But...
Do not--I mean it--do NOT try to buy a house during the last month or so of your adoption. Adoption is stressful enough, and trying to buy a new home and remodel it and furnish it and move into it will push to you the end of your rope. We had no choice, but if you do have a choice, just say no.
Why, you ask? Because this could happen to you:
1. Today is your closing! Yay! You show up early looking all professional, checkbook and a brand new Bic in your hand. Your lawyer, on the other hand, shows up late. See, he wasn't the lawyer you expected...your guy was busy, so your law firm decided to send a fill-in. Tie? Blazer? No way! The guy doesn't even have on socks and it's winter. He announces to you and the seller's attorney that he's "subbing" and "knows nothing about this closing." What a great impression! Things are certain to go downhill from there and guess what? You don't close! Ha Ha! Joke is on you! No, nothing you did wrong, the seller's attorney tells you...but you'll have to wait a day. You know, just ratchet up the stress a little more. And delay things, which leads me to my next point...
2. The contractor you have lined up to do some work on said home gets peeved at the ONE DAY delay and--ha ha--bails on you! Isn't that a riot?! Really, one day later and the job is off? Aren't you fickle! So....
3. When your renovations should have been happening, instead, in all of your "free" time, you will be interviewing 50 new contractors to do the job. Fun! A free education on load-bearing walls, moving electrical outlets, and LVLs. Cool! And...
4. If you happen to buy a new home that--while larger and nicer than your tiny condo--has some "interesting" shaped rooms, none of your old furniture fits! Isn't that surprising! So, you are basically starting from scratch with no furniture. And, to top it off, every piece of furniture you like takes 8-12 weeks to get! Well, la-di-da! You'll be HOME from China, and you'll all be sitting on bags stuffed with leaves or trash instead of a sofa! Guests coming over to meet your new daughter? No problem! Just ask them to bring their own chairs!
5. You get the idea.
All of this delightfulness while you need to be shopping for your trip, packing, thinking about travel arrangements, wrapping up work, and reading those last 10 or so adoption books you wanted to get to.
So, take it from me, unless you live in a teepee, don't buy a house during latter stages of the adoption process. Well, if you live in a teepee, as long as your home study worker will approve it, stay there.
Rant over.
4 comments:
Oh my gosh, so sorry for all of the stess. Hoping that some of the furniture comes early and you feel more settled before you leave. I leave in 5 days...wheeee......
Michele
What's an LVL?
LVL=a beam so your upstairs doesn't fall into your downstairs.
Holy Frijole! As someone with cousins in New Mexico who actually DID live in a teepee for several months, I can tell you that you will do more than merely survive this, you will (sooner than you think) look back on it an feel really, really proud of how you got through it. Really. I mean it. Yes, you will... <:-)
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