I Cried When I Didn't Get the House I Wanted

In 1982 when I heard we lost the house we wanted in Marshfield, MA, I threw myself on my bed and - I hate to admit it - pounded my fists into the mattress and kicked my feet up and down. I really did.

After looking at 25 houses, we finally decided on a house to buy, a yellow raised ranch with a lovely back yard. Then the agent called us with bad news. Someone just put in an offer that was accepted.

I was pregnant with our second child and my nesting instinct was very strong. I needed a place to bring my baby home to and *sob, sob* I wanted that house!

The next day, the owners of a house we REALLY wanted but decided was too expensive, called to say they would give us an interest free second mortgage for $10,000 due and payable in three years. (That was being done in 1982 when interest rates were 11%!) My father did a quick calculation, told us what that meant in dollars saved, and we accepted! I loved that house much more than the one we just lost. "It was meant to be," I told Dave, who didn't believe in that kind of 'hocus pocus'.

Years later, we wanted to buy a special house in Grand Isle, Vermont. The house was brick, built in 1845, and was on the Vermont Historic Registry. It had 400' of shared lake frontage with killer western views. It was a huge house with decks overlooking the lake, an enormous kitchen, two fireplaces and a paneled library. We were in love with this house. This was the house I would live in for the rest of my life, I said.

Our agent wrote up an offer and called the listing agent with the details. Our agent's face dropped and we knew it was bad news. Someone had put an offer in the day before and it was accepted! Not again, I cried. And cried and cried. We tried to find another house but could not. We decided to stay put.

Then, we heard through the grapevine that the buyers of the brick house had a contingeny of selling their house first, and they hadn't sold it yet. We put our house back on the market. When the buyers' of the brick house's contingency expired, we bought it!

"It was meant to be!" I told Dave. He was starting to believe.

We lived there for 9 years and it will always be my favorite house. But it started to feel too big and the grounds were getting harder to take care of. We sold the house to Karl Lagerfeld of Chanel, to his real estate holding company. The rest of that story will come later!

Now, the story about our present house that we bought when we sold the brick house. We learned our lessons with the house lost in Marshfield and the better one found; with the house in Grand Isle that came back to us. So when we found the perfect house in Burlington, VT and we hadn't sold the Grand Isle house yet, we were sure someone else would snatch it up. And someone did. We said, "Well, it just wasn't meant to be!" We accepted it and were sure a better house was waiting for us. Then, six weeks later, the listing agent called to say the buyer's financing fell apart and the house was coming back on the market. Enter Karl Lagerfeld. We had a contract on our house, we put an offer in on the house in Burlington, and we've been here three years. It was meant to be!

Now, when buyers are upset, throwing their bodies on the bed and pounding fists and feet -- okay, no one has done that but me -- I tell them these stories and assure them that a better house will come along. It has for us -- three times -- and it will for them too.