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Saturday, January 17, 2009

Closing Postponed!

That's correct. Two days before we were supposed to close, after we had given our lender every possible form of documentation imaginable (purchase & sales agreement? check. employment verification? check. receipt from last gallon of milk purchased? check. VIN# of your neighbor's first car? check.) and had gotten the greenlight, there was a sudden hitch.

The seller (a bank) never recorded the foreclosure deed. As in, they were 2 days away from selling a house that they didn't technically own.

On one hand, we were really disappointed. So we don't get our house yet? When will we get it? On the other hand...RELIEF! The closing is postponed and it's not our fault!

This is a particularly important point for us, as the house is being sold via a real estate auction site, RealtyBid.com. We weren't scared off by the unconventional venue, but there were some daunting conditions to the transaction:

1) You must close within 30 days of winning the auction.
2) When you sign and submit the purchase and sales agreement, you must also submit a 5% deposit. That's 5% of the purchase price.
3) If you fail to close in 30 days, your 5% deposit is kept by the seller.

However, if the seller cannot provide a clear title on the day of closing, the buyer is not held to the above conditions. And that's where we are now. The deal is still on, but we can breathe a little easier knowing that our 5% deposit is no longer at risk, and it's up to the seller to move this forward.

Phew!

Sunday, January 4, 2009

Vánočka Bread Pudding

I am a big fan of all things pudding. So when we ended up with leftover Czech Christmas Bread (called "Vánočka"), I immediately thought: Bread Pudding!

Yes, maybe we (my Czech grandmother, my mother, and I) did go a little overboard this year when we made 15 loaves of vánočka...but this was so freakin' good that I think we'll make just as many next year and reserve the less-than-perfectly-braided loaves for New Year's Bread Pudding:


I used the recipe for Bread Pudding with Spiced Rum Sauce from Epicurious, but substituted the vánočka for challah. Very easy, and I definitely recommend making the rum sauce...it was delicious and added that extra ooomph, nevermind holiday spirit.

And just for reference--the beautiful, sweet, buttery wonder that is Vánočka:

Happy 2009...

So I'm hoping this year will be a big one. After a tumultuous year-long househunt, we might actually be getting a home. We're scheduled to close on January 14th, but in the words of W:

"Fool me once, shame on--shame on you. Fool me--you can't get fooled again."

My sentiments exactly...So until I have a key in my hand and 30 years of debt in my name, it's just cautious optimism and daydreams of domestic bliss, which is what I plan to detail on this blog...as well as any other noteworthy events in my pursuit of what the Costa Ricans call "Pura Vida".

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