There, but for the grace of God, go I
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Victoria and I were lying in bed. My arm was around her and we had been talking about the children. Natalie was about four and a half years old, and Nathan a little over three. Angela was nine months old and had transitioned to formula, so Victoria's nipples weren't sore or chapped anymore. I was playing with one as we talked.
Victoria moaned and turned her head to whisper in my ear.
"Scott, I want another baby. How do you feel about it?"
"I love getting you pregnant. It's a nice feeling of accomplishment. Do you want to stop taking the pill?"
"As of now!"
She figured she would be fertile as early as two weeks later, so we planned a love fest for that week. It was a lot of fun. It always is when we're trying to conceive.
Two months later, she was pregnant. This would be our fourth child, and Victoria was glowing.
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As we sat waiting for the sonogram, we talked about how we were doing this for the fourth time. Old hands. Confident.
We were unknowingly setting ourselves up for what awaited us.
Our technician studied the image carefully.
"I want to show you what I see. You're in for a surprise."
She redirected the wand slightly and pointed on the screen to show us the heartbeat that was then displayed above. Then she moved the wand and displayed a second heartbeat. Both were now displayed.
"Is one of those Victoria's heartbeat?"
"No, you're having twin boys. They could be fraternal or identical. Your doctor should be able to tell you once he sees the placenta, whether it's one placenta or two. One means identical, two means fraternal. Anyway, congratulations."
She was smiling, but we were shocked. We came in expecting our fourth child to be our last. We walked out realizing we would have five children, and our home would soon be way too small. It was already tight.
'How are you feeling, sweetheart?"
"Part of me is absolutely thrilled, and part of me is stunned. Scott, we need a bigger home! Also, I really need to focus on swimming to improve my conditioning, because this will be tiring, and I have to push two babies out!"
Victoria had been one of those women who worked hard to get back into shape after giving birth. She swam for at least an hour in the pool every day. She worried about her figure, but she was still the most beautiful woman I knew.
We immediately started looking for a new home. We contacted a realtor our family had used, Ken Jordan, and he recommended a starting sales price of $800,000 for our home. We signed the listing agreement.
Our wish list was five bedrooms, three or four bathrooms, a swimming pool and hot tub (although space to add one was also acceptable), and a three-car garage. He promised to have some for us to look at on Saturday.
I quickly learned how much I hate driving from house to house to look at properties that don't feel right. We looked at five houses that day. Nothing interested us.
We repeated the experience the next Saturday. Equally frustrating.
"Scott, should we build?"
"I would like that, but right now, almost all the available lots are small. I can have Ken look for a large lot, but that may be a long shot."
When I called Ken, he promised to search for such a lot, but said he had been just about to call. A new home had hit the market that day. He wanted us to see it immediately.
"Could you meet me about 5 pm today?"
I told him to plan on it, hoping we could drop the kids off at her parents or mine. Matt and Liz were thrilled to have them.
Ken was standing on the porch with the front door already open. We walked into the home and fell in love with it before we saw it all. It was a six bedroom, 4.5 bath home on three levels, colonial style, with the master bedroom on the main level and all others either upstairs or downstairs from there. The main floor also had a den or office, a half bath for guests, as well as a large living room and a formal dining room,.
The kitchen was large, with a massive island that had five seats on one side. There was a breakfast nook, with space for a small table and four chairs. All of the kitchen appliances appeared to be less than two to three years old.
There was a three-car garage, and I loved what the architect had done with it. Instead of having three boring garage doors facing the street, or taking up space in the basement, the garage was an attached structure by the side of the house. It was hidden from view from the street by trees.
The house had a custom-built storage shed on the side of the house, matching the style of the home. In addition to two bedrooms and a full bath in the basement, there was a theater room.
In back of the house there was a beautiful, multi-level deck, constructed with Trex. On one side there was a big hot tub. There was a built-in grill and pizza oven in another area. A set of steps led to a large saltwater swimming pool that appeared to be larger than the one at my house. The pool had a full fence around it to keep children out.
The lot backed up to a forested area that was under a conservation easement, and the lot was about three-quarters of an acre, all enclosed by fences.
I looked at Victoria and knew her feelings about the house immediately.
"Ok, Ken. Give me the bad news. What are they asking?"
"They want $1.8 million, which I think is perhaps a little high, but not much. I think if you come in with a strong cash offer, with no contingencies about the sale of your home or obtaining financing, just a few things about the home itself, you could get it for $1.7 million. I recommend a serious amount of earnest money. That tells them you are capable and serious. That may be important because this may generate multiple offers."
"Do you know why they're selling?" I asked.
"The husband has just accepted a position as a CEO of a large manufacturing company in the Midwest. I called the realtor earlier to find out if there was a lockbox yet. There wasn't, so he called the owners and arranged for them to be gone and leave the side garage door open. That's how I opened this for you. He's a good realtor and I've dealt with him several times. He's a straight shooter on price."
"Give us a minute, Ken."
Victoria and I walked outside. She did most of the talking.
"I love this home, and I can tell you do, too. We can do this. Our current investment portfolio stands at about $46 million. I don't want to touch the cash position, because we want that anyway. We can have our broker liquidate stocks that will generate net losses and net gains that largely offset, so no tax hit, or perhaps a small tax loss, to our benefit on our taxes. We can refine that with our accountant. He can probably have that money for us within a week. When we sell our present home, we will plow that money back into investments."
"Do you want to make an offer now, babe?"
"You know I do. Let's ask for a home inspection, also separate inspections for the hot tub, pool, and HVAC. Anything else you can think of, Scott?"
We found Ken and sat down in the home to write our offer. $1.7 million. All cash. $100k earnest money. We wanted the usual: home inspection, inspections of HVAC, pool and hot tub. We asked for a short close. Fifteen days.
He phoned the seller's realtor right then and told him of the offer and promised to email it to him within 30 minutes.
Victoria and I were excited as we drove away. We picked up the kids and got them home and into bed.
We made love that night. Missionary. Then Raquel paid a visit, so I pushed her against the wall and held her cute butt in my hands as I slammed into her and against the wall. She was clinging to my neck and crying out with each impact.
I carried her over to the sofa and laid her on her back over the arm, making it easy for me to eat her out. When she came, her thighs squeezed my head until she relaxed. I stood and screwed her in that position until I came as well.
After I carried her to bed, we lay entwined and talked about the house.
"We're going to have three boys and two girls. I'd like to put the twins in one room, the girls in another, which leaves Nathan in a room by himself. For now, we can put them in the three bedrooms upstairs. I don't want Nate by himself in the basement. Those bedrooms can be a guest room and a craft room for me."
"Is it alright with you if I use the den as a home office?"
"It's perfect for that. Of course! If we get this house, you'll need to make love to me in the pool and the hot tub to christen them. Oh! Also on that huge island in the kitchen!"
"I can make that sacrifice."
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The next day Ken called. The sellers countered, they asked for $1.725 million and a 30-day close. We accepted, and Victoria and I held each other and kissed.
She called our accountant and the broker and explained to them what she wanted done with our investmenta. They worked out a number for long-term losses that would be the target for our taxes.
We figured it was going to take about $100k more to close and/or make any repairs to our existing home, so that's the number she gave them. The broker said he would transfer the money to our checking account by the end of the week.
To our surprise, we received three offers on our home almost immediately. Since we had a lockbox already, we left home several times when prospective buyers wanted to see it.
The best offer was $825k, over listing price by $25k. It included $50k earnest money and was contingent only on the kinds of things we asked for in our offer. No prior sale or financing contingency. Ken said their realtor told him they were financing part of the sale, but only about 40% of the price and they had excellent credit.
We countered and asked for a 60-day close. We wanted time to complete our move. The buyers accepted. The home inspection turned up a few things, but I had a handyman come in and take care of everything for $2500.
We were both amazed at how smoothly it had gone. Of course, cash makes things easier!
