Buying a House can be Taxing

I mentioned that we decided to buy a house; rent it out and then if everything goes well have enough money in 15 years to buy Will a house.  Well, we found a house but it’s bank owned and unfortunately, the bank that owns it is insane.

Case in point – on Tuesday my real estate agent dropped by my house to give me back the earnest money check.  “Why?”  I asked.  She didn’t know.  The bank had insisted on a bank check ten times the normal amount, rather than a personal check and now they were handing it back less than a week before we hoped to close on the house.  I took it to my bank.  “I’d like to redeposit this.”  I said but, of course, my name wasn’t on the check and I didn’t have the receipt.  I barely returned home before I received an email asking me to wire the same amount I’d just deposited.

(Aside – moments like these are the reason I deserve a Greek Chorus! Curses!)  I went back in the next day to wire the money.  If I’d been wise I might have looked at the return of the money as a present from karma and foreshadowing that the universe might not want me to buy this house.  But I’m nothing if not stupid persistent!

On Friday we signed paperwork that may or may not work depending upon whether or not we can get the last paperwork from the town because the darn bank doesn’t want to spend $100 to send someone out to the house to replace some keyed locks with doorknobs!  Gosh and all we have to deal with is a hole in the basement ceiling that wasn’t there when we made the offer, an expired rate lock and an insane bank.