House Hunting...

6 months ago - if someone had told me how incredibly stressful house hunting/buying would be - I would never have believed them.
What is so stressful? Looking at lots of houses and choosing which one you want to live in - sign a few papers and BAM you are cooking your first meal and sitting around your new dining room table.

NOT SO MUCH.

Since April 22nd - the day we put an offer on our house - it has been nothing but non-stop stress, emotion and a rollercoaster of UPS and DOWNS.
It seems like just when we started to relax and really let ourselves get excited - something else happens and brings us down.
I never knew I could go through so many emotions of excited, sad, nervous, frustrated, angry, happy and the list goes on....
First there was the problems we had right when we put the offer in.

Then a couple weeks later we found out that our closing was delayed to an unknown date.

And yesterday was one of the worst days of them all. I won't bore you with details but let's just say it was not good and everything was almost lost. Having to deal with that at work all day yesterday was not good. It's not good to cry at your desk when everyone is always walking by.

One of the most frustrating parts of all of this is most of the turmoil we've dealt with is all because of the sellers. This house is an estate - so we believe it is the three children of the older couple who lived in the house and have died. Through everything - they have not once made things worth our while - or helped us out because of the delays and the problems that they have caused. Maybe its just me, but in these troubled real estate times, the last thing a seller should do is be difficult and not willing to comprimise. From the very beginning they were barely willing to negotiate. Our realtor practically had to threaten their realtor for them to make a counter offer since they were just rejecting everything we sent their way and not even coming back with a counter.
And through all the frustration - the emails - the phone calls - the tears and everything else - they have done nothing to sweeten the deal for us or at least try to make up for everything we have endured. Just not right or fair. But - since when it life fair, right?
In any case - this has been one of the most difficult processes I have ever been through - a lot harder than most people who buy a house (our realtor has told us). But we also know that we are getting a ridiculous deal on a house that we are very much in love with. I have just been trying to focus on the end result when the papers are all signed and the keys are in our hands. Then it will be all worth it....

Until then - we will keep signing the attachments and addendums, waiting for all of the sellers paper work to be finished and to finally have a set closing date. And then of course waiting for that day to come. Its looking now more like the end of July then June. Once again - everything keeps getting pushed back. UGH.

To keep us entertained until then......get this.....

Last Friday, I saw an ad on Yelp that the HGTV show House Hunters was looking for people in the Twin Cities to film an episode of their show.

Sent an email asking if we were qualified and I got a quick response from the lovely Heather saying that we were absolutely qualified. She sent me the application and I quickly filled it out and sent it back to her along with pictures of our house, Rian and I and of course Clifford.

I went to get my hair done that afternoon and as I check my phone after my appointment - I check my messages and hear Heather from HGTV leaving me a message about chatting with me further. So I get in my car and just start driving around aimlessly while she basically asks me questions about myself, Rian, our relationship, our house and so on and so forth. She seemed to really like me/us and of course gushed about how cute Clifford is. She then calls Rian and asks him the same questions. She also got a hold of our realtor to ask him questions about us and how things have gone.
She was a delight to talk to and told me she would get back to us soon either way.
So yesterday, in the midst of me freaking out and thinking that we are going to loose this house - I get an e-mail and phone call from Heather telling me that she would like us to do a casting interview with a camera and everything - to make a tape to send to the higher up folks at HGTV. So come Tuesday at 6pm - a local PA (production assistant) who coincidentally used to work at TPT will be coming to my parents house to make our tape! They will be interviewing Rian, myself and Mike our realtor - together and seperate. We have our list of instructions....what to wear, to repeat the questions in our answer, be happy, have fun! I think we got those covered!

And honestly, I figure - if we have gotten to this point - I don't see why we wouldn't go all the way to the show. We have personality coming out of our....hmmm I don't think you can say that on TV.

If you've seen the show - you know that not everyone on it is actually very interesting, funny or attractive. lol So things are looking good for us! :-)

After we film our tape on Tuesday, we should hear back in about a week or so. And if the big guns at HGTV like our tape - WE'RE IN!
We do get a cash prize if we get on the show - but either way, what a cool experience and what a fun memory we get to take away from our first home together.
Plus, Rian and I figure that once we get on TV someone is bound to give us our own reality TV show....and if not us, then Clifford. Everybody loves Clifford.

Sounds like the new name of Clifford's show!

STAY TUNED......