Up to my eyeballs in paperwork and deadlines

Selling a house and buying a house at the same time is a lot of stress :(  Paperwork, paperwork, paperwork. Then there's the negotiation at every step in the process, setting up appointments with mortgage brokers, house inspectors, attorneys, and other professionals for EACH house and EACH set of buyers and sellers. I don't remember our first mortgage application being this complicated, but our finances were simpler then and we weren't on a 30-day possession timeline. By the way, 30 days is very little time.

Maybe the process has changed, too, in the last 6 years :)

In related news, Bobby and I were there in the maple leaf house when the inspection was being performed. I really, really liked that experience. I could see how thorough the inspection was: every window, every doorknob, every light switch...every single thing in that house was tested. He measured the moisture level on suspicious-looking ceiling spots. He answered every question I could think of. It was an enlightening experience, and actually pretty fun. At one point, I asked if the kitchen was rigged for a gas stove. Our Realtor just pulled the stove from the wall himself so we could have a look! The inspector called him a stud for it. Cracked me up.

All in all, the interior of the home is in good shape. It's much larger than I had remembered. Each bedroom has its own enormous closet. The tile work isn't as hideous as I had remembered, either. And I just kept looking out that sliding glass door at the expanse of the yard..."fruit trees here, garden beds there, there, and there, chicken coop back there, compost bin definitely right there...and maybe the kids will play out there every once in a while, too" ;) The interior was comfortable, but I was drawn to the windows wherever I went, just drinking in all that new green space to play with.

An oak tree in the north east corner of the yard suggests we will be battling squirrels quite often. I may end up renting a few plots in the community garden across the street just so I can harvest some sweet corn  and tomatoes every once in a while. My poor, future peach trees. Will I ever get a harvest from you? Or, *gasp* we may need to acquire a dog to keep those squirrels out of my orchard. I swore off pets long ago, but a farm dog is a totally different story.

The attic and crawlspace have had some serious water leakage and will need repairs and professional treatment for mold, but those aren't deal-breaking problems. Also, the furnace can't seem to get hot air to any of the vents sooooooo far from it. There are affordable fixes for that, too. We're moving ahead with our offer and application.

Now if I could only find the motivation to start packing!