Flares

For those watching our house hunt, the hunt continues. The market here is difficult because a lot of people are upside down and so you have short sales (which are not short) or bank owned (which are sold as-is) or houses that are outdated and they are trying to cut even -- in other words, they are asking for too much.

We are still waiting on the Bank of America to respond to our offer submitted December 31, 2009 for the Esperanza house. They need to order a new Best Price Offer (an appraisal for a bank to let them know what kind of offer would be appropriate) and that is going to take some more time, apparently.

It's more complicated this week as my two back-ups (the horse house and the Del Sol house) both went under contract this week as people are trying to take advantage of the tax credit and snatching up houses. The horse house (it had about twenty horses five feet from the back door) would have been tough during the summer and the Del Sol house had the bad garage. It was a side entry garage but the driveway was so narrow you could not maneuver into it. And it didn't have room for a dining room table anywhere. It had a beautiful kitchen island, but I did not want to eat around that every night.

We have prayed for the Esperanza house. We have fasted for the Esperanza house. We have gone to the temple to ask for help and guidance with the Esperanza house. I feel like I have sent flare after flare into the heavens, alerting of trouble, and no help has come. I cannot tell if we're being told that this is the wrong house for us or if we need to gain patience? I'm confused.

But I'm not alone. There are lots of flares out there. Friends and family who have experienced truly devastating losses and heartbreaks recently. We are together and healthy. We've just been a wee bit houseless the last five months.