the long and twisted road home...

in the end, they say, everything happens for a reason.

a few months ago, i wasn't very keen on this adage. i'd just gone through four months of trying to sell my house - with countless showings, endless hours of picking up and making sure everything was in its place, the uncertainty of why my house wasn't getting the bite. that followed quickly with three offers in two days, each frustratingly lower than asking price. which followed with a painful resolution of concerns raised by the inspection (these on a house not yet three years old) that wasn't resolved until 9 days before closing...

i'd also just gone through a painful attempt at buying a new house. beginning with an initial offer on a property that turned out - through inspection - to be a bit of a lemon. followed by a signed contract on a place just around the corner for slightly more but with more interesting character and less front door traffic. and finally ending when, the day after the resolution on the sale of my house was complete (and a mere 8 days before our scheduled closing), it was revealed that the sellers lender wouldn't let the sale of the house go through... seeing as he owed significantly more than i was contracted to pay for the house.

which left me a week to find ian and i a place to live.

so i settled on a rental. determined that my sanity needed a break from real estate.

and then a friend of mine told me about a house doors away from his, and an owner who was interested in selling but hadn't gone through the realtor channels, and a rumored asking price that was, well, a bargain...

so a couple weeks ago i left a note in mailbox for the owner. a week later i was looking at the house and making an offer that was satisfying to her and a deal i couldn't refuse. this weekend we signed a contract. and today, after posting an ad for the rental i'm in right now on craigslist just last night, i got a committment to take over my lease from the first person to look at this house.

and while just months ago i was bemoaning my bad luck, it seems things have turned around. we'll be in a great neighborhood near good friends. across the street from a beautiful old grade school, mere blocks from one of the best neighborhood retail districts in the city, and living again in our own place with our own garden and our own front porch facing a future that again holds the promise that some certainty brings...