Day 11 - Questioning

“I just want everyone to be happy” was a phrase we heard time and time again. After having an accepted offer, we were excited to visit the house of our future to put the ideas we had in our heads and see how we might make them a reality. This involved taking measurements and looking more closely at the layouts of the room. In our visits, the owner was generally pleasant and never exhibited the underlying unhappiness we knew existed.

After our first offer, he was offended. After the home inspection report, he was frustrated. After our amendments to his offers, he was bewildered. It didn't seem to be either something he understood or wanted to understand. I think he underestimated our efforts in obtaining information. We had done our homework. While we weren’t rigid, we also weren’t as flexible as he may have desired. Given the information we had uncovered regarding this property, we were willing to risk losing the property rather than set ourselves up for financial ruin in the future.

We saw a glimpse of his unhappiness in one of the visits. To give background, with the wheeling and dealing nature of the current market, most closings occurred thirty days after an accepted offer. Knowing we also had to prepare our current house for sale, we asked for sixty days. Not only did the owner agree, he asked to extend it to seventy five to make sure he had time to get everything ready so that everyone was happy.

On this particular visit, we were invited to check out the barn. To this point, we had only seen the house and garage. While the owner kept an organized house, there was a ton of stuff. Everywhere. We also noticed this in the yard. There were trailers, barrels, tractors, and various fam accessories strewn throughout the outdoor space. While there were some valuable items, much of it appeared to be waiting to be trashed. The barn felt like an extension of the yard. The stalls, loft, and open space were anything but open. 
Staring at the spectacle in front of us, we were asked a question we never thought we’d have to answer.