bec - they wanted $10K in light fixtures allowance? WOW! Sounds like you had a bad realtor. The 2nd offer could have easily been countered rather than flat out rejected. Response: Yes, it was countered and we couldn't reach an agreement. She wanted 50K under the asking or 40K + 10K in a lighting allowance. I think we countered with 25K (meeting her half-way) under asking and she wouldn't budge. Hope the price drop works for you. Before you drop the price, counter back to this offer without the selling contingency to see what happens. If they don't accept, then reduce your price. You may want to reduce your price in the counter, remove the selling contingency and make it firm and final. Don't flat out reject this one - try to make it work. Response: Yes--we countered with 20K off the asking price, no-contingencies, 2 month close, which should give them time to sell their property. Agent has been instructed to lower the price on Friday if the counter is not accepted. Where I am, the earnest money check accompanies the offer to purchase and is deposited into an escrow account upon acceptance of the contract by all parties, if that is not the case where you are (i.e. NY etc.), you do have a problem. Response: Same where we live. We attribute the oversight to the buyer/seller agent. Somehow, he didn't put down escrow money even though it was in the contract and the agent wasn't able to contact him during the 2 week contingency period. At the end of the 2 weeks when the contingency period ended and he still hadn't put down escrow money and wasn't returning calls from the buyer/seller agent, we knew the offer wasn't going to go through. We blame our agent for allowing this situation to occur. Earnest money should be refundable, if through no fault of the buyer the buyer canÂt purchase the house, or, it becomes non-refundable after an acceptable appraisal, inspection, removal of financing contingency etc. Response: Yes, I agree. We have bought and sold several properties and homes so I am familiar with how escrow money works. We've always put down escrow money at the signing of the contract and had a refundable period. It becomes non-refundable after a certain time period when all the inspections, etc. are done. We weren't about to get burned twice by the same buyer, though, which is why we requested that the escrow money be non-refundable. He previously took the house off the market for 2 weeks only to disappear and not go through with the purchase. I think we were entirely reasonable in our request for non-refundable ernest money.

Wine50: A big hug to you. And ditto what OleJoyful wrote--could not have chosen finer words myself. As so many of you have written, the distress you feel having the task of cleaning out the home is palpable, but hopefully you can approach it as a learning experience--learning more about the family members. Kind of like a treasure hunt (yes, among all the trash!) You can try just imagining what she looked like in that Chanel dress for the big to-do. You find out more in those tucked-away letters. And while you might not be able to identify some people in the photos, it's a glimpse into another era. I think really the only thing I can add is to not do this alone--if there are other siblings in the family, make them have an equal hand in it, from the basic cleaning-out-the-fridge or clearing out trash part to the divvying up of stuff and making decisions on what to toss or donate. It's not just to make the work go faster. I didn't have the chance to go back afterwards (and that was awhile after both parents had died), because the house was quickly sold and there was a deadline to have it ready for the next family. And I just could not get back in time because of another commitment. Other siblings did the work. Every day I recall some little object, maybe something I gave to my mom, and wonder what happened to it. Was it thrown out, is it in a box in the basement of a sister's house.

lol... this is pretty funny. I'd say the zoning laws in that town are pretty loose. Around here, while you can build a modern design in an old neighborhood, that house would be much too large. There are height restrictions and lot coverage restrictions and the existing homes are taken into consideration. We are fortunate to have what is already one of the taller houses on the block at 2 stories and it is also set up a little from the street. Since we have R2 (residential two story) and/or Residential small lot zoning, there won't be any new houses taller put up on this street. We could though, end up with a zero lot line (in other words, only about 10 feet from our house) building on one of our sides if the neighbors sell out to a developer or subdivide their through lot. That would be a shame and block a lot of our natural light, and give all of our south facing windows a view of a wall, but I don't think anything could be done, unless we put up solar panels on the roof and get a solar variance before anything like that happens... Our north side is relatively safe. It already has a smaller house that has as much lot coverage as is permitted on it (and previous owners looked into expanding up - it was not feasible). It is only one story and doesn't block out much if any light, nor does it feel bulky, despite being separated by just a breezeway.

Bon, it is sublime and it isn't. If I could just have maybe 3 smallish areas that get full sun. . . . but boy the picture you just painted of yourself riding your palomino through the forest with your red setter. . . . I am in love with that picture. (Ever read the book, "Big Red" as a child, about the Irish setter?) AND, the only part of my "dream home" I'm missing (besides just a few perfect spots of full sun) is the horse. LOL. BUT. I did have many years with the horses, and I realize now I can't do everything or pay for everything, so am just glad I have the memories, at least, and my small collection of exquisite horse statues/ceramics/figurines. But those trees and the cool breeze are the reasons why I have no red tomatoes yet, peppers are inching along, nicotiana and Shasta's are falling over. . . other flowers are struggling to find enough sun to bloom. . .. hahahahaha.... oh well. Gotta take the bad with the good, huh! Wait--seems like you are having the same kind of growing season I'm having, right? You don't have a lot of sun, either, do you, or do you in certain places. Well, those who have sun have the grand veggie gardens. . . those who don't can only drool.