Great news, Debet! Three cheers for early detection.

Did they tell you not to announce it, Sean? Because they can't ask you to be both writer and telepath.

Okay, I've traded a couple of emails with him. No real harm done, and not too big of a deal - he hadn't told those who hadn't been accepted yet, but was in the middle of sending those emails out, when he saw my post and gave me a verbal slap on the wrist. All is mostly better. That was a whole little emotional roller coaster ride just there.

Sean, I'm happy for the final result and remember - while stuff on the internet is impossible to eradicate, at this level it's probably easy enough to take down before anyone you don't want to see it has.

And Tom, I'm so sorry. Can you take some time off? give your sanity some time to regroup and maybe look into photography as a vocation (or paid avocation)?

Tom that sucks.

Belated congrats and glad the leak didn't turn out to be too awful, Sean!

Thanks for the absinthe advice. All I need is sugar cubes.

I found a "Deaf event" here. Some Penn State ASL students are running an ASL story time at the library. It doesn't really count, because I don't think there will be any Deaf people there, but it'll be good enough, because I am not driving five hours just to go to an event for a class that I'm only taking for fun.

Plei, we know what they paid 7 years ago. They bought high and I do feel for them, but if they really want to sell right now, I really don't think they are going to be able to get what they are asking. Maybe in a few more years but not now. My real estate agent is going to call their agent and say that they are able to make a more reasonable counter offer we are still interested, but that his market research does not support their price. We'll see.

How much they owe will be the kicker. I mean, the lowball non-offer on our place was over what we paid, but less than what we owed. (HELOC, as the market crashed RIGHT after we'd signed papers on the house we're in now, and we'd done the then-typical juggle of HELOC for a down with plans to sell ASAP, only ASAP failed to happen for a number of reasons that weren't predictable. In hindsight, we wish we'd listed as is as soon as we'd closed on the house we live in. Oh well.)

Fingers crossed that they can afford to meet you part way to the market value.

Yeah, God knows I wish I could sell our house cheap, but unfortunately, I need to cover the note. I also wish we could rent that mofo.

A friend of mine has a house she bought before her marriage and, rather than sell it in a down market, was renting it out to someone she knew and had dealt well with in the past. Well, years passed and the renter became the neighborhood's crazy cat lady - she had more cats than her lease allowed and had taken to feeding and providing shelter for the local feral cats (she built little shelters outside). The neighbors complained to my friend and to the homeowners' association, she's been threatened with fines and possibly a lien on the house. My friend's going to have to have the house professionally cleaned, replace the carpets, and probably have someone deal with the outside. So ... renting has its downside as well.

Yeah, I know that story too. Nightmare tenants AND underwater mortgage. Living the muthafuckin American dream, I tell you what.

I do understand if they are underwater and can't come any lower, but if that is the case, I don't think they'll be able to sell at all right now.