Still no progress. My attorney has advised me to back away from the deal based on how the selling agent played things yesterday. I’m no longer legally liable for anything so I can walk away with impunity. I’m bummed because I liked the house but I’m not going to let them play me for a couple of extra thousand dollars. It’s not the money so much as the principle here. Basically what happened is the selling agent sat on the deal until after my offer expired, then claimed they had another bid on the property but would not divulge the offer. My buyer agent suggested I raise my offer by several thousand. My attorney says I should not have and that I should now walk away. I’ve got a call in to the buyer agent, we’ll see what he has to say, but most likely I am out and looking for a house again.

Meanwhile my lending agent sent me an email saying I’m now dealing with someone else, leaving me feeling like that relationship is a bit shaky too, and this happened on the same day that I got a copy of the latest consumer reports which had a long article on the home buying process. It advises against using mortgage brokers. So maybe my agent leaving gives me the push I needed to start talking to banks again. (for those not following along, I stopped talking to the banks because they were telemarketing to me mercilessly – I took two days off from work a few weeks ago and during that time I had more than 15 messages on my cell and on my work phone from lenders. It was insane, and caused me to stop talking to them).