material misrepresentation

if i hear, read, or say these words one more time i think i am going to puke.

that really cute house we bought? had to cancel the contract this weekend. yep, the liars (um, i mean sellers) listed it with the wrong square footage. actually, i shouldn't fault the sellers. i am pretty convinced they didn't know. but their agent sure did. so he is the one to whom we must attribute the "material misrepresentation." turns out he thinks you add in an illegal and unlivable outbuilding when you add up square footage. it wouldn't be that big of a deal, except that it meant that the sale price we agreed on would have made it the most expensive house in the neighborhood by $20 a square foot. i don't think so.

so we cancelled the contract, after jim and i (unsuccessfully) threw our lawyerly weight around through various discussions and letters. this is why i will puke if i ever have to think of that phrase again. i was instantly taken back to our reception at papago park, where we were given a bad tap for one of the kegs of beer we had. (yes, for those of you who weren't able to attend, we had a kegger in the park as our wedding reception. i have no idea how i let jim talk me into it.) of course we got all worked up about it, argued with the owner, and then wrote a letter talking about what legal action we might consider taking. nothing happened. this pretty much went the same way. we asked them to come down in price; that we wouldn't pay the highest price in the 'hood. that it was a material misrepresentation, fraud, blah blah blah. they said no. did i mention that we are REALLY good negotiators? clearly.

so now we are out the money for the inspection, have seen everything on the market, are both emotionally drained, and have no house. back to the drawing board, i guess.