Home buying and other minutiae

Have you ever had one of those times when nothing seems to go right?

Our life has been like that for a year and a half. I'm really hoping that we are at the end of that stage right now and maybe headed for some normalcy, whatever that is :)

As I mentioned before we have a house in escrow. It was supposed to close on July 31st but it didn't. The seller didn't have all the work completed and we refused to close no matter what kind of assurances she wanted to give us. She also wants us to sign an addendum to the contract for a couple of things and we have refused. I don't understand waiting a month into escrow and wanting to change something in the contract! We have asked to extend escrow through the end of this month, August, and close on the 31st. We will lose our interest rate lock but at the moment that would be to our benefit as the rates are slightly lower. We can't close after the 4th in any month because we would owe an entire month's interest which is substantial.

Both Paul and I are tired of fighting this and, in many ways, are kind of hoping she will just let the contract expire so we can go our separate ways. All of this for a house neither one of us is thrilled with, a property that isn't ideal with a ditch running through the middle, and in a state that neither one of us wants to live in. The whole thing seems stupid.

At this point I'm sure you are wondering why we put an offer in on this house to begin with. At the time it seemed like the right thing to do. But let's just say that things here are not working out the way we planned. The promise of a living wage has yet to be fulfilled which makes this whole thing seem pointless.

I know that we are difficult people asking for a lot. We want to live on one income in a society where that is all but impossible, and we don't want to live hand to mouth but have enough for necessities and a little savings in case of emergency. We want to have animals and eventually raise most of our own food. We want to be left alone but be within driving distance, 2-3 hours, of a decent church. In my mind that doesn't seem like a lot to ask for but in reality it has been next to impossible to find.

I think maybe I'm just at the end of my rope. All the moving and upheaval over the last 3 years is finally taking its toll and I'm tired. I want to find a place we can settle down and plan on living there the rest of our life. I just wish there was a place where we could live without having to struggle financially. I'm sure that's a wish most people have.