Bogged Down and Holding Tight

I wish I had some positive news to report on the continuing saga of selling Maison Newton and buying a different house (la Petite Maison Newton) but, alas, I do not. I am currently bogged down in finding a structural engineer to inspect the basement of the potential la Petite Maison Newton. Seller has provided me with one analysis and quote to remedy a bowed basement wall - and nothing addressed as to the others, or to the grading situation outside that led to the basement problems to begin with. The selling broker's response to my concerns was 'grading is NOT a material defect.' Yeah, right. So, instead of addressing the entire situation that led to deflected basement walls in the first place, Seller is doing the minimum necessary to make the house "saleable." Ruts of ruck, Seller. If I walk, some other potential buyer is going to raise the exact same issues I have. At this point, I do have the option of walking from my purchase contract for technical reasons peculiar to the contract and, believe me, I am very tempted to do so. But not for any reasons related to the potential la Petite Maison Newton. Nope. I've already invested a mini-fortune in repairs (all needed), improvements (greatly desired and the place is looking great) and today I even managed to do some cleaning in the basement (Super Yech); not to mention a "moisture" test I hired an expert to run on Maison Newton, and spending $$$ hiring a home inspector for the potential la Petite Maison Newton. I want to sell this place, and I want to buy potential la Petitie Maison Newton. And so I'm contemplating spending upwards of $700 more to hire a structural engineer to give me an independent analysis of the basement problems at my potential purchase. I want to know, one way or the other, if I will need to undertake substantial basement reinforcement work somewhere down the line - and get a handle on how much it may cost. Given the amount of money and time already invested, I would like to go forward, pending the results of the structural engineer's report - once he or she is engaged. I spent Thursday and Friday making frantic calls in between serious bouts of work -- this is one of our busiest times of the year because people are aiming to get lots of things accomplished by December 31. This whole process is just a nightmare. I don't have the time or the energy to be dealing with all of this BULLSH*T, but I am attempting to do it anyway. The muck in the stew, however, is MY buyers. Goddess, how frigging stupid I was. When I was presented with their offer to buy my place, I asked some questions, and got dumb looks from both of my real estate agents. I knew something was up. I persisted in questions. Eventually - reluctantly - one of the agents presented me with a print out of a brokers-only Multiple Listing Service info sheet on the house my buyers are trying to sell. I was ASSURED THAT WITH THE PRICE DROP the sellers/my buyers were putting into place, their house would sell QUICKLY. Well, guess what - I accepted their offer to buy Maison Newton on December 6, and as far as I know, they still have not received an offer on their house on this, December 19. Like a row of dominoes, their offer to buy my house is contingent upon selling their house, and my offer to buy potential la Petite Maison Newton is contingent upon my selling this house. That is par for the course in the world of buying/selling homes, BUT - - what I had failed to notice on that MLS print-out until TODAY, when I took a closer look at it, is that my Buyers' home was, as of December 6, 2009, already on the market for 206 days and had failed to sell. Of course, this information was shown near the bottom of the page, where I didn't see it. Shame on me. Evidently they have been dropping the price all along the line and STILL the house is not selling. It seems obvious that something is grossly wrong - either with the house itself, or with its location. And so, at this point, it appears that I have been royally screwed. But it's my own fault. I should have paid more attention to that MLS print out. I shouldn't have accepted that damn offer to buy this house. Even should I wish to go forward with my purchase of potential la Petite Maison Newton, I can't do so unless my current residence sells and closes. And thus - I ran around like a maniac once again this morning cleaning this and that to get the place ready for another showing -- "sometime between 2 and 3PM." After I swore up and down ten times that I would NOT allow any further showings until after Superbowl. Methinks it is time to throw a big hissy-fit, even bigger than the one I threw over the telephone on Monday night with one of my real estate agents. I think she finally GOT it that I was "somewhat upset" with what has been going on. DUH! Bottom line: I don't trust my Buyers, I don't trust the Seller of the property I have offered to buy, I sure as hell don't trust my real estate agents, or any real estate agents at this point. I have spent a small fortune for tests and inspections with the prospect of spending even more $$$ and have absolutely nothing to show for it. Hmmm - logically, in this situation, perhaps it is time to end this particular game.