<p>You have us all waiting for the next installment! Still keeping fingers crossed.</p>
<p>wow oakland mom, my fingers are developing cramps! ;)</p>
<p>As of now, I’m still waiting…but I do know that my Oakland agent agreed to just take 1.5% if the zillow guy buys my house - that agent will do the paper work but won’t have to do anything else. I’m planning on heading up to look at a few open houses near my craftsman just so I have a back up plan in case the craftsman is sold before I can make my offer. Something interesting just came on the market yesterday with a separate two story studio space - part of what I’m looking for is something with studio space - a place I can do art without cluttering up the house. The craftsman has a great workshop attached to the garage - in addition to a wonderful light filled room upstairs. I don’t think I can just sit around the house and wait for phone calls. Its tempting to start packing…but I think I’ll wait until I actually have an offer I can live with in my hands.</p>
<p>Oaklandmom,
This thread has brought me so much joy. I’m going to print it and take it into work. This kind of post is the reason for the Parents’ Cafe.</p>
<p>oh, mardad, I’m so so happy this thread brings joy. I’m nearly speechless. Thank you.</p>
<p>Please let us know what you see at the open houses. This whole real estate thing is definitely a roller coaster ride…just make sure your seat belt is fastened, and sit back, throw your hands in the air and enjoy the rush. We’re all enjoying following your story!!!</p>
<p>Wow, nothing like a vicarious thrill ride from “The Price Is Right” to “is the price right”! Thanks for sharing your journey with us. Good luck with the house/houses.</p>
<p>Yesterday was a glorious fall day here in Northern California. I drove to the craftsman and showed it to a friend who’d come along for the ride, it wasn’t open but we peered in the windows and walked around the edges to see the entire garden. She agrees its a great house with a wonderful yard. Then we were off to open houses. First stop a very cute one story, only 10 years old. S and I really want a two story house & I’m determined to have studio space that feels separate. The one story house was very nice but no studio space - but it did remind me of a tri-level that’s on the market on the same street that has studio space. The tri-level is a possibility. A neighbor stopped us to tell us what a great street it is to live on. Then we moved on to a Victorian - its a bankruptcy sale, listed for $100,000 more than my craftsman. It was dark, damp and cold. The floor plan felt like a maze. The previous owner had left multiple projects unfinished, the fireplace mantle was leaning precariously against a wall, in the bathrooms, the shower stalls had exposed studs, wall paper was peeling off, the kitchen a jumble of victorian and modern cabinets. I mentioned to the realtor that I was hoping to make an offer on the craftsman just around the corner but an offer had been made so I was looking for back ups - she has heard that the offer has fallen through. Hmm. Then it was on to a few newer houses, nothing that really appealed to me. We also stopped in front of a 1953 ranch that has a two story studio - it wasn’t open, but I wanted to check out the neighborhood. It looks like it might be promising, I’ll head up later in the week and have my agent show it to me. We looked at a couple of newer homes, but they just didn’t have the right feel. Though I didn’t fall in love with any other houses, I do feel like there are possibilities & the craftsman may be waiting for me. Back home, a message from the zillow guy: its looking good, he wants to come by one more time before making an offer. & the agent I signed with is going ahead with an open house today in hopes of getting other offers (and more commission for himself). And here I sit this morning, reading CC when I should be dusting and getting the house ready for this afternoon’s open house. Oh, this is an adventure…</p>
<p>Wow! In this soft market your adventure seems to be going well. I love houses and house hunting.</p>
<p>Good luck today.</p>
<p>:( just checked the mls…it shows a pending sale on the craftsman I love…now I have to find another house to fall in love with…</p>
<p>You will. You have a loving nature. And things may not work out with the other sale.</p>
<p>That may just mean there is an offer, not that it was accepted. Fingers are crossed here for you.</p>
<p>Well? Any news???</p>
<p>The air date is still not posted. I check cbs.com 3 times a day. our show is 4073K. As for houses, there’s still a sale pending on the craftsman. There has been interest in my house - I have two offers, but they are ridiculously low but they’re both cash. Another couple seem very interested and the wife told me Friday they’d be making an offer…but nothing yet, I’m trying not to hold my breath all weekend. There is nothing like the craftsman, but there are other houses I can live with and one of them I think I’ll eventually fall in love with. My realtor is checking on whether or not they’d take an offer contingent on the sale of this house. I’m waiting to hear back. I do believe things happen for a reason. S has fallen in love – something I just learned. But its a huge shift for me. S had friends that were girls in high school, but never a girlfriend(that I know of) & went off to college saying that he didn’t care about the ratio(7 men to 3 women) as he was going to school to get an education, not to date. I guess I don’t really need the BIG craftsman. The little house has everything I need (3 bedrooms & studio space & a yard big enough so that I can eventually build a studio in the backyard). & the living room is big enough to hold my “Price is Right” piano and I should be able to make room for the sleds in the garage.<br>
Though I don’t remember seeing a medicine cabinet in the bathroom - where will I put the year’s supply of cough drops? ;)</p>
<p>How many cough drops in a year’s supply?</p>
<p>I love how you inserted the “S has fallen in love” bit in between the housing angst, oaklandmom. 
You being asked to shift in more ways than one right now. Hang in there! </p>
<p>Your S is a great guy, and it’s obvious from your posts why a smart girl would fall for him. But there’s no way she’s gonna replace you in his heart. My dad had a special love for his mom (my grandmother) that my mom couldn’t touch (nor did she want to). There is just a place in their hearts for mom-love, and even though it might be small and get a little dusty or even neglected from time to time, it doesn’t ever get filled in or remodeled by other loves. With my dad, it lasted all the way to his mom’s 87th year when she passed. As the mother of a son away at college, too, I try to remember that place and nurture it where and when I can. </p>
<p>Besides, you wanted to raise a man who would be attractive to young women and be able to connect emotionally at a deeper level and be interested in more than just numbers and work, right? So, good job on that front! :)</p>
<p>OLM
How lucky that girl is!!!</p>
<p>I so respect your ability to roll with the punches. “love the one you’re with” comes to mind as you consider the large, expensive Craftsman vs the cozier but totally doable little house with rom for detached studio. (In future, can you give that house a name?)</p>
<p>Any update today? Why don’t you put a back-up offer on the craftsman if you like it that much? Couldn’t hurt, could it? </p>
<p>I happen to be working from home today and “The Price is Right” came on- any news on that front ?</p>
<p>I just looked up the show date and it’s not on there yet. Thanks for providing the number, makes it easy to find.</p>
<p>Update? Don’t you know we are hanging on your every word??!!</p>
<p>Still no airdate. House: its been a roller coaster ride and this weekend I nearly gave up. I have a reasonable offer on my Oakland house - but the buyer wanted me to carry a second of over $30,000. All last week they’d been saying an offer was coming but I didn’t get it until Friday pm (I’d been at the dentist, sedated for a procedure Friday morning so I was in no shape to look at the offer Friday evening). When I looked at the offer on Saturday I realized I needed to figure out if carrying a second of $30,000 for the buyer would make a difference in terms of finaid(they’d said they’d be asking me to carry a second but hadn’t given me any numbers so I didn’t know if I was looking at $5,000 or $100,000 and the finaid office couldn’t advise me unless I had numbers except to tell me it would be considered an investment). I ran finaid calculators and my EFC would go from 0 to over $2000 and that’s just with the “investment” I’d have of $30,000, it didn’t include the income from that “investment”. And I couldn’t figure out if we’d lose the Pell Grant, etc(but I bet we would). I had it on my list to call the finaid office back this morning to see, but my gut reaction was to say no to carrying the second - if the buyer defaulted I probably wouldn’t get my money back. I started to think about staying in our Oakland house until S is out of college - though when I heard gunshots again on Saturday night, I just wanted out of Oakland at any cost. (Gunshots are a regular occurrence here). I turned off my phone yesterday and took the dogs for a long drive. This morning, I had an email from my real estate agent - the buyer doesn’t need me to carry the second. (they’d like it if I would, but its not a deal breaker). So as of this morning I’m going to accept the offer (but not carry a second for the buyer) and make an offer on the “little house” - I’m trying to come up with a better name for it. The listings says it was built in 1950 - but my real estate agent and I think it looks more like a house built in the 30’s or 40’s - nice built-in cabinets, a delightful kitchen, a great little workshop, all three bedrooms look out onto the gorgeous garden(its almost a quarter acre lot). I’m debating on calling it the bungalow (though I don’t think its really a bungalow) or the garden house. The buyer of my Oakland house wants to close in 25 days, so I shouldn’t be spending much time on CC - though knowing me, I’ll use it to avoid what really needs to be done! (Pack up the rest of the house!)
on another note, thank you all for your sweet comments about S and his love…each time I read them, I tear up.</p>