Heartbreak House

Buying a new home is a long, arduous process.

I spent the last 5 months comparing and contrasting locations, evaluating features, and weighing square footage.

And then a month or so ago we found "it", the house we imagined raising our children in.

A 7,500 square foot statuesque colonial beauty, tucked away in nearly four acres of trees, babbling brooks and wildlife. A naturalist's wet dream, complete with flora markers and nature paths.

It is close enough in to the city that we aren't raising our children to be extras for the remake of Deliverance, yet secluded enough to be our own little oasis in the hustle and bustle of our busy lives.

I fell in love with it during the drive in, winding through lush groves of trees and over babbling waterfalls, well before I ever actually saw the house. Once I saw the house itself, I officially fell head over heels.

I could see my kids playing in the sun room, I imagined Bennett catching frogs in the creek, and Sterling having her wedding on the back patio.

But I don't believe in making decisions based on emotion, so we began the negotiation process with a firm willingness to walk away if we didn't get the price we wanted.

A bit of back and forth later, and we were under contract.

Which brought us to today, the inspection... and it was bad. This gorgeous, stately, amazing home needs about 50,000 worth of KNOWN work, which means who knows what else lurks behind the walls.

It isn't anything major, but LOTS and lots of little things that really add up when put together.

Evidently the seller was a not-so-handyman with too much time on his hands and too little understanding of the basics like structural integrity and electrical wiring.

We are now at the point of "what next". We are proposing that the seller gives us a credit to offset the work that will need to be done, but at a price point that high, it's questionable as to whether they will accept it.

Which unequivocally means we will walk if they do not.

This is the fourth house I have bought, and have NEVER had issues even close to this arise in an inspection, even on the 60+ year old house we just sold.

So now we are in a hold pattern until the sellers make a decision on our proposal.

Somehow, this fits perfectly with our year so far :-)