Posts Tagged ‘Buying a Home’

No Comments

Stall Tactics


2010
03.17

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Buying a Home | No Comments »

Day 79 - 12 days to go!

 

Stalling. That’s what these people are doing. Before our last walk-through of “the-house-with-the-view” we had agreed to a purchase price and fully expected that to be, well… that. We resubmitted the paperwork for a purchase price of $435,000, after we got home… Done.

 

There agent actually had the gall to say to us, “Would you do… $442?” Laughable! Yeah, right! Do they want to sell this house or not? Do they actually think one more stroll around puke peach lane would actually make us just want to give these people more money? I truely think they pictured us just tossing bills into the air as we walked around the grounds. “Oh, my God, honey… This house is worth so much more, let’s give them another $7,000.” “NO WAY!,” was all we could say.

 

I feel like they submissively hung their heads mumbling to themselves… “OK, just checking…”

 

But it’s now two days later and still, No Signed Contract. What seems to be the deal? We inquired about the hold up today to find out they had to have their lawyer ‘take a look’. It’s a standard real estate contract… but, OK, whatever floats your boat.

 

Turns out the lawyer has ‘recommended’ that we pay for the heating oil that was recently delivered. All $434.00 dollars worth. Now isn’t that interesting? It just happens to be the almost exact the same number as the purchase price, minus a few zeros. Really? So, they paid their lawyer, I dont’ know… maybe, $500.00 to tell them we should give them $434 for the oil? Sounds, reasonable.

 

Sure, we will pay them for the damn oil, right after we have someone actually measure what’s in the tank… the day before closing, not a month out with them still running the heat. Stall — Stall — Stall. That’s what I’m thinking.

 

Still no contract. Curious… What other amateur magic tricks do you suppose — they feel they have up their sleeve? We, my friends, shall see.

No Comments

The Art of Negotiation


2010
03.15

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Buying a Home, Counter Offer, The Offer | No Comments »

Day 77 - Two weeks to go! Wow! That’s soon!

 

As you know we put an offer in on “the-house-with-the-view”…

 

Our overall objective in this battle of life’s financial snags was to start over in a new house on a economic scale that would allow us to actually save money and maybe be able to someday send our children to college. We feel this is important so they could grow up, get good jobs and when we are old, support their parents. During the house hunting process, our mission was not to find the most fabulous house no matter the cost… we did that last time, but simply to keep our mortgage payment under a certain amount each month. This, my friends in the state of Maryland, in the areas we want to live in, is not an easy thing to accomplish! But it was our goal, and damn it… we feel we deserve it and we were going to achieve it. My husband and I have been screwed over more times lately than most people we know. We think it’s because we are just too nice. Well, we are sick of being nice! We have decided to start being mean! We have pledged to say “NO” more often, fight a bit harder for what we feel is right, and take this world by storm! It’s time things took a turn for the better. Our plan now was to lowball a bunch of offers around town til we got what we wanted.

 

So, “the-house-with-the-view” was listed at, not using real numbers here, so lets just say for argument’s sake… $479,000, and it really needed a loving touch and bit of updating. First of all, the entire house was peach, with the exception of the exterior which was baby shit brown. It need a new kitchen, new bathrooms, and it has never seen an inch of hardwood in it’s life. But it has good bones, a great blank canvas I must say, and of course that view. We offered $419. The comps in the area went both ways. Some were more, some less, depending on the house. We were kind of expecting a counter of about $449, because these people were motivated. We were utterly shocked when the counter came back at $469. What kind of motivation is that? “Just make an offer,” was what their agent had said to ours… So what do we do now?.. This was not the plan I had concocted in my head. AARRGHH! Animosity mounting.

 

We thought about it long and hard and decided… Screw this whole real estate game! I’m not in the mood to play! Games went out of style in my 20’s. I’m now a down to business, just tell me what’s what, 40 year old. So let’s just tell them our final offer… so we did. We told them $430. This number would allow us to keep our mortgage under a certain amount and allow for some minor improvements. Roxie told their agent that was all we could do and it was our final offer. Take it, or leave it. We actually expected them to just say NO. I started scanning the internet for our next conquest. That night we received a phone call from Roxie. She said they had countered again, even though she was clear that it was our final offer. They countered at $450. What seriously! We were convinced it was over and done. There was no way we could keep our monthly bills down with a $450 purchase price. We were considering moving on!

 

We thought about it a while, made some drinks and tried to contemplate different ways to make this happen. I really wasn’t looking forward to spending time looking at more houses. Were they concerned with the property values of the neighborhood? Was that it? Maybe we should say $440 and have them pay closing costs, which would bring us back, in actuality to $430. Our creative juices were flowing.

 

As we were weighing our options, my brother came through the door. We sat down, talked about his new job, his wife, daughter and the daughter he was expecting. Talked a bit of politics regarding the guy my mother single handedly got elected to congress who was now resigning. Then finally, about our house hunting prospects. He joined us in our drunken state as we filled him in. He then told us about my brother-in-law who when buying his current house, which was a foreclosure, went through the same thing… and how he stood his ground with the bank. “I told you… This was all I could afford, quit playing games, accept it or just don’t call me back.” Wow! You know what! He’s right. Screw this! We told them our final was $430, well… our final it shall be! If they don’t take it, and I’m sure they won’t we’ll drag Roxie to another 20 houses, we are getting what we want no matter how long it takes! Stick’n to our Guns!

 

So, we told Roxie $430 was our final and we weren’t budging. Not 30 minutes later she emailed and said “Their agent wants to know if you’ll take $435.”

 

What!?! Really!!!! Whoo, hoo! That’s fantastic!. You see what no one knew, not even Roxie was that $435 was always our top number! Kept that one in the vault. I was flabbergasted! Are you serious? That really worked? You’ve got to be kidding me…

 

Well, we asked for one more day to think about it and take another walk around the house. This time with the in-laws and our contractor, to see if he can pull us out of the peach grove with the budgeted amount of cash. So, we just resubmitted the papers for an offer of $435. Which was what we wanted all along. :) We feel we are getting a great deal for the house and it’s property. And my friends… once I’m done with it, it’s going to be fabulous! Overall, a great investment. High fivin’ myself right now! Slight right turn towards Deservingville up ahead!

 

As we were taking our final pre-purchase tour of the house, my husband filled Roxie in on our little secret of what our final price actually was. Damn him! Can’t keep a secret! Did we loose a little trust in our friend Roxie? Hope not… Hope she just thought us clever, and liked us just a little bit more! Especially because she won’t have to loose her shoes in the snow anymore at mold ridden homes. Now let’s just hope these people sign on the dotted line and not rethink things… That would suck.

 

And I have to say thanks to my brother for sharing, and my brother in-law for sticking to his paintball guns! :)

No Comments

Less Stress


2010
03.10

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Buying a Home, Foreclosure, Mold | No Comments »

Day 72 - 19 to go.

 

So we did another whirlwind day of house hunting. Seven homes all in under 4 hrs. It all started with a trip into the boonies to take a gander at a foreclosure in Glen Arm. We had to park on the side of the road, because, even though it was 60 degrees and sunny, the driveway hadn’t been plowed and there was still much to melt. Climbing the driveway tundra was a challenge. Especially since Roxie was wearing clogs. We took a peak inside the window and could not believe what we saw. “Oh, no. We can’t go in there” Roxie exclaimed. “That’s just not sanitary.” The place was caked in mold! It was visible on every surface you could see through that window. Oh, disgusting! So we turned to leave. As we were falling on our asses down the snowy driveway, Roxie through a jab in my direction…”That one was your wifes idea, not mine.” She directed at my husband with a giggle in her voice. Yes, that one was mine. I take full ownership. I’m now done with foreclosures!

 

We saw a couple of great places too, one that was a zen-like tree house, and one that was over 4,000 sq. ft. They were both on the high end of our scale and I think we have decided to keep things on the down low. Saving money in the long run with a smaller mortgage will result in… let’s face it, less stress. And my friends, isn’t that what we all really need in life… LESS STRESS. I think I might be able to slow the population of gray hairs, improve my complection and maybe even loose a few pounds… all with less stress. I could actually RELAX with a martini in the evening instead of escaping my reality with a martini in the evening. Less stress could make for a happier marriage, happier family, all-in-all… a happier life.

 

With that said, we have turned our attention to the house with “the view that saved it”. That we saw earlier, see Here We Go Again. It’s a perfect size, optimal for great sunrises, it has garage and basement storage, a fireplace and the future makings of a possible mudroom. It needs my creative touch and a little… ok A LOT of love (as my mortgage broker put it… “It’s just peachy”.) Yes, lots of painting and ripping out of apricot colored wallpaper and carpet awaits. But, I think we could make it a wonderful place for my kids to grow up. The neighborhood is quiet with a lot of not-so-busy-streets to ride bikes on. That is a drastic change from the high speed road where we currently live. There is a nice yard for a vegetable garden and a place for the play set. Sorry kids… no pool, but the in-laws are 15 min up the road and they have one!

 

So, at the end of our second flurry of homes, we took a second look at the house with the view. I have been asked if a second showing means an offer is on its way. Well, I have to say, in this case… Yes. Roxie is on her way over tonight to finalize the details on our offer. Initially, we were thinking we would try to close on the 31st, this being the 10th. That way, moving would be more actual moving and less storing, but logistically… it’s not going to happen. It’s too much to accomplish in such a short amount of time… Didn’t I just determine my life would be better with less stress? So, less stress it is! Of course, now we have to see if they accept our offer. Oh no, not out of the stress woods yet… but I’m getting closer.

1 Comment

Dazed and Confused


2010
03.04

Tags: , ,
Posted in Buying a Home, Counter Offer, Foreclosure | 1 Comment »

Day 66 - 25 to go.

 

Well, it looks like the mean ol’ bank has rejected our offer on the foreclosure house. Well, we think they did… Unofficially. Roxie spoke to the banks agent to find out where our offer stood. All he said back was that the bank has authorized him to lower the listing price to $7,000 over their previous counter offer to us. What?!? So basically we’re out. I don’t know about you, but I find that just plain rude. Whatever happened to common courtesies? Couldn’t they officially decline our offer instead of just throwing us into foreclosure purgatory? I mean, pick up the damn phone and communicate, people! Poor manners! Your mothers would not be proud! So, we remain in limbo, we may submit another offer to them, we may not. Don’t know, kind of pissed at the whole situation. It’s horribly poor form.

 

Yesterday we did the whirlwind of house tours. We were originally scheduled with Roxie to see 7 of them, but when we met her, she smartly reduced it to six, all in 2 1/2 hrs. Today, I’m suffering house shopping hangover. I can’t remember much, bit of a blur really. And it’s all topped off with one big headache! There were split levels, ranches and traditional homes all with doors… all with walls. Some with fireplaces and some without. Some had garages, some did not. Some had basements, some had the master bedroom in the basement. (Yeah right, let’s snuggle up in there!) There were dogs with tennis balls, parakeets, fish, renegade squirrels and one mean, angry cat. I remember being warm and I remember freezing. I barely recall the one that was my favorite of the day. I believe that it was too far out, or on the wrong side of town or… road… or… something, I can’t be sure. I also vaguely remember the one my husband liked, but something was amiss. No backyard or perhaps the front yard was an exposed urban wastland with apparitions of crosswalk guards yelling at school children… I don’t know. Anyway, none were all that noteworthy and I wouldn’t really be happy waking up in any of them… at least I don’t think so.

 

People, I’m beginning to feel a bit defeated. I’m told by many that spring will bring new arrivals to the housing market. Really? Spring??… When is that? A few more weeks? Months? We have to be out of here in 20 some odd days. My future seems bleak. I’m about to be 40 and homeless.

 

Time to face facts… Call the In-Laws… We’re movin in!

No Comments

Here We Go Again


2010
03.02

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Buying a Home | No Comments »

Day 64 - 27 to go. Mold dude just left with his new air samples and the snow is also almost off the roof, exterior inspection coming soon.

 

Yesterday, Roxie, our realtor, picked us up to go and take a look at a few more houses sans kids. Thank God. No bickering under the age of 40… Love you honey! :)

 

The first house was nice. Not very big, but just right with a nice fireplace and a great den. Outstanding views! A contemporary which was built in 1978 and boy, it looked it. I don’t think anything was ever updated in that place. First of all the exterior, blah yuck! 2 different shades of 70’s brown, I don’t think I could live there til that was painted. The bedrooms were a tad on the small side with barely a closet. The basement had a built-in bar complete with a padded patten leather arm rest around the entire top of it. This place would need a lot of work, a lot of paint and days of scraping off “ooo ugly” wall paper. It did have a skylight in one of the bathrooms which was pretty cool. Plus it had a garage and storage in the basement. All and all, the view saved it and pushed it on to the next level. Not too shabby.

 

The next house I found on-line, but it didn’t have any photos associated with it. Priced to sell on a sought after street. But what would await us there? Hmmm. As we pulled in I immediately knew it wasn’t for us. Tiny… Teeny tiny. We went in anyway. We couldn’t just leave, the owner was pacing, waiting for us outside. The entire house had just been redone. Very nice. Floors were gorgeous! Three bedrooms, one bath and I still don’t know how they fit those things into that box of a home. It will make a very nice place for someone who is perpetually single. On we go…

 

The third house of the day was another foreclosure home as sold “As Is”. I’ve been eyeing it online for a while. It’s in a prime location surrounded by million dollar homes, the photo of the exterior on-line was very nice. Cheap and cute. What the hell could be wrong with it? Why is it still there? As we pulled up I got very excited. I loved the street, the setting, the house from the road was beautiful and seemed big. Then… we got closer. The outside, even though it was brick, looked very shabby and in need of much love. It took us a while to unlock the front door. It seemed to be stuck and I was getting cold standing outside. Once we forced our way in, we were greeted with an abandoned and very cold home and… a living room full of boxes. We soon realized they were kitchen cabinets. Were they meant for this home or was someone just storing them there? As we walked into the dining room we saw something unexpected. A HUGE addition that was mid rough-in construction condition. This thing must have been 1,000 sq. ft. on it’s own with vaulted ceilings. Just framing however, nothing more. It was left totally in a state of disregard. It was sad, and… it was leaking.

 

The kitchen, circa 1950 baby blue was completely trashed. Things were torn out and strewn all over the room. Paint was peeling off the ceiling, trash was on the floor. Oh my, major renovation needed. The thing about this house was that it just kept going. Wow it was BIG. We walked down a level to 3 bedrooms, a den which overlooked a pool and 2 baths. Then down another level to a basement with 3-4 rooms. Upstairs there were another 3 bedrooms and 2 full baths. Or, one full bath and one… well, just let me say this… I thought I had a mold problem. Honey, I’ve got one mushroom compared to this place. This bathroom was a Mold Hot House! Just swarming, swarming with black mold. It was on everything. The walls, ceiling, floor, tub, sink. Oh, I felt dirty just looking at it. I needed a shower, but just thinking of taking a shower while looking at that bathroom made me cringe! Oh, if this place was in better shape I’d scoop it up! This house with the in-process addition must have been over 4,000 sq. ft. The kids wouldn’t have to argue over bedrooms, they could each have 3. But even if someone gave us that place for a dollar, I don’t think we could ever afford to bring it up to livable and healthy conditions. Oh, and the pool area was so incredibly lovely. Sad, so sad…

 

The fourth house of the day was just down the street from the contemporary Open House we loved on Sunday, only this one had a garage (storage!) and a pool (BONUS!). We took a look inside. Oooo… funky. Funky in a good way and funky in a weird, yeah I’ll have to replace that, way too. It was on a hill which meant walking up a flight of stairs to get to the front door. I didn’t mind this though, the view from the front porch was pretty cool. The kitchen was outdated and small, but doable. The rest of that floor was in good shape with the exception of the main bathroom. There was a mirror on every square inch of that bathroom including the ceiling. These owners must be beautiful people with a vanity problem. I think we’d have to leave it just for a conversation piece. The basement was a whole other experience. I felt like I entered the choice swingers pad. Mirrors everywhere, hidden doors that lead to wet bars, wine racks, shelves, closets, the garage, and other strange shaped rooms. Totally bizarre. The basement was also where we located the mirror surrounded fireplace. Why they don’t put fireplaces on the main level of the home is beyond me. Anyway, we liked it. It was funky, weird, and totally us. Needed a lot of work and we’d be compromising a bit on space and yard. The backyard was just a pool and patio, no actual grass, with a screened-in porch off the kitchen. The only downfall is that it’s in the city and Baltimore knows how to tax. The taxes, oh the taxes. I could buy a car with the taxes on that place. Well, we’ll keep that one in the back of our minds.

 

I don’t know folks, It’s looking grim. Kinda running out of time here. Nothing feels comfortable, nothing feels right, like our foreclosure home does. I wish we’d hear back from the bank on our counter offer soon. But, in the meantime we will soldier on, that’s what we do. We are circling again with Roxie on Wednesday to tackle the other end of town. She has 7 houses lined up and 3 hours to view them in. It will be a sprint! Better wear my running shoes. Stay tuned.

No Comments

Kids… Let’s Go See Some Open Houses


2010
03.01

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in Buying a Home, Open House | No Comments »

Day 63 - 28 to go. We are having the mold retested on tuesday and have postponed the remediation til the 8th. The inspector (using term loosely here) didn’t do a baseline comparison of the exterior and we have found out that this is definitely something you do when testing for mold. Geez! How hard is it to do a job right the first time these days?

 

Well, we still haven’t heard regarding our counter offer on the foreclosure house that we submitted nine days ago. In the spirit of keeping our housing options open, we went ‘Open Housing’… with the kids.

 

The first house we didn’t even go in. My husband and I just didn’t vibe with the neighborhood. Way to suburban for us. I felt like I was on the set of Edward Scissorhands, so we drove onto the next locale. My kids didn’t even notice, they were both thumbing away on their machines.

 

The second house was cute, in a nice ‘normal’ neighborhood but it was a bit small. The kids started arguing over which bedroom was going to be theirs even after we told them we weren’t even going to buy this house. My daughter gave up and decided she would room in the basement using the pool table for her bed. She was quite excited about this.

 

The third house was in the Homeland section of Baltimore City. Big house on a busy road. 4 bedrooms, large basement detached garage, and a kitchen that needed updating. My son looked at me with a big smile on his face and nodded… “I like this one.” Again the two of them started fighting over claiming rights to bedrooms. My daughter even stood in the one that was “hers” with her arms crossed and a mean pouty look on her face that said… “I’m not moving from this spot… Go get my things, I’m moving in!” It was nice, but didn’t feel right.

 

The fourth house was in the Mt. Washington neighborhood. A contemporary that was very nicely and recently redone. We really liked it. Nice sized kitchen, large floor to ceiling windows, beautiful bathrooms, and… one of my favorite things, a sun porch. The only problem was where would we put all our junk? There was no garage and no basement. We did walk around it a few times soaking it all in, trying to picture living there, but we couldn’t get past the storage issue. Yeah, where would I put my collection of “I can’t remember what’s in that box, but I know I need it” things. As we were leaving I realized I only had one child. Where was my daughter? I couldn’t find her. She had closed herself in a closet, again pouting over the bedroom choices. This time she wanted the master because it had it’s own bathroom.

 

Today Roxie, our real estate agent, is taking us around to a few more places… this time without the kids.

 

BTW – A birthday “shout out” to my Mom and my niece. Have a Happy Birthday!

1 Comment

Quiet Neighbors


2010
02.04

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in Buying a Home, Foreclosure | 1 Comment »

Day 38 – or maybe I should say 53 to go.

 

We toured 4 more houses today. The first one, a short sale in the Mt. Washington area of Baltimore. It was very cute, nice sized rooms, kind of meandering and it had… drumroll please… A Mudroom. Total “country charm in the city”… lots of character! I dig character. The porches out the front and back doors were wonderful. I could see sitting there having coffee in the mornings. But, seriously, when have I ever sauntered outside in the morning with coffee? My mornings are way to busy to sit with coffee, it’s more of a jog with coffee. Anyway, the downside of this house was the small yard, no garage and it’s just a tad too close to the edge of the not so nice side of Baltimore. I decided to keep this one on my “back-up” list.

 

The second house was smack dab in the city. A nice part of the city, but city non-the-less. But it was HUGE! I couldn’t believe the size of the place. But, that’s about the extent of it’s allure. The house was out-of-style and needed updating to no end. Plus, it had a slate roof that has seen better days. We would need to replace that. I don’t think it had central air and I’m not going back to window units. Also, the back door, again was up a flight of stairs, kinda hard for my cute little pooch. It did have the slightest bit of potential… but a bit my friends, just doesn’t cut it.

 

The third house was touted as a 6 bedroom in Towson, Maryland. Six bedroom, WOW! What would we do with all that space? From the photo it looked like a split-level (we know how I feel about those.) You see, I grew up in a split-level. I like my childhood home. I enjoy going back there, I have wonderful childhood memories of that house… I just… don’t want to grow old in one. Been there, done that if you know what I mean!

 

So, we arrived at the 6 bedroom house. And parked in it’s parking lot. Yes, that’s right. It’s Parking Lot! It was located directly behind a plaza and the driveway was a part of it’s lot. This house was awful! Hated it before I even walked in. Oh, can I say it again… Awful! I think it used to be a day care center or some kind of doctors office I wouldn’t send my worst enemy to. There was a yellow sticker on one of the “bedroom” doors that said: “Do not enter without knocking first.” I can’t imagine what used to go on in that room. No, no, no. Let’s go!

 

The fourth house was also in Towson, another split-level, and a foreclosure. Better location than the last, but I think it had been abused in it’s past life as a frat house. Oh, if those walls could talk. There were remnants of a hot tub on the back porch which smelled of old pool. This place had abandoned IKEA furnishings, carpets that I think were at one time tan, the walls I believe were white, and the bathrooms, well, I couldn’t tell what color they used to be. And way to many water stains to actually believe the house would stand another 5 years without crumbling onto itself. AARRGGHH!

 

At least the first home was kinda cool. Short Sale… Hmmm. Even hearing back from a bank on an offer on a short sale can take a month. And if you’re not really sure if it’s the house for you, do you really want to waist the time? Especially, when we need to be out of this one in 53 days.

 

So, Roxie took us back to our foreclosure home. The one we love! To see into the basement. Our contractor was meeting us there to assess it. As we were waiting for him to arrive we walked through it again, checked out the garage and scanned the grounds. There’s this oh-so-cute-and-spooky cemetery right next door. Old, abandoned cemetery with the vestige of a church’s foundation. There are maybe 30 or so gravestones and we wandered through them to get a better look. The majority of dated back to the 1800’s. From what I gathered mostly family plots. Very cool, very cool. I can just see them illuminated for my annual Halloween Party. I loved it! Now that’s character. Yep… about 30 of them.

 

I really like the foreclosure house. I can tell my husband likes it too. We bring it up to each other all the time. It’s the one, we both know it. I guess we just want to see exactly how sound it is and exactly how much bread it’s going to take to make it fabulous. You see, looking to buy a house isn’t just buying a house, it’s buying a home. One my kids will be raised in and hopefully one some day they will bring their families home to. And even though it’s not much now, we sort of feel at home at that foreclosure… and we like the quiet neighbors!

No Comments

Searching for a New Home – Part Two


2010
02.03

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Day 37 – Looking high, looking low

 

Roxie took us house hunting again today. We saw a total of 5 houses… All a big NO!

 

The first one, based on the on-line photos, was up there on my list. The location was nice. Convenient to almost everything. The house… was a dump. In my mind it qualify as a tear down. Oh it would need A LOT of work. The owner… was home. He let us in then proceeded to his bedroom where he reclined on his unmade bed with his dog and lifesized, stuffed black panther while watching an old episode of Star Trek. It was very uncomfortable checking out the master bedroom with him lounging there. I didn’t really get a good look at him or the bedroom I think my eyes were on automatic shielding. This place needed more work than I or anyone should be willing to deal with. We left, politely not saying a word til we were in the car.

 

The second house was out in the boonies. I like the boonies, and the boonies in Maryland are… beautiful. I would love to live out there if the house was just right. This home was completely redone, and redone nicely. Outdoor deck and all. I just didn’t think I could fit my family of four in there… small. Again, on-line photos, very deceiving.

 

The third house was centrally located and had a pool. I was hopeful. As we pulled into the driveway I immediately noticed that we could never fit two cars in there, let alone Roxie’s SUV. Which I felt was hanging out into the street. The entire lot (house, pool, yard and all) would currently fit into my kitchen. Nope, movin’ on.

 

The fourth house we had been eyeing for a while. It’s in a great area. Nice piece of land. But, now I know why it’s still on the market. Old, downtrodden, down on its luck. Exhausted and dishearten we soldiered on.

 

The fifth home I have been looking forward to viewing. It’s victorian, in a historic neighborhood, has a pool and close to everything. It was totally cute! I felt like I was in this charming little town (Alfred, NY) close to where I grew up. I was swimming in nostalgia. Adorable! If I only lived alone. It… was smaller than all the rest.

 

When we got home I began slipping into a depression. None of those houses we saw today would work for us. There isn’t much more out there in our price range. Sure, there are a couple in Baltimore City that are on my list. But we really don’t want to move back into the city. This sucks! In two days I went from excited and having fun, to adjusting to our approaching grim fate. On the bright side is still the foreclosure house. It’s looking better all the time.

 

Well, we are hitting the pavement again tomorow. Buying a home in Baltimore is becoming a challenge. Maybe Roxie will find us something that can turn my frown upside down.

No Comments

What is a Short Sale Anyway?


2010
01.23

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in Buying a Home | No Comments »

Day 27 – I woke up to a car just sitting in my driveway. A woman and child, checking out the house. They were there for like 10 minutes. My dog was not happy! Showing tomorrow, these are the people who are coming for a second look! They are now coming at 5:30 pm, not 6:00. hmmm.

 

As I browse for a new home. I have come across a lot of “short sale” listings. What is this exactly? Does this mean I can move in next week? Does it mean the listing will only be available for a “short” time? Does the home only have 6 foot ceilings? I did a little research. Yes, went Google crazy, and just for you I’ll put it into language we can all understand.

 

A short sale is a sale of a house in which the sale proceeds fall “short” of the balance owed on the property’s loan. Ah ha, “short” get it! Yes, that’s it in a nut shell. It tends to happen when the homeowner cannot pay the mortgage loan on their property. The logic here being, the lender agrees that selling the property at a loss is the best situation for all parties involved. It allows the owner and the bank to avoid foreclosure, which can have some hefty fees for the bank (oh, I’m so sorry Mr. Money Bags) and bad credit for the homeowner. A Short Sale will lower the homeowners credit rating 75-100 points and of course will remain on your credit report for 7 years. From what I understand it is not as bad as what a foreclosure looks like on your credit score. Here we are talking 200-300 points. Either way, it’s a long journey back.

 

In a short sale, the bank or mortgage lender agrees to discount what you owe due to economic or financial hardship on the part of the borrower. I don’t know if I want to address this statement or not. In my opinion they should never have given borrowers more than they could afford anyway! I mean, it was like the banks had no criteria at all when handing out mortgages a few years ago. It was a sign and drive into your new driveway event. Just what were they thinking? Do they know how many lives they have screwed up? Yes, not a fan of the banks these days.

 

So a “short sale” is like cauterizing the wound before it bleeds out, but there will always remain a scar.

 

It’s also not that easy to sell on a short sale… Lenders often have loss mitigation departments that evaluate potential short sale transactions. The majority have pre-determined criteria (oh, there it is) for such transactions, but they may be open to offers (sounds like everyone has their price), and their willingness varies (am I having a good day or a bad day?). A bank will typically determine the amount of equity (or lack thereof), by determining the probable selling price from an appraisal (and isn’t just about everything appraising lower these days?).

 

There are still crooks out there, so be wary… Some lenders have been accused of engaging in fraud during the short sale process. The fraud involves lenders of second mortgages or home equity loans demanding kick-backs in the form of cash payments from the home buyer or real estate agent, and not disclosing them anywhere on closing documents. Tisk tisk tisk. This is in violation of RESPA (Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act), which require disclosure of such payments. Bad lenders! Bad!

 

Buyers, like me, may choose to pursue short sales to get a good deal. So when you see a price listed for a home that you think is too-good-to-be-true, before you jump on it like white on rice, ask your agent to call the listing agent to find out if the home is a short sale. Because you might want to think twice. It’s not as simple as it sounds, and very few can close in 30 days or less. Oh, yes, “short” is the new “long.” Many home buyers have waited 4 to 6 months to close on a short sale, sometimes longer… Ouch!