Real estate Musings
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Rob and Celia are facing the New Year with high hopes that their plan to purchase a house with Celia’s mother will go smoothly.
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While those around her moaned about returning to routine following the holidays, Celia anticipated the return to teaching with good cheer. After two years of being underemployed she was grateful for the work. Her pregnancy had progressed past the sick and tired phase, and with Rob’s support and active involvement she was building an amazingly healthy relationship with her mother. Mom had changed little, but Celia had learned that by accepting the mother she had rather than wishing for change that would never occur, they could build something workable.
Celia was home alone today, packing up their sparse Christmas decorations not only to store, but to move. Next Christmas they would have a new home and a baby! Growing up with a depressive mother and an unreliable father, Celia had learned not to get too excited about things. But since Rob held a central role in this plan, she allowed herself to anticipate it with happiness. She and Rob were the architects of their lives now. She did not need anyone else to come through for her.
There. Christmas was cleaned up and put away. She picked up her phone and dialed her sister, Catherine. Catherine, who was older than Celia, lived with her mother. No one was happier about the new plan than she was. Celia had felt guilty that while she had left home for college and gotten married, Catherine had remained at home, gone to community college and finished her degree online while working, in part because Mom needed the support emotional and otherwise.
“OK, here’s what I’ve got,” Catherine started. “The house appraised at sixty-eight but there are five other houses in the subdivision for sale. The agent listed it sixty-two and we have an offer at fifty-eight”—
“But Rob’s expecting seventy for the down payment”—
“I don’t know anything about what Rob’s expecting but there’s no point to asking more than what it’s worth in a down market. Tell Rob I’m sorry we’re from Canton and not Beverly Hills”—
“You’re right,” Celia said. “Do your best on that end and we’ll do what we need to do here.” Celia disconnected and dialed Rob, hoping to catch him on his break at Starbucks. She did and brought him up to speed.
“So I told her that we’ll do whatever we need to do on our end,” Celia finished.
“It’s going to be a push to get into a good school district,” Rob said. “Is this the best she can do?”
What does Celia say?
