Totally Blewit

What a roller coaster ride trying to buy a house has become. We had a flurry of activity on Thursday, which began with an email suggesting the bank might have approved our offer. The email was a correspondence between our agent and the listing agent conferring on a close of escrow date and inspections. We were ecstatic, I mean like crazy dancing around the house ecstatic. But, there was no approval letter forthcoming. Thursday turned into Friday; Friday turned into the weekend when no bank is going to do any real business. Our ecstasy devolved into enervation, and we sighed heavy disappointing sighs over the weekend. An email from the listing agent to our agent on Saturday actually spelled out more clearly the status of our offer. We are in Phase 2 of negotiations and the second team sent another appraiser out to the property. We're sure they'd like a higher appraisal, but in this market we're not sure such a thing could possibly materialize. I guess hope springs eternal for Phase 2 negotiators and WEIRDLY NON-COMMUNICATIVE, WE-OWN-THE-WORLD BANKS.

So, we're not exactly still on square one. An actual form was submitted to the bank that set March 5 as the close of escrow date. The new appraiser said that he had until February 18th to get his appraisal submitted, but planned to have it in earlier than that. We continue looking online for other possible homes and land. The conventional wisdom in real estate is that more houses will be listed after the Super Bowl, and from what we've heard, that took place on Sunday!

In the meantime we venture out when the weather permits, which quite frankly has not been often enough these past few days. Roger did find this fantastic specimen of a Blewit (hence the post title). This color is so subtle and reminiscent of early spring flowers. It practically conjures a fragrance -- soft like hyacinth. Sightings like this are what we rely on to balance the crazy limbo of our lives at the moment.
We've also been letting the cat outside a little more often and giving him some time to spend in the yard unattended. With the sighting of two coyotes trotting right through here a few weeks ago, we know we have to be diligent. I check on him every few minutes, when I can't see him from the window. I posted this photo on Facebook the other day, so a lot of you bloggers have already seen it, this for those who haven't. I went out to the yard and looked over the deck railing expecting to see Bonsai. Instead I saw our little orphan boy staring intently at something. I knew right away he was staring at the cat. I went back inside, got the camera, and took a few shots. They spent some time taking good long looks at each other (when the deer wasn't nonchalantly nibbling on grass). I suspect that they've sniffed each other from a distance quite a bit over the past few months, with Bonsai up on the deck and the deer eating apples just below. They're practically old friends. The deer was not afraid of Bonsai at all, and Bonsai seemed to enjoy the moment of having something this big this close that didn't want to devour him. Our two forlorn four-leggeds were hanging out together in peace.