You Just Never Know Where the Truth Lies (with update below)

What a difference a day makes.

Three weeks ago, I said goodbye to my grandmother's house. It was emotionally charged, a bit disappointing even though it was our only option - none of us could have afforded to keep the house or even live in it. And frankly, none of us really wanted to. The house itself was it's own entity filled with memories that will last me a lifetime and beyond.

And then yesterday morning - that all changed.

When the house was sold we were told several times that the new family was in a hurry to get in there, start doing renovations and was hoping to be setting up their home in time for a grand Labor Day party. Good for them. A new family would bring new life into our home. In hindsight we should have known they weren't speaking the truth. The first indication was when my grandmother's next door neighbor called to tell me she met "one of the owners" and that it was three men. Odd, I told her that couldn't be because we were told it was a family, a hockey family from a neighboring town so taken by the fact when they looked at the house a second time they saw children playing street hockey in the street and that sold them. Boy was I wrong.

They lied. They lied about what their plan was, they lied about what they were doing. I have no problem with anyone buying the house - it was up for sale for someone else to call home, but why weave an intricate wave of lies when, at the end of the day, it simply wasn't their intention at all? I'll never know. It's not like we were only going to sell it to someone whose plans we approved of. We were happy it sold as quickly as it did. I'm stunned.

Basically yesterday morning I found out from the neighbors that all that work they were screeching through at the house over the course of the past two weeks was for one thing and one thing only - they were flipping. it. And last night, it was official. A "For Sale" sign went up on the lawn and I got an email in my inbox from the real estate website I watch informing me there was a new listing for a house on my grandmother's old street. It was her house. I'm stunned.

There were photos to go with the listing too, and while they didn't do a thing to the outside. They did rip up all the rugs, refinish the hardwood floors which had been hiding beneath them for decades and painted - and man it's beautiful.

Here's the question - there is an open house this afternoon. My folks can't make it -so therefore I'm going over there this afternoon to walk through the house. I have two reasons for doing this. The first is I want to see what they did in 14 days, the second is because it appears from the listing they may be subdividing the lot on which it stands and selling them both separately - which would make sense because the asking price on the house is only 30K more than what they paid for it a few weeks ago. C is concerned it's going to totally freak me out to walk back into a house that on the inside will be unrecognizable when the last time I was there I left in tears overwhelmed with the emotion it's no longer in the family. Either way I'm going. But don't worry, I'm bringing support. But am I doing the right thing?

Update:

So I went to the open house yesterday. Turns out they are actually selling the house and the side yard lot separately with plans to build a house on the lot that has, since the house has been in existence, been the yard. Or, as the realtor told me, I could purchase that lot for $300K because it's buildable. (We've always been told it was not) Which means the house literally won’t have any yard at all. It’s a real shame – I think between that and the shoddy, quick paint they slapped on a few walls really devalues and frankly destroyed a beautiful house that simply needs some fixing and new decorative touches. That’s all I have to say on the subject.