Updates to the Losing Our Home File

Today is my son's birthday, so today's Blog Entry and Podcast were prepared in advance. The topic: the latest updates about our landlord trying to sell our house.

August 24, 3:30 pm

We got up this morning and finished our planned cleaning, then decided to get away from the house for the day.

Before we left, the landlord called again to tell me what time Bill would be over to do the last storm window. She said he was also going to put a coat of paint on the porch. That set my wife off (she's been complaining about the appearance of the porch all summer). To my shock when I walked out the front door to leave, she had snuck outside, dug up all of her plants in the front, and thrown them -- dirt and all -- all over the front porch. I swept the porch off before we left, because I still have to get a good reference from these people. And I think I'll use that tonight by saying someone vandalized our flowerbed over night.

August 24, 9:30 pm

The landlord and her "prospective buyer" showed up almost exactly at 6:00 pm. The landlord was very rude to me right from the beginning, barely acknowledging me when I talked to her. That, of course, set my plan differently.

My wife was in the yard pushing my son on the swing, which was probably the safest place for her to be (safest for the landlord, I mean). The people looking at the house were a young couple.

I was very gracious to them, and pretended to do my best to be helpful. The things we did to make the house seem smaller seemed to work. It was hilarious watching them squeeze their way through the bedroom.

At one point outside I asked the landlord about signing a letter of reference for me. She said, "We'll talk about that after they leave. Well, I'll sign it," she continued, "but we were a little upset that you guys threw the flowers all over the porch and the yard. It was like you didn't want the place to look good. Bill was really pissed."

"We didn't do it," I lied. "I found them all over the porch when I went to leave this morning. I tried to sweep it up and clean off the porch a bit, but I had to leave for a meeting for work."

"Do you know who did it?" she asked skeptically.

"No, but they took my hose spooler, too. I don't know who it was. My wife's car was broken into a couple weeks ago, too."

I don't know if she believed me or not, but she quickly shifted gears. "I was shocked to see the bright colors," she said, referring to the green office, brown-gold living room, and blue-gray bedroom.

"I told you we were going to paint," I said.

"I told you it was okay to paint the baby's room blue, but to keep the other colors neutral," she said.

My wife had just walked out the door and put in her two cents, "No you didn't."

I chimed in with, "I don't remember you saying anything about keeping it neutral. I thought we would be living here a few more years, and I figured we'd just repaint it white when we moved out if you didn't like it." Of course, I have no intention of doing that now.

"That dark color in the living room makes it look smaller, to me," she complained.

I don't really know how to gauge the couple that was looking at the house. They were a hard read. I guess we'll find out eventually. Either way, we'll be moving out of here as soon as we can.

When they were done looking, they walked out to the landlord's van and talked for probably five minutes before driving off in different directions. The landlord never came back up to the house, and she never signed our letter of reference.

August 26, 8:30 pm

The goofy landlord just called to give me the "good news" that the couple who recently invaded our home has decided not to buy it. Of course, that is good news for us because now we don't have to rush to find a new place to live before some unexpected closing date arrives. We'll be signing a new one-year lease next week and will immediately start looking for our first home to purchase. It'll be just a little less stressful for not having to rush.

As for this house, the damage has already been done. We've already been betrayed by our landlord, our home has already been invaded, and we just don't feel very much at home here anymore.

Our landlord, of course, was once again kissing up to me and being polite as she could possibly be. Naturally -- she needs us as renters once again. This time, I believe, the joke will be on her.

Joe