So, it's done, and in the buyer's hands.

[johnpalmer]

Wednesday, I was furious at the bank. The kept pestering me about the loan and about the work I was doing; they wanted the engineer's reports, and the home inspection and *everything*.

Thursday, they laid down the law. No loan, without the money for the repairs being in escrow, prior to closing. I was about $18,000 short, and buying the house has me tapped out. With a loan from my 401(k), I could come up with maybe half... and they were willing to work with me a bit. They're waiving the standard "repairs costs, + 50%" in escrow, but they require at least the total bid figure being there.

There were two choices. Give up, or...

Well.

You know, there's only one thing worse than stringing a seller along, and then, at the last minute, admitting you can't pay for all the repairs, and saying "but if you give me $9,000, I'll do it."

What could possibly be worse than that? Well, how about stringing a seller along and then, at the last minute, backing out of the deal because you're too embarrassed or ashamed to ask for an extra $9,000? They can always say no, but if they think it's in their best interests, they can also say 'yes'.

And hang it all, back when I did our inspection, I knew the repairs would be expensive, so I bumped up their asking price by ten grand. In the end, we screwed up the inspections, and didn't ask for enough money, and I felt stupid, like I'd cheated myself (I had, essentially), but okay, no use whining about it. The house was worth the repairs.

But then the bank said 'no' - they didn't trust my financial ability to get the repairs, not with $18,000 uncovered.

They needed more - a consolidated bid, and an engineer to sign off on it. I had both - and I got them to the bank. Over the weekend, we got the report from the engineer, and the remaining bid. And today, just a short time ago, my agent sent the offer to the seller.

So, where do we stand?

If the seller takes my offer, the net is actually $1,000 *more* than the asking price, less repairs. It's still a good offer, I think - fair for both of us.

But, I can fully sympathize if the seller refuses. What can we do, but but wish them well and hope they find a better buyer?

Comments

[ftemery.livejournal.com]

Would you care for a valium?

[pagawne.livejournal.com]

Prayer to St. Jude, and I suggest Tension Tamer tea for you at this point. I really hope you get the house.

[dubhain.livejournal.com]

Ugh. Here's hoping. Keeping various anatomical parts crossed for you.

[johnpalmer.livejournal.com]

I do too. After an exchange with the seller's agent that included her suggesting I could lose my earnest[1], I've asked my agent to (assuming this is legal and proper) invite the seller and agent to dinner. They can come, eat food and drink wine at my expense, and tell me no, and I'm cool with that.

But I'm awfully eager to see the seller gets the straight tell about my offer. And I suspect the seller's agent might be a bit nervous about that.

Gotta be a scary life when you have to be afraid of a long-haired weirdo with no sales experience laying out the truth for your client :-).


[1] *zero* risk of that happening

[johnpalmer.livejournal.com]

I chose to stay at work until 11 instead. I'm shy on sleep today, but I reckon we'll have an answer soon.

[johnpalmer.livejournal.com]

Thanks... I think we have a really good shot. And, the longer it takes, the better our chances (I think).

[kightp.livejournal.com]

Man, I'm beginning to get a visceral understanding of the term "tenterhooks."

[anansi133.livejournal.com]

The factor that never makes it onto paper, never finds a dollar figure, is how important people's egos are to them.

If folks are big enough in themselves to take the hits and keep going, they can figure out fair market value.

Seems like you've done your work, nothing to do except wait and see if they can do theirs.