The pins and needles of home selling

Although we've accepted an offer on the house (two now, actually, and a third waiting in the wings,) we've been subjected to over a week of inspections, appraisals and, sadly, arm-twisting. Seems as though the buyer's broker failed to inform them that freestanding appliances needed to be negotiated in the sale, and thus, neither the 48" Viking range and hood or the high-end KitchenAid fridge were included in the contract. The sellers attempted to rectify this by offering a lower (yes, lower) price, including the appliances, with the hope that although we'd reject the reduced price, we'd "compromise" and happily include $12K worth of appliances in the original price. Since we've rejected that scenario outright, they have until 5pm this afternoon to decide whether to annull the contract. If they do, we go to the next offer, equal to the first, with much less manipulative buyers/brokers. If they don't cancel, they're tied into the contract without appliances, though we might consider selling such, for their market value, of course. (Note: When the buyers first realized their faux pas, we offered the appliances at a very reasonable price.)

The worst of all this is the uncertainty: It's hard to plan an itinerary if you don't know if you'll be on the road June 7th, 27th or sometime in July. It also leads to writers block, as all mental energy is consumed by the ongoing ordeal of negotiating with a party determined to get the very best deal, even at the expense of goodwill.

I'd like to update the sidebar, but I'm still hoping Eric will get around to purchasing the permanent URL. I guess I can just copy the links into their new location. I do now have quite a library of new travel books, including some great Insider Guides for families.