I posted this on another newsgroup and got the suggestion to try it
here.

Across the street is a house we've always liked. We live in an older
neighborhood and the present owners have fixed it up very nice.

We bought slightly before they did and our house has needed a lot of
work. We're getting near the end though.

Knowing that we liked their house, they've given us a heads up that
they're going to be selling soon. We wouldn't need agents, and the
price is right but it is still a bit of a stretch for us.

They'd need to have their house on the market by April 1st, and we'd
need a buyer for our house by that time in order to cut a deal with
them.

The problem is the amount of work we need to do to our place to get in
sellable condition and sold by April 1st. The market has gone soft so
we'd need be ready to sell by Feb 1st at the very latest. We'd need to
get a good price for our house to make it all work and preferably a
buyer without any contigencies.

The work is doable but means life would be hell. We have two young
kids. I work days, my wife works a 2 or three nights a week. I do have
have some time off available but basically my wife would become a
single mom for a lot of the time while I did the work. Neither of us is
sure we're up for that.

We've decided no already a couple of times but just can't quite let go.


We're in Minneapolis if that makes any difference.

Any pearls of wisdom?