Final News about the Koi Pond House

You may remember that my first bid was on the house I nicknamed "the Koi Pond House." The asking price was $417,000 and I bid $410,000. The counter offer came back with $415,000 and a series of conditions. I agree to all the conditions but stuck to my $410,000 offer. I was led to believe that I had the high offer and that my chances of getting the house were good. The next day, I learned the sellers had gone with the other bid.

So all this time I've been wondering if I was outbid. Turns out I wasn't (at least not based on the official sales price). The Koi Pond has now closed and the final sales price was $407,000 ($3000 less than I bid). I'm still not sure why my bid was rejected.

I suppose I should just let it go. The house I'm buying is larger (about 50 sq feet or so). It doesn't have a koi pond in the back yard. It has central air and heat and a larger kitchen. While it will cost me money to pull up the tile floors in the house I'm buying it will still cost less than taking out the floor heater and replacing it with a central system would have cost. Still, there's something irrational at work here.