Thursday, April 12, 2007
Escrow, Take Two
'Sigh'. After waiting for 2 weeks for the listing agent to address our "fix-it" addendum to the home inspection, we've decided to try another tactic. Mostly because we feel like we're getting nowhere with this and it sucks to be bogged down. We are issuing a new addendum stating that we will buy the house "as-is", with the current price standing at $118,500. This way the bank can get their money back, and there will still be enough for commission. Our only caveat is that the furnace MUST be replaced and the plumbing patched. We left it open to them how they accomplish this, not insisting on a certified plumber, only that it has to be correctly patched. Otherwise if something goes wrong with it after closing, the home warranty might be voided on a technicality. Everything else that needs fixing, including the knob & tube, will be tackled by us. We will have to decide whether to pursue a 203k mortgage or home equity loan to cover the difference in needed repairs. So hopefully they will comply this time, in a TIMELY manor, ha ha ha. My realtor dutifully tried to talk me out of this, I think she is afraid that when we move in to the house it will turn back into a pumpkin or something. Poor lady, I don't think she quite gets the idea that I WANT to live in an ongoing, money-eating project, sadist that I am. She would prefer that we just take our earnest money back and start house-hunting all over again. Which I would do if it would be better for us, but it just won't. For starters, the market has been dead since the middle of March, no promising listings in our size/price/age range at all. And the prices are starting to rise, which means that if it takes us another 2-4 months we will be priced out of our range. In the only city left in Utah that we can still afford to buy into! Sorry, but we won't be repeating the last few months' hit-and-miss tactics in the effort to avoid a lot of paperwork now. 'Cause if this keeps up we could end up stuck on the East Coast, renting indefinitely. There's only so many places that a military salary can buy you a house AND still be within reasonable distance of military work. Life is fun like that.
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2 comments:
You guys need to move to Dayton, Ohio! A fixer upper will cost you $50,000 or less! Of course you won't be able to find a military base unless it is Wrght Patt Airforce Base. Think what you could do with all that money you'd save!
If only it were that easy! Actually there are other options, we just don't like them much. Option A is move to Buffalo NY, which means high taxes, low investment returns. Other factors such as family nearby, sane natives, Canada, make this more attractive than Option B. Option B is stay here and buy a house in Richmond, which has plenty of pickings for old home renovators. It also has some of the worst crime, poverty and allergy stats on record for the U.S. Plus I'm less crazy about the VA public schools than the NY or UT ones, our oldest will be starting in the fall. We really want to go west, it's just we can't go much farther west than Ogden on what we make now. R still thinks he would like to try San Diego, and there's no way I'm going out there without at least one house under my belt!
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