Well, this was almost a rant, but it wound up being a rave...
The sellers of the house my wife and I were buying backed out of the deal (at the closing meeting no less! They came out all the way from PA just to say no!?) due to a) some vague wording in the agreement they signed, and mostly because b) the bank agent conducting the closing was not the person they thought was going to (i.e. our mortgage consultant). This offended their sensibilities.
So that deal fell through.
HOWEVER:
Our realtor had us look at a few more houses that weekend, and we found one that was a much better deal for us. It is within walking/biking distance of our workplace, only very slightly smaller, and is a much nicer house in general, not to mention in a better neighborhood. We're only paying $500 more for it, so it's a good deal for us. Assuming all goes well, we'll close at the end of July.
Bonus: the fence along two sides of the back yard has grape vines growing on it. That's lots of juice, jelly, wine, or hand-eating, depending on the variety.
