All Over But the Funeral

[rowyn]

Just one more thing ...

The septic tank inspection was scheduled for today. As of 10AM, the sellers still hadn't signed the amendment to the contract and sent it back to me. At 10:30AM, I called Amy to tell them I wanted it in hand by 1PM or I was canceling the septic inspection.

At 11AM, she called back to tell me that the sellers had been stalling because, they claimed, the exterminator wouldn't bill to closing. Amy called the exterminator he said, no, billing to the closing was fine, he just wouldn't do the work until 48 hours before closing. (Can't say I blame him.) No big deal; the closing was still on for 11/25, so he could do the job Friday and we'd be set. Sellers' agent promised to get us a signed contract by 1PM.

At 11:15AM, Amy called to say that she'd gotten the title work back. Lady Anne had it in one: the city is putting in sewer lines next year, meaning there's a $4,750.00 tax assessment hitting the property, spread out over the next 15 years. $315 a year.

I told Amy to ask the sellers about dropping the price. I cancelled the septic tank inspection; even if I am buying the property, the tank will probably last until the sewer arrives.

At 11:45AM, I emailed Amy with specifics: I want $4,000 off the purchase price or I'm walking, and I want to hear from them by the end of the day or there's no chance of closing this month.

I don't think the sellers will do it. Maybe they will; the house has been on the market 71 days and the sellers said they're pretty desperate. I can still close on 11/25 -- but you can be certain no one else can. We've moved heaven and earth for these folks to try to get everything done in time. My demands have been pretty modest to date. This one's not modest. But I'm tired of having my chain jerked. I'm jerking back.

And probably looking for a new house tomorrow.

...

I wish I hadn't liked this one so much.

Comments

[jordangreywolf.livejournal.com]

Well, good for you, I say. I just hope that if they DO concede, that this is enough for you to be happy with it. i.e., that if they do drop the price $4,000, you won't wish you had asked for $6,000 off, or whatever.

I definitely don't wish upon you the hassle of having to keep shopping, but all I hear about this house is trouble after trouble after trouble. I'd expect to hear you gushing about your lovely new house and all the cool things you can't wait to do with it!

I really hope you run across something splendid ... and affordable.

[rowyn]

I will be content if they knock $4k off the price. If there were no problems with it, I think it would be a steal at $80k. I can't get everything fixed for $4k, but that will cover enough of it to satisfy me.

I really hope you run across something splendid ... and affordable.

"Splendid and affordable" is rather too much to ask for on my budget. "Nice and affordable" would make me happy. One of the for-sale-by-owner properties -- one we never looked at -- called me again yesterday. I'll probably go have a look at it on Saturday. It doesn't have a basement, which makes me sade, but other than that it sounded nice. Fully remodeled -- owner said everything's new except the frame.

Maybe that one will work out. At the least, I won't have to do the I-call-my-agent-who-calls-their-agent-who-calls-them dance.

[jim-lane.livejournal.com]

The body's not buried until the last shovelful of dirt is tossed...and (as of the time I'm writing this) there's still several hours left before your DEADline---

If it was meant to be, then it'll happen; if not, then this final revelation was meant to sink it, and take that as a sign to move on to better things.

Life's full of twists and turns that, in the short run, seem tragic; yet in the fullness of time, you say, "DAMN!!!! I'm sure glad THAT didn't work out---!"

(heh!)

Good luck!

[level-head.livejournal.com]

"Give 'em hell, Harry", as my Lady Anne said to me just a couple of days ago.

You have taken the reins -- wherever things go from here, you are at least at the controls and in command of your own destiny. I suspect that this feels better already.

Best wishes! I am confident that things will come together now.

===|==============/ Level Head

[rowyn]

You have taken the reins -- wherever things go from here, you are at least at the controls and in command of your own destiny. I suspect that this feels better already.

Sort of, I guess. I don't feel good about going through this whole process again, or going through more houses, all the while thinking about the One That Got Away.

I am confident that things will come together now.

I wish I shared your confidence. Thank you, just the same.

*hugs*

[sandramort.livejournal.com]

I TOTALLY understand how miserably stressful this is... the dream house before this one fell through. Retrospectively, this one fits our needs better, but it's a UGLY and the other was SOOOO lovely. But it was all image -- this one is cosmetically a mess, but the other was structurally a mess, so we walked at the last minute when they refused to pay for the repairs.

Re: *hugs*

[rowyn]

Thanks, Sandy. *hug* This one was rather nice to look at. (Oh, you would *love* its kitchen -- all new cabinets, new fridge, new gas stove, pantry, good amoung of counter space -- no island, though.) But ... well ... I just don't feel good about the way everything was going. We'll see how it turns out in the end.

Maybe I will find somewhere I like better.

Re: *hugs*

[level-head.livejournal.com]

It is not over yet. I'd expect a counter offer, if I had any sense that these folks were paying attention.

If they do come back with a counter, you might have a "All right, but then you need to do " something lined up. Perhaps you can thus find a frustration for your outlets.

===|==============/ Level Head

[minor-architect.livejournal.com]

I know I'm preaching to the choir on this but anyone deserves to get the best deal for their money. Since there are several problems with this house, no one should blame you for wanting to knock some money off the top. Least of all the less-than-forthright sellers.

I realize there's a lot going for this house or else you wouldn't have liked it in the first place. Yet with termites and possible roof repairs and equipment replacements AND the tax assessment you've just learned about... It sounds like a neat location, but one that may suck great amounts of time and money out of you, too.

Understandable

[telnar.livejournal.com]

Nuisance items with significant costs keep rolling in. This one adds another $3,000ish ($3,078 is the present value of $317/year for 15 years at 6% interest with the first payment in 12 months). It is starting to sound like you would have over $90,000 in total costs, so I can easily understand your change of attitude.

May this work out for the best, whatever that is.

Re: Understandable

[rowyn]

The sewer assessment was the last straw, really. The truth is, taxes are low on this house already -- less than 1% of purchase price, when 1.25% is more common. And sewer lines will raise the value of the property. I would've said "OK, at least I don't have to get the septic tank checked out" -- were it not for all the other items, nuisance ones and major.

Major?

[telnar.livejournal.com]

I was surprised to hear you describe some of the other items as major. I didn't think of any of the problems that I've heard about to date as involving anything other than fairly predictable levels of money and hassle. So, in my semi-robotic way, I was thinking of this in terms of comparing the total cost of the house (including cash and hassle spent repairing it) to its value to you.

Anyway, I have confidence in you to have made and continue to make sensible decisions on this (besides, yes and no might both reasonable, in which case you can't go far wrong).

Re: Major?

[rowyn]

You know, I haven't gotten any 0% interest credit card offers in some time. Do you know any way to provoke those? 'Cause I could use one about now.

Presto ... Credit

[telnar.livejournal.com]

Short of the bank of Telnar issuing you one, I don't have any sure-fire solutions.

My experience has been that offers come in two main groups:

1) Random companies who are writing to me based on something they learned as part of an active marketing plan (e.g. my frequent flyer memberships, credit rating, or past purchases somewhere). You probably can't do much to stimulate these in the short run.

2) Attempts by my existing credit cards with $0ish balances to get me to run a balance. This can and do respond to action. At any given moment, half of my credit cards are willing to offer me some sort of promotional rate, and these days 1/3 to 1/2 of those are offering 0%. Not all of them necessarily do anything to tell me about these promotions. So, if I want 0%, and no good offers are falling in my lap my first step is normally to call my existing cards.

[lady-anne.livejournal.com]

You haven't asked - but - I'll voice an opinion anyway.

I'd split the difference with them, personally.

(1) You like the house and the location;
(2) You're not going to spend $300 - $400 on the septic tank.
(3) You like the house and the location;
(4) You're going to spend $xxx to inspect/fix/whatever the next house you consider.

I could go on and on - but - you're going to continue paying rent (I assume) until you find the place you're going to eventually move into - that'll probably eat into whatever else you "save".

Anyhow - It's your life - I'm just a noisy bystander.

Love and good thoughts - The Lady, Anne

[rowyn]

I do feel a certain amount of "I never liked that nose, anyway" -- that I'm mad at them for pushing at me to close ASAP while they waffle about refusing to do almost anything. And there's the issue that I don't trust these people; I strongly suspect they installed the ungrounded three-pronged outlets and knew they weren't grounded. And they told me they knew about the termites once I had the termite guy on the property -- even though they'd put "No termites on property" on the disclosure. I really feel like these folks knew full well the property has problems they didn't disclose, but are hoping for a buyer who won't bother to have the place checked out.

Maybe they'll get lucky with the next set. I am willing to split some of the difference with them, and if they do come back with a counter offer of, say, a $2k discount, I may cave and accept it. If they come back with $3500, I certainly will, if only because it'll be another $325 to inspect the next place. :)

But really, I expect them to say "no deal" and walk away. Which is OK by me.

The rent issue doesn't bother me much; every month I'm renting is a month I'm not paying interest on a loan. Between interest/utilities/maintenance/taxes/insurance, I don't expect to save much (if any) money by owning a house over what I spend renting. It's more a matter of convenience, and that my current building is falling apart and we gotta get out. But I'm sure it'll hold up another month. :)

Rent in the short and long term

[telnar.livejournal.com]

Speaking as another noisy bystander, I would say that while your monthly loss from continuing to rent isn't that large, it does add up. Perhaps you've even looked at the spreadsheet of doom where I tried to quantify the cumulative costs over 30 years. The numbers come to six figures worth of admittedly inflated dollars.

Of course, this is only an argument against canceling the project (assuming that you still believe that there's a decent chance you're staying put for a while) and has nothing to do with the BBH.

[koogrr.livejournal.com]

See what they say, they don't sound serious. When you have to run around and find out details for them, like the exterminator, they aren't really trying.

Good Luck.

[rowyn]

Your icon looks like I feel.