Way beyond belief

One of the reasons I’ve been quiet on the blog is that some things have been happening that are a little too painful to describe. Also, even in the relative anonymity of this forum, I’m still a little squirrely about giving details about what’s been happening.

So what the heck has been going on? It turns out that our new neighbor downstairs, who moved in less than two months ago, is completely nuts. She’s been nothing but impossible to deal with since before day one. Thanks to a couple of misunderstandings on her part, she now refuses to speak to the Swami at all and is convinced that our primary life goal is to make her miserable. She has demanded that we make a bunch of stuff right with the condo and is threatening us with all kinds of legal action. Some of the stuff is work that she promised to do the legwork for, but is now something she’s angry about us not doing. She’s also claiming that we are refusing to reimburse her for some work that she shouldn’t have done without asking us first. The problem there is that we’d be happy to pay her, but she doesn’t seem to realize that she has to actually give us an amount first! The whole situation is completely crazy. She’ll go for two weeks not speaking to us, and then tape eight-page handwritten notes full of looniness to our door threatening all kinds of stuff.

So we have made the decision to put our house on the market and get an apartment. We just met with our broker last night and got things rolling. I am really torn up about it—I love our place and I can’t believe someone else is pushing me out, especially now when the real estate market has gone very soft. We’re offering it for about 11% less than we paid. Fortunately we’ve been paying the mortgage down fairly aggressively, so even that low price won’t leave us under water. But the whole situation is just awful. I absolutely cannot believe that my housing went from being absolutely perfect, with great neighbors, to this clusterfuck in less than two years.

This weekend is the first open house, and probably our first attempt at looking at apartments for rent. We’re definitely not going to buy a new place right now, partly because we don’t really want a single family house, and partly because we just don’t want the hassle. Also, the truth is, we can rent a place for about the same amount as our mortgage and not have to worry about things like repairs or whether the lawn looks like crap. And there’s no damn way I’m ever buying a condo again. It’s just not a good idea to tie your living situation to somebody else, and too impossible to trust that your neighbors will always be reasonable. Maybe some people are unfazed by dealing with irrational people, but it has been absolute hell for us. I can’t rule out any behavior by this woman, and I can’t live my life tiptoeing around somebody batshit. And definitely not someone who has such a vendetta against Swami. Does it make any goddamn sense for one trustee in a condo to refuse to speak to another? How is that a constructive way to live your life?

So now I have two worries: First, I’m worried that we won’t get a
buyer before the holidays start up. If that happens then we’ll have to try again in January. And second, I won’t be able to relax at all until I start seeing some apartments that I want to live in. Right now I am about to jump, and I still haven’t seen where I might land.

I just hope that someday this woman comes to face the fact that she has brought misery to us, people who did her some kindnesses and didn’t wish anything bad for her. I know the world doesn’t work that way. Actually, what I really want is just to live in peace. Until we unload this place, I don’t think that’s going to happen.