Who's On First?

Sometimes things work out in the most peculiar ways.

I can’t afford my house anymore, so I am forced to sell it.

A small townhouse community is located directy across the street from me, and a young couple who owns one of the the units there has admired and coveted my house for 3 years, but they knew it was far out of their price range.

A local realtor was approached by a woman who is bent on buying one of the townhomes, but they seldom turn over.

So, said realtor took an offer, out of the blue, to a current owner whose unit is NOT on the market at all–the same young couple who have drooled over my house.

The surprised and slightly frightened young couple, fearful of declining an opportunity that flew into their laps like a homing pigeon, accepted the offer and immediately began to search for a new house.

They were convinced they couldn't afford to buy the larger house they need in this neighborhood, so they went elsewhere to look. And look. And look.

The young couple found nothing. They were having serious second thoughts about selling their townhome.

But the above-mentioned local realtor, anxious to insure her client’s deal, convinced the young couple to make an obscenely lowball offer on my house.

I have exhausted most of my resources trying to hang on while begging the bank to modify my loan, so this lowball offer, which at one time would have been humorous or insulting, depending on my mood that day, was suddenly a potential way out of my pickle. I accepted Counter-offer # 3 with the intention of getting approved for a Short Sale by my mortgage company, which was preparing to begin foreclosure proceedings.

The current lease on a townhome just two doors away from my buyers' unit is ending on May 31,2010. That particular unit happens to be owned by my friend and neighbor down the street.

Guess who negotiated a lease on that townhome? Yep, yours truly, just today.

So, if the lovely, benevolent mortgage company changes its pattern and decides to actually help a sister out, we appear to have a plan.

Image copyright Janet Hamlin/Newsday

If you happen to be on our street on or around June 15, 2010, don’t be surprised if you see a hilarious caravan of people hauling furniture and personal belongings from one side of the street to the other, playing the unlikeliest game of musical houses ever.
 

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