Purchasing a house has turned out to be way less romantic and awesome than I had imagined it would be.
This post would be written in a very different tone if I had chosen to write it a few weeks ago. It would be angry and seething, and probably with a good dose of 'woe-is-me'. The (very) long-story-made-short is that we are not getting the amazing house that we'd been waiting on since late September. Basically, the bank decided that they were having to put too much effort into the sale, so they cancelled the entire transaction. And we can't do anything about it. We spent four months doing everything they asked, being unbelievably patient, dealing with moronic bank realtors, and being led to believe that there was absolutely no reason that we would not own this house if we just stuck it out. Then the bank simply changed their mind.
We filed complaints with the regional office of Freddie Mac's Homesteps program. We called the selling realtor's office and complained. We tried, but there was nothing we could do that would change the outcome. We're just not getting the house. We spent four months making plans for what we were going to do to this house, how we were going to fix it up, what we would do to the yard, and getting excited for the list of projects we would begin as soon as we were able. Needless to say, after the bank informed us that all of those plans were now shot, I spent about a week feeling heartbroken, depressed, and pissed off. I had let myself get really invested in the idea of this house and the thought of having to go out and find something else just killed me.
I've had a few weeks to digest everything now and although I'm still pissed off, I know that things are going to work themselves out. After a couple weeks of down time, we took to the streets and starting house-shopping again. Josh and I have put an offer on a different house now, and it really has potential to be a cool one. It's not like the other place-- we're simply not going to find anything else like the other place-- and it's not in the North Valley, but it could still be really great. I think this whole situation has made me realize that for the time being, we don't need to be so focused on finding the perfect house. If we can find a cool house that we will enjoy and can make our own, and especially if we can find a good deal on such a house in this market right now, then we need to take advantage of that. Five or ten years down the road we can focus on trying to find our Perfect House, but for now I think I'm alright with a Pretty Cool House. Especially if it means that the purchasing process will be smoother and faster and less horrible.
