Subject says it all. I was outbid. I still feel like the process was completely cheesy, but what can I do. I’m back to looking for houses. Nothing new has come on the market in the Corinth/lake luzerne/Hadley area this week. I checked out a few houses in Schuylerville but they both stunk – one was too close to a main road and the other had no yard at all.

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).

The offer on the house has been made, the papers have been signed and the fax has been sent. I should find out by 11 AM today where I stand – I could be the owner of the house (pending a lot of other paperwork), I could be drawn into a bidding process if other potential bidders step up with an offer, or the owner could reject my offer outright (I offered $94k on a house which had an asking price of $99.9k). I’m anxious about it. It figures, I have a meeting at 11 right when I would have found out what the deal is, a meeting that’s scheduled to last 2 hours. Will I be able to concentrate in this meeting? Somehow I doubt it.

I put up a new misc. photo album to hold some of the shots I’ve been taking. I put up some of the ones I took today – Soolin and I stopped by Lake Luzerne and the adjoining park to check out the high water action. Actually we did the same thing yesterday but it was pouring rain and I didn’t have my watertight enclosure so I got no photos. But it was sunny today and the water was just as high, though there was no ice making its way down the hudson today like there was yesterday – yesterday icebergs the size of cars were getting chewed up by the falls on the border of Hadley and Lake Luzerne. Anyway, check the new stuff out here.

(and for those who look at the shots of Soolin perched on the brink of the falls, fear not – she was on a lead and she’s a natural billy goat – she loves to hop on top of stuff).

Since folks have been emailing – still no progress on the house. There have been no offers, but the seller is now aware that I am interested. I’m striking out in the loan department – I was hoping to get a home improvement package bundled in with the purchase price but that’s turning out to be cost prohibitive. If nothing develops tomorrow on the financial end then I’m going to make an offer and take a traditional loan package and find a way to finance the repairs over the next couple of years. The pool I’ll pay for out of my savings, assuming I’m right in terms of cost and can get it done for around $7-8k.

I’m trying to work through a ton of photos I’ve taken over the last several months. I just posted the first new batch to the gallery, they’re mostly Soolin pics. You can check them out here.

I’ve got a lot more to come, including some great shots from a hike up Hadley mountain.