Misadventures in Real Estate

My husband and I like to drive around. A lot. Probably more than anyone else on the planet. We do it to get out of the house, to pass time at lunch and to see what's on the real estate market. I guess you might call us the eternal optmists when it comes to home shopping. We're always on the lookout for our next dream home. We currently live in what was and still mostly is our starter dream home, but as families change and needs change, different sets of criteria become more desirable for the humble abode. So, you might say we're always looking for what's next. That's not to say we're not happy where we are now, we've just kind of made a hobby out of seeing what's on the market at all times. Some people call it an obsession, we just call it a passionate hobby.

Well, about a month ago our passion paid off, in what we thought were spades. See, with as much real estate as we drive by, view pictures and listings of and dream about, you'd think we go in every house that comes on the market. We don't. We couldn't do that to our poor real estate agent. I'd say we've been in maybe 3 or 4 houses in the last as many years. We've currently lived in our home (your standard 3 bedroom ranch) for 5 years. But on a recent trip to the country for our normal drive we stumbled across a gem (to us, trust me, many wouldn't get it). It was a little gray ranch house on about 3 acres of land with a creek running through the property; my husband's dream back yard come true and one that was close enough to town that I could adapt too. We called our agent, went in it and loved it. It was just a little bigger than our house which is what we had finally agreed was all we needed. It had the separate living and family rooms that I wanted and the landscape he wanted. We couldn't ask for more. After leavning we knew we wanted to make an offer so we left and went straight to the bank. We decided we'd get the offer on the table on Monday (this was late Friday afternoon).

The offer went out on a Monday (mind you this property had been on the market less than a week and in Charleston, IL, time that's nothing. Bidding wars aren't exactly a thing here.). A few hours later we were informed there was a competing offer and to give our best and final. So we did. After a few agonizing hours we learned we had been outbid and/or outdone, we're not sure which. We put in a hefty bid but were financing a certain way and asking for closing costs so we could move forward with the purchase and hold our mortgage and the new one until ours sold. That might not have set with the sellers and the other offer might've had more cash. Who knows. But at any rate, they didn't pick us and we were pretty much crushed. So, the moral of the story is, if you want something, hurry up and get it! Or something like that...

But the sting has lessened and we've decided we will move and upgrade this year while rates are low and prospects are high. Now is the time! Plus, something great might be on the horizon. Things happen for a reason and I'm starting to see how true this can be. We're currently looking into another dream home. Fingers crossed!

Elevator go...nowhere!

Wow! Long time, no blog! I'm back and sorry for the delay. I guess finishing up grad school, teaching a class at the university and taking on some extra responsibilities at work, plus a busy toddler have left me lacking in the free evening time department! At any rate I'm back and I'm going to try my best to keep on posting more often.

This misadventure begins with something I do every Tuesday and Thursday, but it's really more about what I didn't do. I teach class on those days in the same building I work in and I always go up the elevator and into the Journalism Department office to get keys to open my classroom door (which I don't have to now thanks to my very own set of keys!). This particular Tuesday I went into the elevator shut the door and waited to go up. And waited. And waited. I began to wonder, but not panic, if the elevator was stuck. So I stood there a little longer and pushed the "door open" button. It opened and I was still in the same place I started from (I think elevators are like magic little boxes. It's amazing that you can push a button and totally end up somewhere else with the opening of a door). So I walked back in and tried again. This time I actually PUSHED THE 2 BUTTON! Amazing. It went right up. I guess the moral of the story is, make sure to push the elevator button if you actually expect it to work. Yeah, I was "that guy" that day that got in and just expected it to go. In my defense, there are only 2 floors in the building and 2 buttons in the elevator so I guess I just kind of thought it only has one place to go, so it'll go there. Alas, it's not true. So just remember you have to command the elevator to go. Using the force just won't cut it. I happily admitted my error to the J. Department staff who laughed. At least someone got some entertainement out of the whole thing!

I did make it to the wedding! Here's a picture to prove it. Haha!

This reminded me of the time I actually got stuck in an elevator. It just happened to be on my wedding day. I was all dressed and ready to go and heading downstairs to get in the limo. We were married in Sarasota, Florida, on the beach so I was excited to get there and check the place out. A few of my bridesmaids were with me and as we got on, so did about half of a high school basketball team that was headed to a tournament from our same hotel. I don't know if it was weight overload (no fat jokes! There were a lot of people on this thing!) or just a malfunction but somewhere between the 4th floor and the ground level the whole thing just stopped. We all were quiet for a minute and then one of the basketball players pushed a few buttons and nothing happened. We began to debate pushing the help button but decided to wait just another minute. I was getting nervous that I was going to be late, although let's be honest, it's hard to start without me and the bridesmaids!  But anyway, I think a few of the guys could tell I was starting to worry and one of them said, "Don't worry, we'll get you out first and to that wedding if we have to push you out of the top!" That definitely lightened the mood. A few seconds later the thing kicked back on and we made it safely to the ground floor where we all came out with a story to tell. I'm still left wondering how their version goes though.