Contingency

Our quest for the perfect home continues. We thought we could write an offer to buy a house that would be contingent on the sale of our house, since that’s the way we bought the house we live in now. Wrong. I don’t know how we got away with it last time, but it ain’t workin’ this time. Our latest find was a recently remodeled house with lovely features, including a heated built-in pool, hillside gazebo with expansive view, and the office plus workshop plus workout room of Ron’s dreams. He was practically drooling in the pool by the time we left. It didn’t have much space for my part of the living system, but we could always remodel and add a room for my office if the price was right. Sudi (our teenager) has not even seen the house but wants us to buy it because it has central heating and he can skateboard to his friend Brett’s nearby. Ah, if life were only that simple again for me. We made an offer. The seller loves us. He practically invited us to pitch a tent in his garage. But no contingency. “Call me when you sell your house,” he said. What are we to do? Sell our house out from under ourselves and go where?

Cindy-the-Realtor to the rescue. I didn’t realize that we can sell our house with a seller’s contingency that we find a replacement home before the deal is done. Wow. What a concept. Cindy-the-Magician-ess. She better be a magician-ess. Otherwise we will end up living in a storage unit at Big Four Lots, looking at a view of concrete and rebar, stumbling around town in a stupor, muttering “tile in the master bathroom,” “trash compactor,” water filtration,” forced air heat,” “gas stove,” “gotta have trees.”

Perspective: I remind myself how very many people around the world would trade places with me in a heartbeat to have the choices I have.