Wheels in motion...

We can't get too excited at this point because there are some hurdles that we still have to jump... big hurdles. But to this point, nothing less than the hand of God has led us to this point. We're not kidding.

We got an offer on our house on Saturday evening. The realtor for our buyers has been both pushy and aloof, impressive to neither Jenn nor me. The offer was lower than we liked, so we countered. (We covered this in the last post.) So the negotiation continued through Monday with us accepting their counter to our counter. It was a few thousand below what we needed, but we weren't interested in losing this buyer (they're a conventional buyer, not an FHA buyer), and we were close enough for our liking. Our realtor played a few gymnastics with our numbers allowing us to come away with enough for a down payment on a new house.

Tuesday was a BUSY day. Jenn found out on Monday evening that our Holy Grail had not sold and had been removed from the market. So our realtor called the realtor for our Holy Grail (hereafter referred to as Forest Edge). They reported that they had had a buyer, but that the house went pending on August 20, and they're not sure at this point why the financing hasn't come through. We were informed that the previous contract has expired. (!!!!!) So after a few phone calls and meetings with my banker, we called Forest Edge and offered them their original asking price. We needed to entice them to legally release the former buyer and take our offer. This is the house that we want, and if we are able to buy it, we won't move again until we downsize in 40 years.

In the meantime, we had to inform our buyers that a previous owner of our home had taken his life. We weren't sure how they'd take that info. If you'll recall, a buyer had bailed on our previous homeowner because of this detail, which was what allowed us to get this house for the cost that we did. Some people apparently get spooked by the thought of a death in the house.

Tuesday bled into Wednesday, and communication was nearly dead. You can imagine our mental state: we might lose our buyers over what shouldn't be any big deal causing us to lose the opportunity to get the house by which we judged all other houses. It would make sense that our buyers would want to proceed quickly (they're eligible for the New Home Buyer's $8,000 tax credit, provided they close before Nov. 30), but you never know with new home buyers. The lack of a ringing cell phone was painful. The last time we experienced anything like this was after we'd submitted our applications to Ohio State and the decision was completely out of our hands. (There's a lesson about give God control in all of this.)

Finally by late afternoon we found out (a) the Forest Edge owners were in the process of legally releasing the former buyers, and (b) our buyers intend to fax the final contract over tomorrow and they're in the process of lining up a home inspection.

So you can see why I say that there are still hurdles to jump: actually faxing the contract & the coming home inspection (the really big one). But Jenn and I have been praying for this for weeks... through the pending of Forest Edge, through the early weeks of having no one look at our home, through the evening when we weren't sure if our buyers would bail on us. It remains to be seen how things turn out, but we've given it to the LORD. And while we'll be disappointed of this doesn't work out, we'll know that He has a good plan for us.

We'd appreciate your prayers for us. We'll keep you posted.