As always we seem to be kindred or at least linked spirits, Sarah. When we were honing in on a 34 year quest to find the perfect home in FL the rush to a decision led us to put a contract on a house that required too many compromises. Having learned that walking away is always an option, we broke the contract & accented the penalty days before closing. Best earnest money lost ever. The real estate agents were aghast, but we were then free to work with a better agent and find our new home. There were still compromises, of course, but ones we accepted. It helped that when my kids were teenagers and tried to pressure me for immediate decisions my response was, "I want time to thinking about it, but if you need an answer now it is no." Works with salespeople, too.
As always we seem to be kindred or at least linked spirits, Sarah. When we were honing in on a 34 year quest to find the perfect home in FL the rush to a decision led us to put a contract on a house that required too many compromises. Having learned that walking away is always an option, we broke the contract & accented the penalty days before closing. Best earnest money lost ever. The real estate agents were aghast, but we were then free to work with a better agent and find our new home. There were still compromises, of course, but ones we accepted. It helped that when my kids were teenagers and tried to pressure me for immediate decisions my response was, "I want time to thinking about it, but if you need an answer now it is no." Works with salespeople, too.
I LOVE this post and your journey.