A Condo

Sweetie doesn't want to own a house, for many very good reasons. Not least of these is that both of us are too allergic to grass pollen to mow a lawn. Mostly, though, we both simply have better things to do with our time than clean gutters, edge the sidewalk, and powerwash the siding. Let's not even think about the snow shoveling. A condo is a good compromise, in that it allows the freedom to do mostly what we want inside, without having to fuss over the outside.

I went looking online for good deals on condos. Good deals are not that easy to find; that short sale condo for $49,900 may have a $500 a month association fee. Finding out the fees was hard, as most associations don't have a website, never mind a website with good current info on both fees, services, and the current finances of the association. You have to be careful. You don't want a condo with a bankrupt association. You'll pay ever-increasing fees and still have to shovel the snow yourself.

I found a genuine Good Deal. Sweetie and I looked at it, and it was acceptable. It is not the home of our dreams. The home of our dreams has about 30% more space and a basement. But this condo is a Good Deal, and met our minimum requirements. 2 bedrooms, 1.5 baths, at least 6 linear feet of usable counter space, a washer and dryer hookup. The association is not in financial trouble, the fees are extremely low considering that they include gas and water, and even the taxes are low. Even better, it's 10 miles closer to Mom. It doesn't get better than this.

So we made a short sale offer, one of three made on this unit. Our offer is the best one. It has been passed on to the bank for their acceptance. A month has gone by, and of course we have heard nothing. We don't expect to hear anything for at least two more months. We could hear tomorrow, though, or any other day. We simply don't know, and cannot find out. We can only wait, and hope.

It's hard, not knowing.