Tragedy

I knew I was going to have to deal with something like this eventually.

One of the kids I worked with during a year long internship was shot and killed on Tuesday night.

Sure, he lived in the projects. It was late at night, on a school night.

But he wasn't doing anything wrong. He was walking to the store with some friends. The story is the gun went off accidently one of the boys he was with pulled out a gun to shoot dogs who were trying to chase them.

The family thinks there were ulterior motives- some fight about a girl.

I don't know what to think.

The last time I saw him- I came back to the center to help out with their end of the summer program, and he was one of the star performances on the turntables and dancing. I remember Jessica was frantic that he wasn't there yet. Then at the last minute, he comes rolling up on his bicycle, fashionably late.

How can he be gone?

This kid was pretty awesome. He had his flaws, but he was making due with what he was given. He was a role model. He calmed the other kids down. He loved life and basketball, and school.

Why did he have to be taken so soon? In such a tragic way? By "friendly" fire?

The bullet entered through his back and went right through his heart. He died at the scene.

You will be missed JN.

house drama 2.0

Offers. Offers are ridiculous.

We made an offer on the house. 9 hours later (overnight 9 hours later) they made their counter offer. We are putting the finishing touches on counter, counter offer (cannot say that with a straight face) and will be sending it as soon as Jacob's dad emails it back to me with his thoughts.

Our offer started out innocent enough. Made sure all of our contingencies were there and correct, explained that we absolutely LOVED their house and want to live there for the rest of our lives. We also shared our concerns.

They countered, said their house was much more awesome that our offer warranted and attempted to use an online tool to make a point.

Attempted. And failed. Although we are first time home buyers, we are not stupid. Jacob and I like to analyze the shit out of things. We found holes in their argument, and pointed that out to them several times in several ways, using their very same tool against them (against is not really the right word, but it's all I can come up with right now). Yes, the point they were trying to make was made. However, the chart said so much more, and fueled our fire.

I feel that our offer is rather harsh. However, they gave us this tool and we interpreted it and explored its functions and found that it met our needs much more than it ever met theirs.

I just hope they don't hate us. If i were them, our offer would make me cry.

On one hand, they have to expect this is coming. But on the other, I feel that the sellers are blind to anything other than how wonderful this house is.

And believe me- the house is ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL. Part of the reason why I feel so bad is that in the long run, both Jacob and I are willing to pay the actual listed price of the house. It's part of the reason why I hate this whole "offer custom" so much. We are not a bartering society anymore. Just name a price and we'll pay it. I just wish they would have named a price more in tune with the surrounding area.

I think that's the problem. The house is amazing, and strides ahead of the area. It shouldn't belong there. It's the neighborhood and it's lower value houses that are bringing it down. In a different neighborhood that house would easily go for tens of thousands more than they are asking.

I'm just worried that this offer will scare them away from us. What if they read it and think "forget you people" and reject our offer without another counter? I would cry. I want this house so much. The last thing I want to do is lose it before it's actually even ours.

Oh the stress. Being an adult is hard.

house drama

Holy shit. I think we're going to do it. I think we're going to buy this house. In a completely non professional way- email negotiations and then meet, possibly over some alcoholic beverages (non alcoholic for the pregnant homeowner) and close.

WTF.

The fact remains that the tax appraisal is significantly lower than the asking price, and we are still going to play hard ball and say that our offer is contingent on getting the loan (read: if the house appraises for lower than the bid, the lender is not going to give us money), and satisfactory home and termite inspections, etc., but holy shit guys, Jake and I are going to buy a house!

If the appraisal comes out lower than the bid- and we don't get the loan- we are able to walk away or we can re-negotiate the price to one where the lender will give us the loan.

Since when did I become old enough to make these decisions?