So, we're on to plan B. It does look like our buyers have gotten their mortgage (though we won't see the official paperwork on that until tomorrow, which is cutting it awfully close). Which means that we need to empty our apartment tomorrow. The movers will arrive between 1 and 3, and should have everything on the truck by dinnertime. Then probably it all goes directly into storage, which may be a bit tight timewise -- the storage unit is open until 9 p.m. Do-able, I think. Tomorrow night, Kevin and I sleep here on the air mattress; Thursday morning is final walk-through and closing on our condo.
As for us, we go stay with our kind and generous friends, Daniel and Anne, who have a lovely house in Oak Park. Kavi gets to play with their three-year-old son and their baby daughter, and we look at our options. On Friday, we're scheduling six houses to go see; some are already empty, so there's at least a chance that we could find a house we love, close on it, and move in fairly quickly. If that happens, we may just stay with Daniel and Anne for a few weeks. (Or several weeks, although at that point, we'd have to insist on paying them rent!) We'd want to move into a house by the end of September at the very latest, so as to not overlap with the birth of the new baby.
If none of the houses we look at seem like good possibilities, then we'll look for a place to rent; maybe just six months, but possibly a nine-month lease to the end of the academic year. And then, when baby boy is six months old or so, start looking at Oak Park homes in the spring 2010 market. Depressing and expensive, to move, just to move again in the spring, but manageable.
So, that's where we are. We're disappointed that the Elmwood house isn't working out, but I think even more than that, we're frustrated that communications with the homeowners completely broke down last week -- if we'd known that they had essentially decided to pull out last week, we might have already found another house to move into by now. They decided not to talk to us, presumably to keep their options open, and it's cost us a significant amount of money and a hellish amount of stress. Very frustrating.
Aren’t there usually penalties for backing out of a real estate deal without cause? If they have a legitimate contingency in your agreement, such that it depends on their getting a new mortgage and closing on a new house, that’s one thing, but if they don’t have a legitimate way to break the deal, you should find out whether you can get some sort of compensatory damages or something from them.
Might I suggest we go toilet paper their house? We all know where it is.