Saturday, March 31, 2007
Nobody Likes Surprises
Especially when you're trying to buy a house. Like the surprise I got yesterday when our realtor called to tell us that our seller had neglected to mention that he was delinquent on his mortgage. In fact he hasn't made ANY payments, which makes me wonder how he got approved in the first place and what he's doing with his money. He's in default, which means this will probably turn into a short sale, which in turn means that the lender will have to approve any offer and this property will probably be sold "as is". Not good, and definitely not something I want to hear with an already signed contract sitting in front of me. The seller obviously had no intention of fixing anything or being upfront about his financial situation, was probably going to commit mortgage fraud. And it won't do me any good to sue for specific performance if the lender is involved, so that option is out. It just makes me really mad that we've gone through all this just to get pushed back to square one. I still really want the house, but if we have to take on additional financing to fix it up that will really put a lot of pressure on us. I guess first we have to find out the minimum that lender will accept as payoff, then add the repairs on top and try for a 203k loan. Urggghh! It's this type of person that I could cheerfully take out with no remorse. A pox on you, home seller!
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4 comments:
Oh boy. I'm hoping you can negotiate for a lower purchase price if you still want to go through with the deal. Sounds like you're in for a long ride if you buy this house. It is cute, though. Good luck.
rr
thanks, rr. i suspect this house is just waiting to teach us the meaning of "sweat equity"! i don't mind the hard work, just the ridiculous situation the owners have put us in. our only chance at this point is to convince their lender of how little the house is currently worth in relation to the amount owed. then maybe we can bargain enough to get the needed utility work done.
Get more inspections, and see if your inspector is willing to give estimates or refer you to contractors who will give estimates for repair costs.
You'll want that in writing before you go to the lender.
thanks for the advice, marg. hopefully cold, hard facts will sway them to reduce the price. we're also thinking the VA appraisal will be an eye-opener for them.
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