So, my wife and I decided towards the end of the year that we would find our new house, preferably early in the year, because we are getting to school age for the kids, and I (along with my wallet) really want them to experience public school. However, the neighborhood we live in right now does not have the best options for the middle school and high school stages. Yes, that’s a long time away, but we wanted to plan ahead. Plus, I don’t want to move when my kids have made friends, and have them start over in middle school, although sometimes being the new kid is the coolest thing in the world, because you get all the attention.

We actually found a house we fell in love with right before Christmas. It was all happening too fast, and we had family coming, the holidays, lots going on at work… so I told her we should wait until the first of the year, and if that house was still available, it means it was meant to be, and we would go for it. Guess what? The house was still there on the first, and the price had dropped a bit. Perfect. Our real estate agent filled out a contract, contacted their agent, who was super busy, but agreed to a verbal contract, and thus began our weekend of getting our house ready to put on the market. Man, a lot goes into that. Painting, cleaning, taking down personal things for viewings, picture taking… and so on. Basically, this took up our whole weekend, and we still have more to do.

However, our agent never heard back after the verbal. The other agent was supposed to send back the contract we agreed upon once she got to her computer. We spent a day trying to get a hold of her, so early Saturday morning, we finally heard back from her. It should have been along the lines of “sorry, I was really busy, but contract is accepted and ready.” Instead, it was “an offer was put on the house, sorry.” I don’t understand the real estate game, or how it works, but our contract was pretty much shoved aside, and she just didn’t respond. I asked if we could counter, since we did have the first offer, and she said we could but they were most likely going to go with the other one. Why? I don’t know.

But the wind was definitely taken out of our sails. It was not meant to be. But, man did we put some effort in this weekend. The hunt starts again. Houses, good investment, and huge pains in the butt, both before and after purchase.