It's been exactly 3 weeks since I put an offer in on the above house. And it has been a complete roller coaster since. I put my offer together Thursday evening... and since the price had been drastically reduced just the previous Tuesday I strongly suspected that I wouldn't hear a response until at least the next Monday (giving a weekend for a caravan of people to see the house).

So Monday came and we did hear that the seller was fine with my offer, but it needed to be approved by the bank ( I knew going in that it was a short sale so I knew this).
Tuesday the listing agent flipped the status to "under contract" even though the seller still hadn't signed.... but it was good for me because it meant they couldn't get any other offers. Still waiting for an answer from the bank.

At this point it came out that the bank was on the west coast and the listing agent was in Florida! So even though my day starts at 7am... I would never hear anything from the bank or listing agent until at least 8pm (sometimes later...). A week passed.

Then last Thursday it came out that there was a 2nd mortgage (Home Equity Line of Credit) on the property!!!!

The contract to buy my place is supposed to expire today (but we are trying for a 2 week extension)...because the bank says it will take them 7-10 days to make a decision.

So my fingers are crossed, my mom is lighting Virgin Mary candles... and I continue to look at "back-up" houses.