Will You Be My Lawfully Wedded House?

Do you take this Cape Cod to be your lawfully wedded house, in (financial) sickness and in health?

Well, it's nitty-gritty time here at Martta's World. Tonight I am putting an offer on the house in Verona that we both like. I understand that there are 2 other offers pending. My offer is for about $10,000 less because if it comes to negotiation, I want the seller to pay for a French drain in the basement.

We looked at another comparable home in Verona but it needed more work, especially the kitchen. Plus, it was listed as a 3BR but the third BR was actually the basement that was converted into a BR! Not fair guys, especially since you also list a basement. You can't have it both ways, it's either a basement or a bedroom. So, we were put off by that.

We wanted to see another cute Cape Cod in Caldwell that was supposed to have an open house on Sunday. We got there and the sign said "Open House Cancelled." Bummer! Just as we were walking away, the owner drove up. We explained why we were there and he said, "My wife wanted to fix a few things up before we open the house. Call the Realtor if you want to see it during the week."

Now this tells me one of two things.

1. His wife wants to hide the bodies.
2. They are not truly motivated to sell.

If they were truly motivated (especially in this market!), he would have invited us in to look around. This tells us that there's something else going on there. My Realtor agreed. So, we're not going to bother going back. It's also a mite higher than we wanted to spend.

I will keep you posted about our offer. Send pixie dust, please!