The Dream House ... Revisited

Do you remember Alanis Morisette's song from the 90's, "Ironic"? It's a little diddy about various ironies in life. Life kind of had a way of "sneaking up" on us today. The answer was all-too-clear, but the news was ironic and disappointing.

This afternoon, the Realtor who helped us with our unsuccessful attempt at getting our "dream house" called to tell us that the dream house was available again.

Had we known we were next in line in the event the first buyer backed out, we just might have waited a while before making a house decision.

But, we didn't know.

He told us the people who outbid us wanted a house inspection and had the water / utilities turned on for the inspection. Unbeknownst to them, because the fridge is gone from the house, the tube that runs water from the pipe to the ice maker was just hanging there ... and water started coming out. I'm not sure at what point this issue was discovered, but enough water had come out that it affected the baseboards in the kitchen and some of the carpeting.

The buyer's agent paid for the damage to be repaired ... and for whatever reason, the buyer decided not purchase the house.

So our agent, aware that we were already moving forward with building a house, called to tell us the news: The house was being offered to us, and at an amount lower than our bid, because of the damage (that had been repaired).

My heart sank. I muttered a couple of profane words under my breath . Our dream house, finally available to us for the asking.

But another choice had been made on July 18. The escrow deposit for the new, soon-to-be-built house has been paid. The deposit on the upgrades has been paid. And we can't get that money back.

Ever the salesman trying to get his sale, the Realtor reminded us of all the great things we loved about the dream house. And yes, it's true ... we love the dream house. Each time we drive to the town center at Verrado, we glance over at our dream house as we go by (it is impossible to miss, as it sits off Verrado Way) and dream of what could have been.

Had it only been communicated to us that we were next in line for the dream house ... we just might have still been waiting for it when the call came in yesterday.

However, the Realtor's intense interest in finding us a house we'd like in after losing the dream house led us to believe the dream house was a lost dream. We weren't encouraged to wait and see what happened.

In the meantime, the incentives from the new builder were just amazing! Interest rates are low! Premium corner lots with a mountain view and across from a park were being offered at 1/2 price. It was the perfect opportunity for us to sign a contract ... a perfect opportunity to soften the disappointment we'd experienced by being outbid on the dream house.

And so we signed the contract and moved on. It looks like the construction will start NEXT WEEK.

As Jonathan and I discussed this quandary that only had one true resolution (continue with building the house), I think we were both thinking of a way to make the dream house work. There were moments where both of our eyes met and I knew we were both wanting to make suggestions on how to do it.

But the bottom line remained: we'd be out thousands of dollars if we canceled our contract to build a home. And losing that kind of money is unacceptable. Completely unacceptable.

But, we must not ignore the obvious: either way, we are blessed to be getting a new home - especially in this community where people continue to lose their homes (our block alone has 10 "for sale" signs posted ... could be more, I haven't counted since the weekend).

And there are some definite benefits to building this home over buying the former model home. So we remain happy with our decision to build ... and this is our "new dream house."

Though, it still stings a bit about missing the opportunity for the "old dream house" - AGAIN!