lemme turn to you here

Shawn, as usual, is Right About Everything.

The lady from whom we have bought the new house in Vancouver is being a pest.

We've understood from the start that she didn't particularly want to sell it and move out of it. Her realtor freely confessed he was frustrated with her because she wouldn't budge on her sale price or conditions, in hopes, it seemed, that no one would want to buy it.

Today the realtor phoned to ask Shawn if we would consider changing the possession date. Being a reasonable and open minded guy, Shawn requested more information. His thinking, at this point, was that it probably wouldn't be a big deal if we were to stay with his parents for a couple more days.

She wanted another month. She hasn't started to look for a place to live yet. She hasn't started to pack.

Shawn said no way.

This is the same person who wanted a clause in the sale contract that said something along the lines of, "If the seller is unhappy with her new accommodations, she has the right to take back the house."

I truly do feel sympathy for this woman who loves her house and doesn't want to leave it. I've been in that boat myself, though under very different circumstances than I imagine hers to be. But I think her understanding of what selling a house means is rather limited. She doesn't seem to realise, at all, that if she stays there, or returns there, that makes us homeless.

When we first started looking for houses (and planning to sell ours), I asked Shawn why we couldn't just cut the realtors out of the deal and do it ourselves.

Shawn said he didn't want to take chances with things not going smoothly and making contract mistakes. Wow, was he ever right. If we hadn't had a legal contract in this case, that woman would probably be able to refuse to leave and keep on smoking in our house for as long as she wanted to. Don't tell him, 'cause he's already feeling pretty clever... but my husband is a smart guy.

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