Original poost below
Whooo! Closed today! Sellers left a nice note, a bunch of fix-it parts for projects they never got too.
Aaaaahhhhh.
FINALLY.
The closing is Monday - all is in place. Insurance, financing, survey is done, inspections are done. It is a done deal.
Link to house info:
http://tinyurl.com/supersixhouse (No, that?s their agent, not mine)
What a journey.
I saw this house fro sale the first time in late June. After doing a drive by, I told my agent I wanted to see the inside stat. She called me back later that day ? there was a contract accepted on it that day. /facepalm
So ? I moved on. I had 3 offers out on short sales at this time ? I figured ONE of them would come through.
Fast forward to July 25, lo and behold, while searching my favorite real estate site (Ziprealty.com) I see it?s back on the market! I called the agent, set up a tour that night at 6:15. What a great walk through.. These people and their agent know how to sell a house. After looking at ~75 properties, the vast majority of them shit holes ? it was refreshing to walk into a house that was actually prepped for the best offer. TVs were on, playing digital music channels, a nice note from the owners was on the kitchen table, bottles of water if you wanted one and all lights were on. The pride of ownership really showed. I wanted this house. There were 2 viewings before we got there, and 1 other family was fidgeting outside waiting for use to finish.
OK folks ? if you want to sell a house, follow 2 simple rules:
1. CLEAN IT. The VAST majority of homes I looked at were simply dumps. Short sale or not ? clean it up.
2. Price it slightly below market value. You will get a ton of traffic, and offers.
After we left ? we looked at another house about 2 streets away ? yet another shithole.
My agent brought a blank contract with her ? I signed it in the shithole driveway for the first house. They were asking 150k, I offered 157k, and they pay 3% of my closing costs, they would net about 152k with that deal. There was too much traffic at that house, it was NOT A SHORT SALE, and was priced just under market. I was done traipsing around worrying about where I was going to buy. That, and I want my 8k Obama refund. Since I haven?t owned a home in the past 3 years ? I am considered a first time homeowner! w00t!
She faxed the offer Friday night at 8:00PM ? I was under contract Sunday by 11:30AM.
Fast forward to the inspection. I have a BRUTAL inspector, a family friend for many years. Remember the first house I got this far with? How basically every system (plumbing, electrical, foundation/etc) was faulty? This house COULDN?T be that bad? right?!?
All was well until he climbed up in the attic. 4 trusses were damaged ? 2 snapped. Yes SNAPPED. Seems the house settled quite a bit since being built. FML. I have gone to inspection on 2 houses, and both have had major truss damage. What are the odds?
I knew the roof was on its last legs, and expected to have to repair it in the next few years, I gave that a pass.
Remember I offered 157k, and they pay 3% of my closing? Well, based on the inspection, I asked for a 1k selling price reduction for all the small niggling issues, and 4k for truss repair. To properly repair those, you need a licensed engineer, and a GC. 4k was a decent estimate ? it wouldn?t have cost me any more than that.
Well, they wanted to see the inspection report. My first reaction was ?Fuck that, *I* paid for that, not you.? But ? these people seemed really cool, and I wanted to move the process along. That ? and since I provided a 3rd party inspection report ? if this deal fell through and they tried to sell it to anyone else ? by law they would have to disclose all the findings in my report on their seller?s disclosure. I scanned the report and sent it to them.
A few days went past ? I finally got a call from my agent. They had 2 engineers come out, and 2 GCs. While they were there, they noted that the roof may not pass an FHA inspection. The sellers changed their offer. They were now going to fix the trusses, and put a NEW ROOF on the house. All the wanted from me was to increase my offer to 160k, and limit their closing expenses to a flat 4k. This means that I am basically getting a new roof for 3k more asking (over 30 years, like $2.00/mo) and a gross reduction in closing paid by them of a whopping $800.00. I jumped at it.
All was good, they started all repairs after we agreed on terms.
Being the pessimist I am, I was STILL waiting for the other shoe to drop. All that was really left was the FHA appraisal. I was assured repeatedly by my agent and the mortgage broker that it would appraise for 160k just fine. The appraiser called me, told me how much it was and where to send the check, He too, said there shouldn?t be an issue with the house appraising at 160k.
Monday rolls around, he does his appraisal. We are expecting the results Wednesday morning. I get an email from my agent ? appraisal came in at 152k. WTF? With a NEW roof? So now ? after I was told to give notice at my current rental, G/Fs son starts school in the new district in 5 days from then, that the sellers or me are going to have to bend over. . hard.
I was expecting to have to come out of pocket an additional 8k. I could do it, but it would be tough. I reamed my agent and the broker. Basically ? you have to give clients REALISTIC EXPECTATIONS. Don?t promise the world, and you won?t have to give that up. I wanted to strangle somebody.
Both agents were frustrated and baffled by the appraisal ? given the comps he used to rate the value of my house, and my agent said she wanted to see about getting the appraisal adjusted.
I talked to the mortgage broker, he said it?s very rare for appraisers to adjust their work. He said that after they are done with the appraisal ? they enter the data in the FHA database ? and if they adjust ? they are basically admitting they made a mistake. That can affect the amount of work the appraiser gets if it?s an ongoing issue. Again. Strangulation seemed like a good outlet.
Then, my agent did something she hadn?t done previously (in my opinion), she went back to the appraiser, comps in hand, and got him to adjust the appraisal UP to 157k. Sweet!
Well, I told my agent to sit tight and see what they come up with. I assumed the sellers had made plans similar to mine, and very may well be in a lurch too.
The sellers eventually offered to drop the asking price to 157k, and reduce their closing cost commitment to 2k. I would have to cough up 2k more at closing, but overall, I am happy with the deal.
Fun fact: Edward Scissorhands was filmed 2 streets away.
That?s it, I?m tired of typing.
Whooo! Closed today! Sellers left a nice note, a bunch of fix-it parts for projects they never got too.
Aaaaahhhhh.
FINALLY.
The closing is Monday - all is in place. Insurance, financing, survey is done, inspections are done. It is a done deal.
Link to house info:
http://tinyurl.com/supersixhouse (No, that?s their agent, not mine)
What a journey.
I saw this house fro sale the first time in late June. After doing a drive by, I told my agent I wanted to see the inside stat. She called me back later that day ? there was a contract accepted on it that day. /facepalm
So ? I moved on. I had 3 offers out on short sales at this time ? I figured ONE of them would come through.
Fast forward to July 25, lo and behold, while searching my favorite real estate site (Ziprealty.com) I see it?s back on the market! I called the agent, set up a tour that night at 6:15. What a great walk through.. These people and their agent know how to sell a house. After looking at ~75 properties, the vast majority of them shit holes ? it was refreshing to walk into a house that was actually prepped for the best offer. TVs were on, playing digital music channels, a nice note from the owners was on the kitchen table, bottles of water if you wanted one and all lights were on. The pride of ownership really showed. I wanted this house. There were 2 viewings before we got there, and 1 other family was fidgeting outside waiting for use to finish.
OK folks ? if you want to sell a house, follow 2 simple rules:
1. CLEAN IT. The VAST majority of homes I looked at were simply dumps. Short sale or not ? clean it up.
2. Price it slightly below market value. You will get a ton of traffic, and offers.
After we left ? we looked at another house about 2 streets away ? yet another shithole.
My agent brought a blank contract with her ? I signed it in the shithole driveway for the first house. They were asking 150k, I offered 157k, and they pay 3% of my closing costs, they would net about 152k with that deal. There was too much traffic at that house, it was NOT A SHORT SALE, and was priced just under market. I was done traipsing around worrying about where I was going to buy. That, and I want my 8k Obama refund. Since I haven?t owned a home in the past 3 years ? I am considered a first time homeowner! w00t!
She faxed the offer Friday night at 8:00PM ? I was under contract Sunday by 11:30AM.
Fast forward to the inspection. I have a BRUTAL inspector, a family friend for many years. Remember the first house I got this far with? How basically every system (plumbing, electrical, foundation/etc) was faulty? This house COULDN?T be that bad? right?!?
All was well until he climbed up in the attic. 4 trusses were damaged ? 2 snapped. Yes SNAPPED. Seems the house settled quite a bit since being built. FML. I have gone to inspection on 2 houses, and both have had major truss damage. What are the odds?
I knew the roof was on its last legs, and expected to have to repair it in the next few years, I gave that a pass.
Remember I offered 157k, and they pay 3% of my closing? Well, based on the inspection, I asked for a 1k selling price reduction for all the small niggling issues, and 4k for truss repair. To properly repair those, you need a licensed engineer, and a GC. 4k was a decent estimate ? it wouldn?t have cost me any more than that.
Well, they wanted to see the inspection report. My first reaction was ?Fuck that, *I* paid for that, not you.? But ? these people seemed really cool, and I wanted to move the process along. That ? and since I provided a 3rd party inspection report ? if this deal fell through and they tried to sell it to anyone else ? by law they would have to disclose all the findings in my report on their seller?s disclosure. I scanned the report and sent it to them.
A few days went past ? I finally got a call from my agent. They had 2 engineers come out, and 2 GCs. While they were there, they noted that the roof may not pass an FHA inspection. The sellers changed their offer. They were now going to fix the trusses, and put a NEW ROOF on the house. All the wanted from me was to increase my offer to 160k, and limit their closing expenses to a flat 4k. This means that I am basically getting a new roof for 3k more asking (over 30 years, like $2.00/mo) and a gross reduction in closing paid by them of a whopping $800.00. I jumped at it.
All was good, they started all repairs after we agreed on terms.
Being the pessimist I am, I was STILL waiting for the other shoe to drop. All that was really left was the FHA appraisal. I was assured repeatedly by my agent and the mortgage broker that it would appraise for 160k just fine. The appraiser called me, told me how much it was and where to send the check, He too, said there shouldn?t be an issue with the house appraising at 160k.
Monday rolls around, he does his appraisal. We are expecting the results Wednesday morning. I get an email from my agent ? appraisal came in at 152k. WTF? With a NEW roof? So now ? after I was told to give notice at my current rental, G/Fs son starts school in the new district in 5 days from then, that the sellers or me are going to have to bend over. . hard.
I was expecting to have to come out of pocket an additional 8k. I could do it, but it would be tough. I reamed my agent and the broker. Basically ? you have to give clients REALISTIC EXPECTATIONS. Don?t promise the world, and you won?t have to give that up. I wanted to strangle somebody.
Both agents were frustrated and baffled by the appraisal ? given the comps he used to rate the value of my house, and my agent said she wanted to see about getting the appraisal adjusted.
I talked to the mortgage broker, he said it?s very rare for appraisers to adjust their work. He said that after they are done with the appraisal ? they enter the data in the FHA database ? and if they adjust ? they are basically admitting they made a mistake. That can affect the amount of work the appraiser gets if it?s an ongoing issue. Again. Strangulation seemed like a good outlet.
Then, my agent did something she hadn?t done previously (in my opinion), she went back to the appraiser, comps in hand, and got him to adjust the appraisal UP to 157k. Sweet!
Well, I told my agent to sit tight and see what they come up with. I assumed the sellers had made plans similar to mine, and very may well be in a lurch too.
The sellers eventually offered to drop the asking price to 157k, and reduce their closing cost commitment to 2k. I would have to cough up 2k more at closing, but overall, I am happy with the deal.
Fun fact: Edward Scissorhands was filmed 2 streets away.
That?s it, I?m tired of typing.
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