The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away....
...blessed be the name of the Lord.
I hadn't decided whether I'd continue blogging from G.R. It will undoubtedly be intermittent, but it is a significant way that I keep up with a certain (western) half of my family.
What the Lord gave was a house sale in a dreadful market, just before we moved. What the buyer took away, and what we must accept as the Lord's will, is that same sale. All sales are of course contingent on inspections. We had moved before ours, but we got a phone call afterwards from our realtor, who reported that the inspector had said he'd buy the house and there was nothing for us to fix. We floated on clouds for three days, knowing just how hard we had worked to make the house as good as possible. Then came another phone call. Evidently our buyer (whom, our realtor reports, she had never seen smiling) read into the written report that a crack in the basement wall, that we had never seen because it was behind the washer and dryer and that the inspector only said needed to be filled and sealed, was caused by water underneath our 60 x 20 deck undermining the foundation. We felt that was absurd in part because we have never had a leak in the basement, but the buyer could not shake the notion. She flew to Wooster Saturday to meet some building people to discuss the crack. They assured her that the yard was graded such that all water flowed away from the house. They speculated that perhaps the shower the floor above the crack was heavy enough to cause it. In any case, the house was neither going to fall down nor did it need expensive fixes (such as the $30K she felt was needed to rip out the deck, regrade and put another deck on). She immediately returned to her out-of-state home and then next day (yesterday), she emailed her rescension (is that a word?--she rescinded the contract). For her price range and geographical range, its hard to think that she will be able to find another house as structurally sound and (superficially) well decorated as ours. Since we don't know her, it is hard to read her motivations, but I do know that Jesus would want us to pray for blessings on her. That's what we're doing, if not with joy, at least with obedience.
We are addressing the three items the inspection pointed out (no explanation of the disconnect between the verbal assurance of no problems and these listed in the written report): the outside electrical supply cords, the roof (again, we have never had any leaks, but the inspection said it is at the end of its useful age and so we are having Amish roofers (whose abilities the buyer also questioned because of their reasonable bids) replace that, and the crack in the basement wall (as soon as a contractor can give us some advice). I must fax the papers to Chuck in Kansas City, where he is grading AP Calc for ten days, and he must fax them to our realtor. It goes back on the market tomorrow. We will wait to rejoice again in what the Lord will give.
I hadn't decided whether I'd continue blogging from G.R. It will undoubtedly be intermittent, but it is a significant way that I keep up with a certain (western) half of my family.
What the Lord gave was a house sale in a dreadful market, just before we moved. What the buyer took away, and what we must accept as the Lord's will, is that same sale. All sales are of course contingent on inspections. We had moved before ours, but we got a phone call afterwards from our realtor, who reported that the inspector had said he'd buy the house and there was nothing for us to fix. We floated on clouds for three days, knowing just how hard we had worked to make the house as good as possible. Then came another phone call. Evidently our buyer (whom, our realtor reports, she had never seen smiling) read into the written report that a crack in the basement wall, that we had never seen because it was behind the washer and dryer and that the inspector only said needed to be filled and sealed, was caused by water underneath our 60 x 20 deck undermining the foundation. We felt that was absurd in part because we have never had a leak in the basement, but the buyer could not shake the notion. She flew to Wooster Saturday to meet some building people to discuss the crack. They assured her that the yard was graded such that all water flowed away from the house. They speculated that perhaps the shower the floor above the crack was heavy enough to cause it. In any case, the house was neither going to fall down nor did it need expensive fixes (such as the $30K she felt was needed to rip out the deck, regrade and put another deck on). She immediately returned to her out-of-state home and then next day (yesterday), she emailed her rescension (is that a word?--she rescinded the contract). For her price range and geographical range, its hard to think that she will be able to find another house as structurally sound and (superficially) well decorated as ours. Since we don't know her, it is hard to read her motivations, but I do know that Jesus would want us to pray for blessings on her. That's what we're doing, if not with joy, at least with obedience.
We are addressing the three items the inspection pointed out (no explanation of the disconnect between the verbal assurance of no problems and these listed in the written report): the outside electrical supply cords, the roof (again, we have never had any leaks, but the inspection said it is at the end of its useful age and so we are having Amish roofers (whose abilities the buyer also questioned because of their reasonable bids) replace that, and the crack in the basement wall (as soon as a contractor can give us some advice). I must fax the papers to Chuck in Kansas City, where he is grading AP Calc for ten days, and he must fax them to our realtor. It goes back on the market tomorrow. We will wait to rejoice again in what the Lord will give.
posted by Barb @ 4:07 PM
5 Comments:
At 1:44 PM,
Bruce S said…
There's no accounting for what people do, for what decisions they make. When it comes to real estate, Alex can testify that a deal isn't done till the fat lady sings.
In my own case, my prospective buyer was renting my place that he was in escrow for buying and backed out at the last possible moment. He then wouldn't pay 6 weeks worth of rent, and also destroyed the house and landscaping causing $3000 damage. Plus, I having been required to sell by a certain date in order to transfer my property tax burden to our new residence, when our buyer reneged, the house failed to sell in the prescribed window of time necessary to transfer the tax burden. The net result of that disaster is that I have a property tax liability higher by $3000 per year for the rest of my life.
On the plus side, I still have the house and A&E and 4 grand-kids get to live in it. So that's pretty cool.
I am learning that God knows what he is doing. A simple "thy will be done" every so often (as if you could change it) and you should be good to go.
At 1:58 PM,
Anonymous said…
We're hoping that the new buyer will either have children who can bring laughter and loving messes to the house or be the kind of person who will share it with others in its prime entertainment spaces. Clearly this buyer did not seem inclined in those directions (being single and never smiling). Trusting all is well with your family, including the part that is expecting #4.
At 2:20 PM,
Bruce S said…
What's up with retiring the blogging now that your time for blogging has gone up?
At 2:59 PM,
Anonymous said…
You should talk--how often do you write? That's hard on folks who depend on blogging for their communication as we seem to do. It seems that almost everyone has slowed down. I certainly will post some "first impressions" within the next few days, but postings will con't to be intermittent.
At 3:46 PM,
Anonymous said…
Besides, who says I have more time? I have stacks of reading to do for my three-week course this summer on Muslims in America, which hopefully will lead to stacks of writing. I have a house to put into order, new people to meet, a daughter to care for during the day for a couple of weeks, and two nieces with whom to communicate nearly daily (not a chore but a privilege) as they face challenges large and small without their mom. And a house to sell, as though I could do it. When does that vacation begin again? Oh yes, in 10 days.
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