Moving on, not moving in

So after prayer and lots of discussion, we've decided to back away from the house. It seemed like a really nice house, but the seller wasn't willing to negotiate or cooperate a few points. So I had to say good bye to that awesome kitchen, which does make me sad, but Matt and I are convinced that this was the right decision. We both felt confident about this after taking time to pray separately, and even after the seller then came back and said that he would do what we'd asked we still felt that God was guiding us away.

Now we've put in an offer for the house next door. We decided that we wouldn't try to do any negotiation on this one since it's a short sale, and so we offered what we think is a reasonable offer. If they accept it, then we're good, and if not, we walk away. Now, because it's a short sale (which means that the seller owes more than his house is worth, so he's basically asking the bank to take a hit on what's left of the mortgage), our offer has to be reviewed by both the bank and the seller. The bad news is that the bank can take months to respond back. The good news is that the selling broker contacted us to tell us that the offer has to have all kinds of contingent language that says that once they accept we'll move fast to close, which is fine with us. The offer also states that if we find another house we like before the bank accepts our offer, that we can walk away without losing anything.

Some things I've learned about the house since we started thinking about it: our friend Joe used to live in our apartment, and he's always liked the house, too. He said that there many times he "claimed this house for Jesus Christ." And another friend's father-in-law apparently grew up in the house, and he said that they had a tradition of praying the rosary together every Saturday much the same way that Matt's grandparents did. I'm trying not to assume that these are signs, but it's nice to know that it's had that much blessing on it.

The offer is officially on the table as of today. So we'll keep praying.