Living with the In-Laws: Week 11

We had hopes that we’d be ready to move into our new home this coming weekend. ‘Tis not to be. The construction is running, as of now, about a week behind schedule. But things should have picked up again yesterday and are scheduled to be completed next Tuesday. Assuming that the inspection and everything else goes as planned our tentative closing date is now August 17. That means at least one extra week with the in-laws.

It also means that our kids will be starting school in their new four days after we move in. We were hoping to give them a week or so to adjust to the new house and meet some kids in the new neighborhood (which there are plenty of). ‘Tis not to be. Instead we’re moving in and they’re going to go through everything at once. But they’re troopers and will handle it just fine.

Oh, and for those who ever put all their stuff in storage until their house closes, don’t store important documents you might need for, say, a mortgage in the very back. It’s not fun to have to dig through an entire storage until just to find things.

Living with the In-Laws: Week 8

I kind of reached a breaking point this weekend. I won't go into detail other than to say it's just a combination of little things that are really grating on me. I'm glad things are moving forward with the house. If all goes well, we should be in our new home by mid-August. I"ll be happier, the kids will be happier, and all will be right with the universe.

Until then doing a lot of running, writing, and excursions with the kids to get by. I'm hunkering down and counting down the days until we close and move in to our new place.

Living with the In-Laws: Week 6

In a perfect world, Marathon Girl and I would be moved into our new home, having a holiday barbeque on our deck, and life would be returning to normal. But because we live in an imperfect and unpredictable one, we’re still with the in-laws. Thankfully our relationship is still good though just the little inconveniences of living in someone else’s home is wearing on me. But I really don’t have that much to complain about. We all get along great and there are many worse places we could be living.

So since the short sale has been delayed for a bit, we’re in the process of looking at new places. We spent Saturday afternoon checking out about a dozen homes but didn’t find anything that we could see ourselves spending the next 20 years or so living in. (Assuming, of course, we don’t move to Texas.) We’ve spent the last couple of nights modifying the price, size of home, location, and a couple other search parameters and found some new, more promising homes. We’ll see if they pan out later this week.

Despite all the setbacks about finding a new place, we don’t feel like selling our house was a mistake. We both felt the time was right to move and make this transition. We’re flusters that the buying a new home hasn’t worked out as planned but we’re taking it one day at a time and praying that things will eventually work out.

Hopefully, we’ll have some good news soon.

Living with the in-laws Week 4-5 and a Home Update

Thanks to all those who guessed where various vacation photos were taken. if you still want to guess and win one of my books, you have until Wednesday night to do so. I’ll announce the three winners Thursday morning. You can guess here, here, here, here, here, and here.

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Since we’ve been on vacation most of the last two weeks, our interaction with the in-laws has been minimal. As a result, we all still love each other and are getting along just fine. And it is nice to sleep in my own bed again even if it’s technically not my own bed.

So while things continue to go well with the in-laws, our short sale is not. The day before we came home the realtor called us and told us that it’s going to be at least more six months before the short sale is going to go through. Apparently more government “assistance” programs have popped up and the couple is going to apply for them. Never mind the fact they haven’t made a mortgage payment in approximately two years and won’t qualify for any of the programs. Instead it’s a delay tactic to stay in home without having to pay anything until the end of the year.

This puts us in a bind. Even though the in-laws have told us we can stay with them as long as we need to, that simply isn’t an option. We need to get our kids in a more permanent place before the school starts at the end of August. So that means we have to rent buy a new place. (The problem with the latter is that there isn’t much out there worth looking at.) Right now we’re leaning toward renting but don't want to get stuck in a long term agreement in case something changes with the short sale which really limits our options. We’ve got eight weeks to figure out a solution.

The clock is ticking.

Time to figure out a solution.

Living with the In-Laws: Week 2

We just passed two weeks of living with the in-laws. First, the good news: As of now, we don’t seem to be getting on each other’s nerves. The arrangements we worked out before we moved in regarding meals, etc. seems to be working rather well. The kids seem to be adjusting to the temporary living situation and now that school is finally out for the summer, I think a lot of the morning and evening chaos will be reduced.

Another plus is that we’re doing more family (me, MG, and the kids) activities after I get off work and are spending more time together as a result. Relationships seem to be improving and growing stronger. We also have two mini vacations planned for this month that, if all goes as planned, will take us to Idaho, Wyoming, South Dakota, and Nebraska. (Sorry, Liam, no planned trips to Michigan at the moment.)

Now the bad news: As far as we know, the status of the short-sale hasn’t changed and we’re still looking at a nebulous July closing date. This has me worried. Since things are moving at a snails’ pace, I can see the date getting pushed back to August or even later. I’d really like to get the kids can settled into their new surroundings before the new school year begins. Living with the in-laws for an indefinite period of time simply isn’t an option. If it looks like things might fall through or get pushed out to the fall, we might look at renting a place temporarily or looking at other homes. I’m not opposed to buying a different home if necessary but the market out here is awash in short sales and it’s hard to find a good one that’s not going through the bank in some way. I was kind of surprised that our old home sold in seven days but after seeing what’s on the market day-after-day, I’m becoming less and less amazed.

Here’s to hoping our home goes through soon.