Chapter 35

"Reverend Mother always says when the Lord closes a door, somewhere he opens a window." So true Fraulein Maria. And so it goes at the close of chapter 34 of the book of Matthew. After an excruciatingly long 14 months of trying to sell our house, we finally inked a contract on Monday. We had to suffer through a string of complications, mostly caused by the prominent Twin Cities surgeon who was buying our place for his daughter, but came to a deal in the end that was really good...for the Doctor. Whatever. We couldn't bear the thought of another year of open houses and private showings and cleaning. God, the cleaning, it was insane. But what-ever. We sold and were poised to make a move on the 4br. in Eagan that we've had staked out for about 3 months! Then, on Tuesday, the day after we signed off on our house, we were informed that another party already has a purchase agreement written for the same property. Our property. They looked at it for the first time at 2pm that afternoon and had the offer ready by 4. POW! What a kick in the teeth.

I won't burden you with all the details of the next few days, but things were tense. When a 3rd party jumped in with an offer of their own, things turned downright agonizing. I couldn't believe it. We took a hit on our own sale because we had this one home waiting for us. How could it be that on the first day we could even think about making an offer, 2 separate parties decide they want it? This house had been sitting quiet, in this horrendous housing market, with no activity whatsoever, since October 06! The listing price had dropped 3 times already and was now at a figure that put this dream home within inches of our reach. The stress was dizzying. But the owners were cool and chose to hold off on the first offer and hear all 3 at the same time. Why wouldn't they? I'm sure they were doing back flips at the thought of the bidding war that was about to take place.

And war it was. A bloody, messy, leave no prisoners alive war. The owner's realtor, who quickly lost control over this frenzied and emotional situation, had to reveal that she had never dealt with a multiple offer situation before. Our Realtor was having a hard time managing all the curve balls that were being thrown at us. She's no amateur, and had unquestionably brought her A game, but we could see she was more than frustrated with the imbroglio that this was turning into. When one of the parties chose to drop out, probably due to the chaos, we thought, "finally, some help." But then we were told they decided to put an offer on our #2 house instead! Then we find out the one that was left, the one that saw the house on Tues and decided to buy it immediately, had a Chinese realtor who couldn't speak English. Who hires a realtor to represent you in a major deal that can't speak English? That's just kooky. There was just too much stacking up against us. We felt defeated before the owners even heard our official offer. Our realtor kept saying, "If this isn't the house for you, you'll know why, in 2 weeks, when you find the one that is." She really was trying to be helpful. I was looking up the address of the local Extended Stay America. We were going to need some place to go when the Dr's daughter kicks us out. When a shelf in our garage fell off the wall and landed on the hood of our new car, leaving multiple etchings and 3 dents, I almost lost it. Signs, signs, everywhere there's signs.

We had done a lot number crunching, and soul searching, and came up with a plan. If we were going to get this house, we had to give them our strongest offer up front. No messing around. No playing games. We had one chance to present to them and we couldn't blow it. We were in no position to undercut their asking price like Dr. McStingy did to us. Like were planning to do only 5 days earlier. We had our number, asked for almost nothing extra in the deal, and had to make peace with that. We came to the point where we had to say this is honestly the best we can do, and as they say: Let Go, Let God. If we don't get the house...

The owners chose to accept our offer.

In this, my birth month, I am about to make yet another major life change. I can't be more pleased. And it's not just the new house. That's really the icing on my birthday cake. What I'm most proud of is the family that is taking this step with me. I have the most radiant & remarkable wife a man can hope for; and two of the most extraordinary daughters, who blow my mind every single day, by my side. To have these women in my life is truly miraculous. And that is the gift I'm utmost thankful for. I love you girls. Now let's start packing!