I have told a few of you that I am looking for a house. Well, we found an awesome farmhouse with some nice land and a view, a reasonable distance form our work. Made an offer and got accepted. So far, so good.

Then we found a buyer for our house. He Saw the house on Feb 2 or 3, and was adament that he had to be moved in by the 17th. So we put a rush to close on evrything, had our realtor and attorney and finance guy all working overtime to get all the shit together. Packing up a whole house in 2 weeks is no easy task, but we figured what the hell, the price was right so we would make it happen.

Then things started getting rough to say the least. When we got the inspector to the new house (a 105 year old farm house) he found MAJOR safety issues with the house. I contacted my layer with the results of the inspection, and she contacted the seller's lawyer. The "seller" is actaully several siblings, the grown children of the old people who used to own the house. Well, this "old codger of a country lawyer" as my attorney so eloquently put it, told the seller that they should not fix a damn thing in the house, just sell it as is. Apparently he did this b/c HE did not want to do any extra work as an attorney. It took a week for us to get this lame answer form the seller. I was unwilling to give up the house, so I told the attouoney that I wanted to get plumbing and electrical estimates before I made a final decision wheter to cancel my contract. IT took over 24 hours to get a yes answer back that I could at least take 2 professionals into the house and gt estimtes.

In the meantime, my buyer got weirder and weirder. For a guy who wanted to move in on Feb 17 (and the original closing date was set for the 15th) he did not even have a pre-approval letter. My raltor called me a few days ago and asked if the buyer could at least move his stuff into the garage this coming weekend. (OK, no problem. My husband has been trying like hell to find a way to move his Briklin). I was getting worried about where I was going to move my family, 3 cats, and freezer full of food if we really did close on the 15th, 17th, 21st, etc., so when the realtor told me that the buyer wanted a little more time, like up to next wednesday (Feb 27) I was actaully releived. The appraiser and surveyer were out here yesterday, so I really believed that the deal was about to finalize and we would probaby be moving out next week.

Today I got a call from the attorney. The buyer's financing fell through.

Then I got another call from my realtor. It seems the buyer attempted to commit suicide on Monday. According to what my realtor was told, the buyer drank so much kerosene that it burned his legs (??????) (Maybe somebody with a medical background can enlighten me on this?) and now he may not even survive! (the back story on this buyer is that his wife died recently, and he just sold the house that they shared. That's why he had to move in so fast, b/c somebody had bought his old house and he needed to vacate.)

Now, some of you know, I lost my fiance to cancer about 8 years ago. I totally understand that horrible feeling that there is no point in continuing with life. I feel SOOOO bad for this man. Apparently the stress of losing his wife, selling his home, and buying a new house were just too much for him. He must have felt so horrible, hopeless, and angry at himself, too. When I was feeling that way, I considered some combination of pills and alcohol, but I was never so angry at myself and the world that I would drink something as horrible as keorsene. I am so sad for him. I can't imagine feeling so awful that drinking kerosene would seem like a thing to do.

OTOH, I am also feling pretty damn sad for myself. My time to make good on this offer with the house I want is going to run out. We relisted the house for $4000 less than what we wanted. (I should take that back. I did it, myself, since my husband and kid are still out somewhere, either at his Dad's house, in whose basement we are storing all the non-essential stuff we can pack and move ahead of time, or else buying me a birthday present. Remember? Today is my birthday!) I accepted my agent's advice, to re-list low and then not take any ridiculously low offers, jsut to get more people to look at the house. I am still going to have the electrician and plumber and well inspector come out to the alleged new house on saturday (if any of them call me back) to look at the electricity, plumbing, and well, and tell me what needs to be done and how much it will cost.

So that's my saga as it stands right now. Please send prayers and warm thoughts my way.