Rambling about Real Estate- My Apologies

It's true, I have been avoiding the blog. The events of the past week have rendered me near speechless. (Speechless! Me!) We've been scrambling to find a new rental- a situation that has been in constant flux each day. We've been dealing with a man who had us sign a lease on his house, then have the house auctioned off before we moved in. He took our hefty deposit, and we are still in the process of wrangling it back from him. It may get nasty. On top of this? We got an offer on the house! Remember? We're selling our house at the same time? Yes. Out of twenty scheduled showings, only 6 actually showed up... none of whom were on time. The average length of lateness was about an hour. None of the showings I thought went particularly well. In a lot of instances there was a language barrier. I didn't have much hope that these lukewarm showings would produce an offer- but lo and behold! My realtor is demanding all sorts of paperwork be printed, signed, scanned and emailed back. (a process made harder by the fact that I had already packed our printer) It sounds like the sale might actually happen! Happy sadness.

When we came up with this cockamamie plan to sell our house and move, I kind of expected all the tiles to fall into place. That our house would sell just as we found the perfect rental house, and everything would be flowers and roses... that's not how it's been going. No. It has been fighting a tide current to get anything planned out and in place. The perfect rental? I'm confident in saying- IT DOEN'T EXIST.

At one point I posted a question to my Super Amazing Facebook Friends: Downsize and save a ton of money, or blow the budget on a single story palatial estate of my dreams?

(surprisingly, my friends are pretty level headed- the majority said "save." I would have said "splurge!" I'm always up for other people to spend their money)

It was a hard decision. But the one story with gorgeous hardwoods, granite counters, and a lap pool in the backyard got the boot. We opted instead for a cozy home that will fit our family nicely, is owned by a couple we can trust- a friend of a friend- and it will do just fine.

Except that my inner snob is having a hissy fit. There is no granite. I haven't lived with laminate counters... in years! Hold me- I'm scared. There is also carpet... everywhere. Granted it is nice plushy carpet- But it's even in THE DINING ROOM. Heaven help me.

So why did I go ahead with this house? It's slightly larger than our house now. It has four bedrooms PLUS a den. It is WAAAAY below budget. And, contrary to the rest of the rental market out there, has been well taken care of. (seriously, we looked at one house that appeared to have been wiped down by a dirty rag... and there was something that looked like feces on the walls. No joke)

Really- I should have no qualms with this house. I should be over the moon about finding a good, stable situation. Well, I am. It's just that pesky inner snob doubts how I will fare without my granite and stainless steel. I suppose if these are my only problems on this house- It's the right place for us.

Now we have to hold out until we can move in... in June. Which seems like forever and a day away. I'm pretty firm on NOT unpacking ANY boxes. This is difficult.

You know what else I have to accomplish this week? Yep, you guessed it! Shoe shopping for the twins! The bi-yearly struggle to find cute shoes... and two of the same size which always ends up being impossible. Yep. Doing that again. Never thought I would cringe at the idea of shoe shopping.