January 3, 2014

sometimes the rug gets pulled out from under you

The week before closing on the sale of our condo and buying our house, we heard that our condo buyers might back out. The next morning they confirmed it. There's no good reason -- we've bent over backward and spent hundreds on barely necessary items to appease them as part of the concessions. As it turns out, the buyers are on shaky ground mentally and have other issues.

We were faced with a really crappy situation, but we pushed on with buying the house. That was the last thing I was gonna let happen. The good news is, because of our good credit and low debt-to-income ratio (plus our retirement funds), our lender let us close and assume both mortgages. We moved in with the help of several friends and relatives the weekend before Christmas and did our level best not to completely bypass the anniversary of Jesus' birth. It's been a huge two weeks of transitions, hard labor, and stopping to observe the holidays.

There are a few who are urging us to rent out the condo and become landlords, but we're having a hard time with this as we now have next to no savings. So that decision is going to become the line in the sand this month as we wait for an offer on the condo. If it doesn't sell in time, we'll rent it out.

Meanwhile, I'm adjusting my senses to living in a house after 11 years in a condo. No noise from the neighbors! No dog crap on the lawn! (yet) No pressure to do laundry during the day or keep the stereo down at night! No cramped feeling from packing our belongings into a place we were ready to move out of 7 years ago.

That's the fun adjustment. We also have to adjust to having double the mortgage when I'm still unemployed -- a situation I hope to remedy as I send out hopeful resumes. Yep, it's time for me to get back to full-time working, which will be another adjustment.

Lord, guide me through these currents of change.