeah, nope. Especially when we priced whole-home reverse osmosis kits, and they cost more than what we were going to pay for the property. Squatch and I were talking about what we wanted to do, when he got a call from a different realtor. There was a house right around the corner from where he works that we put an offer on back in March that was passed over. Well, the buyers the seller went with were unable to procure the financing, so it was back on the market, and did we want to make a new offer?
You bet your ass we did. We made the offer at noon, by 4 it was accepted. So I put on my paralegal hat and emailed the realtor for the lot. I included some legalese mumbo jumbo about a “failure to disclose,” and told her as a result we did not want to move forward with the purchase. The next day, the deal was over, and our earnest money was getting sent back. Both realtors for the land were shocked that the water issue was not disclosed. The town sent the notice to the title company as they were working on our paperwork, and the title company sent it to the realtor to share with us. Shady, I tell you. Very shady.
Anyway…fast forward to this past week. Squatch went for the inspection on Monday. He called me after, saying there were some issues brought up, but he would wait for the full report to go back to the seller. You guys, when he said “some issues,” I wasn’t expecting: new roof for house and garage, double tapping on the electrical boxes, exposed wires in the basement, dryer venting back into the laundry room, doors and windows need to be replaced, basement bathroom is not connected to water (sink or shower; toilet does work), gutters need to be replaced (we already knew that from the listing pictures and Squatch’s initial walkthrough), deck needs to be torn down and replaced (we also knew this based on listing pictures and Squatch’s initial walkthrough), tree about to fall on the house that needs to come down. I’m sure I’m forgetting something, but these are the big issues. We also had already discussed pulling up all the carpet and replacing with vinyl or laminate, due to the current owner having a cat and my SUPER severe cat allergy, but I digress…
Squatch sent me the report as soon as he got it, and we had a chat. We decided to go back to the seller and request that she either have all repairs done by LICENSED CONTRACTORS or she drop the price $30k so we can do it ourselves. To say she was not happy would be an understatement. She not only ignored the “reply by the next day” on the amendment, she was pissed with the inspector for finding so many issues and deficiencies with her home. You guys, she has a little one, the same age as Little Man, and she had all sorts of issues (I just remembered one – horizontal rails on the stairs to the basement – a child hazard due to the spacing between them and the inclination of children to climb EVERYTHING) that are very much NOT SAFE. So, we sent our amendment Tuesday, with a response date of Wednesday. Friday we heard back. She rejected our offer, and countered with a $5k closing credit and she would have the electrical taken care of. Do you see how laughable this is? We sure did, and on Saturday afternoon, made one final offer – $25K off and WE have all the work done ourselves (we clearly don’t trust this woman to have it done correctly). She has until Monday to reply, which means we most likely won’t hear anything until Tuesday or Wednesday.
So, yeah, hello road blocks! But, when you encounter a road block, you need to reverse and see if you can go around it, or backtrack and find a new path.
Squatch and I are currently looking for new homes and properties. I did find a new listing not too far from his job, and it’s outside of city limits, so we could have animals (YAY! The place we’re currently negotiating on is just barely inside city limits, so that half acre would only be used for gardens and pet rabbits), but it’s less than 900 sq ft, and over our budget. Our realtor is the one who listed it, so when he calls to check in tomorrow, he’s going to see if he can get in to see the home. I mean, it’s on 2 acres, and has fruit trees and bushes already, PLUS a garden. And it is immaculate. I mean, they have a cat tree in the pictures, but the whole home is vinyl flooring, so I’m not worrying about cat dander embedded in carpet, so it’s not going to be the major piece of work the other property will be.
But that’s what you do when something doesn’t work out. You have an alternative path to take. I have been lax the past 3 weeks or so, between trying to buy the lot and then this house, and I was not keeping up with the listings. So to say I was surprised to get online Friday night and see that there really isn’t anything out there…well, I wasn’t really surprised, more like…disappointed. With how quickly homes are moving lately, to see only a handful of places available, it’s not anything new. There are a few lots we had been looking at, but keeping on the back burner, so Squatch will drive by them on his way to work this week. I’ve still got a tab on my Google Sheets with manufactured home designs we like.
I won’t lie, though, and say that we’re ok with how this is all playing out. I joked with Squatch that with this home, it’s like everything is “just ok, not good, not great, just ok.” We got the well inspection results, and not only is there no record of a well being drilled on the property, there are a lot of questions as to the age of the pipes, pumps, etc. Nothing to be too concerned about, but just somethign else to add to the list of things to keep an eye on; the current owner CLEARLY is not up to the task of maintaining a home, or keeping any records, or remedying any issues that were apparent when she bought the house 7 years ago (a lot of the issues are definitely not brand new). So, Squatch and I laugh, and we discuss the next steps, and go about our respective tasks we’ve been assigned. It is disheartening when so much just does not work out and every time we take a step forward, we take 2 or 3 backwards.
But we have to keep on moving, in any direction, if we want to be TOGETHER as a family. The road blocks in life are not going to go away once we have a home. They will not get easier to overcome. All we can do is keep an eye on the horizon, anticipate what road blocks we may see on this journey, and be prepared for anything.
Mmmm…I did do some cooking in the kitchen this week!
Little Man wanted “picks pakes” for breakfast Saturday. I went to the basement to grab a package of pancake mix, and the two I found were brand new. I texted my mother, asking if she had the package with her (she did, just in case she needed to make more on the food trailer), as I was searching the shelves and cabinets to see if I could find SOMETHING that was open. Well, I found the container of flour, so I grabbed it and headed upstairs. Oh. My. Goodness. You guys, these were some of the best pancakes I have ever had. I did a quick search for “homemade pancake recipes,” and found this one over on All Recipes. They were so good! They are called “Good Old Fashioned Pancakes,” and I have to say, it is the best name for them. There is no vanilla added, which I absolutely adore. My mother always adds vanilla to her boxed pancake mixes, and I just don’t care for it. I had a bit of a surprise when I opened the gallon of milk to add to my mix, and it was all curdled (OMG. It was disgusting). There was buttermilk in the fridge, so I substituted that. The mix got SUPER thick, and I had to add some water to thin it out, but you would never know. The pancakes were so light and fluffy. They tasted AMAZING on their own or with butter and syrup. Even my dad commented that he enjoyed the recipe.
Saturday night, I spent an hour making Cinnamon Rolls. I made 42 rolls…3 dozen for my mother to sell on the food trailer as her “Mother’s Day Special,” and 6 for Little Man and me to enjoy. I went too heavy with the brown sugar, and they got really sticky, which I’m not a fan of, as the sugar started to caramelize. But they were still delicious. I did cheat – I used 3 loaves of Rhodes White Bread Dough, letting it thaw and rise all day.
The garden is still a work in progress. I brought the rest of my solo cups of little plants up to the lake this weekend. With everything going on with our house search, at this point, I’m just going to put it all into the garden I’m building for my parents.
Speaking of which…I got my TPosts in the ground on Saturday. I’m still debating whether or not I want to go ahead and use the snow fencing or not. I may use it around the 2 sides and back of the garden, and put chicken wire along the front, to allow for the sun to get in. It will be quite shady, so I’m hoping this will work for the veg I have that have survived thus far (I’ve lost almost all of my carrots and onions). I will bring my herbs and cucumbers up next weekend. They are in planters, so I can easily bring them up North whenever we actually do find a place and close on it. My Sugar Snap Peas will have to live at the house in the burbs. Because I put them in a big planter with a tomato cage, they are just too tall to put in my SUV and bring to the lake.
I am thinking I will bring up the AeroGarden, so my parents can enjoy the fresh salad greens. I want to start some new carrots and onions, and celery, too, since none of them really took off once I transplanted to the bigger cups and started hardening them off outside. I’m also going to grow some peas at the lake – there is a nice trellis I can put in the garden for them to grow up on.
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Thoughts From The Loo 
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