Fire!

We were thinking we would do our home inspection this Saturday. Yesterday, however, something happened to change our plans. I had sent an e-mail to the other agency in the middle of the week mentioning the gas and roof problems. No one called me; no one responded to my e-mail. Our friend/landlord/prospective neighbor called yesterday to tell us someone was working on the roof. Ben stopped by on his way home from lunch to check things out. When he arrived, lo, and behold, fire trucks were there! The silly people who were working on the roof used ice melt to get the snow off so they could fix it. This caused a torrent down the wall behind the electrical panel and zap! a fire!

Luckily, the damage isn't too severe. The stairwell wall around the panel is burned, and the firefighters had to put a hole in the kitchen ceiling to get access to the attic to fight the blaze. It does smell like smoke in there now, though, and the roof still isn't fixed.

The big question, of course, is whether or not we will still buy the house. We don't know yet. We sent a long and detailed e-mail to the other agency yesterday, and we are anxiously awaiting the response. Then we should have enough information about timing and exactly what they will fix to know whether to buy it or walk away.

The worst case scenario is that we just give it up for lost and stay where we are. That wouldn't be too nice to the people who were planning on moving here in March, but they haven't given notice in their current rental. (They're our friends, too.) The best case scenario, of course, is if they have to do new carpet and paint for us to get rid of the smell! I'm not holding my breath though; this is the government.