If you can't sell it, buy it

That's what our Realtor has decided. After showing our house for more than nine months, after writing up offer after offer only to have each one eventually withdrawn, our Realtor has decided to buy our house herself. She said she was talking to her husband the other night about our digs and she said something like "It's such a great house. If I can't find a buyer for it, I'll buy it myself." And he replied, "Well, why don't you?"

Turns out she and her husband are actually renters in our neighborhood. We always assumed they were homeowners. They both love our house (and obviously love the neighborhood) and they know it's a great investment. She's already been pre-approved and has negotiated the short sale deal with our mortgage lender, so we're pretty confident (though we've said that before) that this time it really will be a done deal.

Ninety-five percent of me is jumping for joy and sighing with relief.

The other 5 percent of me is muttering "What the hell took you so long?!"