Surprisingly Sad

This is going to one of those blog-posts-as-therapy, since I’m too stingy to actually go see a therapist – and seriously, isn’t a therapist there to get you to talk and realize what your hang-ups are?  Well, look, I’m ‘talking’!

So yes, today I’m surprisingly sad.  Or perhaps a more accurate description is that I’m sad, but at the same time surprised at how sad I am.  The reason is that we finally found a house we’d both like to live in (it’s only taken us 6 months!), the owners had indicated that we had their blessing as future owners of their house, we’d made a offer (admittedly a low one, but we thought of it as a starting point), and then they decided they didn’t want to sell the house anymore.  So, no house for us.

As we understand it, it looks like their daughter will be returning next year from living abroad, and that she will be taking over the house.  And therefore, they’re not going to sell it.  Which I totally understand, because gosh, there are nice properties in both of our families that are essentially regarded as ‘family’, and I’d be terribly surprised if they actually got sold to non-family.  Also, it’s entirely possible that they finally went and looked at an apartment they were considering buying, and decided that they’d much rather keep living in their trusty old house.

But as a result of us not getting the house we’d sort of started fantasizing about living in (and the yard, oh, the work-intensive but lovely yard), I’m having to erase mental images of the life we’re not going to have there, and that’s made me sad.  Which is ridiculous but at the same time totally understandable.  I just wasn’t prepared for this to happen.

And so I now find myself wondering if this whole real-estate stuff is worth it.  Maybe renting is just fine.  There is no maintenance, there is no sleazy real-estate agent to deal with (the same person is supposed to look out for the interests of the buyer and the seller, but still works on commission so %”&”! that), and no sleazy contractors to keep tabs on as they try to cheat you out of as much money as possible.

Anyway, we’ve at least made our first real estate offer ever.  Maybe it will be our last.  Who knows.  This sucks.