Sigh. I lowered the price on our house in WI to more than $10K below what we paid for it... not to mention that we put at least $25K into it. All the other houses in the same price range are dilapidated and on postage stamp lots. However, God is good, because though we certainly won't come out ahead, DH's company offered to make up the difference so we can at least break even and just get out of the house so we can settle here. Meanwhile, the 40 acres we'd fallen in love with sold last week, so it must not have been the place for us after all.
:-\
I bought a couple of rental houses in 2005 for 85K each. In a recent voyage into Realtor dot com I saw a couple of homes pretty similar homes in the same neighborhood listed for about 50K. SUCKS. These properties I have were my version of the 401K. I feel the pain.
Ain't it depressing? Well, I looked in our area in WI, and our house is the best looking thing in that price range now, and it has lake rights and a swim beach a block from the front door. The other houses in the same price range are far smaller, and not in good shape at all. It is 5 minutes from the commuter train into Chicago. It's got so much going for it I just hope someone makes an offer this month. If not, then it probably won't sell until after the spring thaw, if then.
I saw a thing on the news the other night about houses that are now only worth a few months' mortgage payments on them. :( I feel your pain, Des. Hopefully eventually it will get better again, but the way things are going, it is kind of hard to be optimistic.
I read of one that went for $175 and $8000 back taxes the other day.
Don't let me get started about taxes. I am so tired of getting nailed every time I turn around. And what we get for what we spend just isn't much. Government maintains these huge payrolls and employ so many people who do so little. If we as individuals were that wasteful we would perish. Nuff said.
Bad attitude, des. You are not looking at it properly. You need a little government education and attitude adjustment.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvsADU2OOWM heh
Quote from: desdawg on October 11, 2008, 09:54:40 AM
Don't let me get started about taxes. I am so tired of getting nailed every time I turn around. And what we get for what we spend just isn't much. Government maintains these huge payrolls and employ so many people who do so little. If we as individuals were that wasteful we would perish. Nuff said.
ummmm, I'm one of those gov't workers heh I can say that on most days we work our butts off - no breaks, not even a lunch break on a 12 1/2 hour shift... but that's in an ER - we do have down time sometimes, but that just makes up for all the breaks, lunches & time we stay over that we don't put on the clock... but I complain about the gov't probably more than anyone ;) and all the waste... I see lots of inefficiencies all the time & people that just like to smooze their way up the ladder...
But then you get the really
BIG parasites like Paulson & Kashkari... and the rest of the blood sucking politicians... now that's where the real big money & inefficiencies are... ie criminal behaviors... >:(
Sassy, I'm glad you bellyache freely about the government and their wasteful ways... see, I decided that if they're considering a break from the markets until they figure out what to do, I probably needed a break too. So, I decided to take a break from criticizing the government. But it is really hard. I wonder, who will step up to the plate if I take a holiday from it? But I am so relieved to see that you aren't letting me down! ;D
Quote from: Homegrown Tomatoes on October 11, 2008, 04:22:30 PM
Sassy, I'm glad you bellyache freely about the government and their wasteful ways... see, I decided that if they're considering a break from the markets until they figure out what to do, I probably needed a break too. So, I decided to take a break from criticizing the government. But it is really hard. I wonder, who will step up to the plate if I take a holiday from it? But I am so relieved to see that you aren't letting me down! ;D
Not a chance heh
I might consider helping cover the slack, Homey. ::)
The two of you together might be able to take up the slack for me, according to DH.
::)
Sassy I wasn't thinking of you when I made that comment. I was thinking more in terms of what we have here at the state level. There was a neswpaper article a month or so ago about how AZ missed there sales tax prediction for July by $90 M. Of course that 90M was budgeted to be spent. As the state was figuring out how to rearrange their finances they stated they would maintain essential services. Now just which ones those are I can't tell you. I have been to the state offices and seen a lot of people that were busy doing not much. Their entire function is to police us. How many cops do we need with college degrees in various areas, drawing top pay and eagerly anticipating their next coffee break and lunch. The largest employer in AZ is the State of AZ.
Recently I met with the head of the County Supervisors here in Pinal County, AZ. I asked him since he had championed the enactment of an Impact Fee in our County what residential permitting looked like. If you want a permit to build your home the first thing you do is pay an $8800.00 Impact Fee for which you will receive two hands full of air. He indicated that permit levels were down to those in 2003. To which I replied, "So you have been able to cut back on staff?" His answer NO but we did put a moratorium on new hires. So apparently we will just have to make up the difference with taxation since all of those permit fees aren't rolling in anymore. That staff was grown to keep up with a workload that isn't there anymore. I venture to say you could sort through every level of government and find that kind of logic and that kind of waste and inefficiency. If we did that in the private sector we would be bankrupt.
I knew you couldn't have meant me, Desdawg ;)
Quote from: Sassy on October 11, 2008, 09:44:05 PM
I knew you couldn't have meant me, Desdawg ;)
Of course not Sassy but I did want you to know where I was coming from.
Well, we had at least one showing over the weekend. No feedback yet from it, though.
Hope things work out for you.
Quote from: Homegrown Tomatoes on October 13, 2008, 08:20:57 AM
Well, we had at least one showing over the weekend. No feedback yet from it, though.
keeping our fingers crossed for you.
In somewhat related news, a good friend of mine who works at the fire department just signed a contract on Friday to buy a foreclosed house in my neighborhood. Deals are still being made so don't give up hope.
Best of luck HomeGrown. :)
Well, the showing over the weekend yielded nothing but feedback on things we cannot change...ie. the two downstairs bedrooms were "too small" and the upstairs bath is "only a half bath". What the heck do people need to do in their bedrooms and bathroom that requires them to be the size of the olympic stadium? And do they really think it is going to be the Taj Mahal for that price?? I get the feeling that a lot of people want a whole lot of something for a whole lot of nothing. It's frustrating, but what can you do? d* d* d* Should have never bought up there in the first place...we just couldn't find a place to rent that allowed BOTH dogs and kids. Or, we should have put it on the market six months earlier and sold ourselves out of a place to live....I could've moved back earlier and stayed with my Grandma for a few months while DH rented a cheap place close to work until he could follow us. Hind sight is always 20-20.
$300.000 houses here a year or two ago are now under $200k
Whole developments of new $500k houses sit abandoned and unsold.
Illiquid assets. I need a bail out. I promise to provide transparency and accountability. 2008 buzzwords. I guess I better get to work I have a couple of shoppers.
I somehow have grown to hate buzzwords -- remind me of hollow people --- between the ears. Better get into my spandex jogging suit, grab my speed walking weights and go get a low CARB lunch. Speed walking --- wonder if I should try it in Speedo's? hmm heh
I especially hate the word CARB referring to food. d*
I seem to recall that... so I'm sitting here at the computer eating a chicken chili relleno... it doesn't have a lot of those, but it is cram-packed with delicious fat. ;D
Carb, sounds like something to turn liquid gas into a vapor. Is that where the name came from? Here, pull my finger I just had my carbs.
California Air Resources Board, comes to my mind for some reason. ??? ... probably spent too much time tinkering with automobiles.
That's a better use for it, Don.
des, I'm not gonna touch that...in fact I'm gonna leave the room.... [crz]
Quote from: glenn kangiser on October 14, 2008, 07:31:54 PM
That's a better use for it, Don.
des, I'm not gonna touch that...in fact I'm gonna leave the room.... [crz]
No guts, no glory as they say on the ski slopes.
I forgot a buzzword for 2008. Systemic transparency and accountability are needed.
Yeah, and I need a great big bowl of beans. [scared]
Any of y'all wanna save yourselves the trouble of building a home and buy a really cute little cottage in Wisconsin?? ;D I'll give you a deal. It's only 15 minutes from Lake Michigan... and there is a private lake with swim beach only a block's walk away... nice big yard with five raised garden beds.
My uncle said it was so cold there they had to wet the bed to stay warm....
I just couldn't live like that... [crz]
Sounds nice enough, but I moved south because I developed an aversion to long cold winters, snow shovels, icy roads, salt on the roads, snow plows putting snow back across the driveway where I just shoveled it from, cars with frozen shock absorbers and rubber tires turned to steel, ...
hi HG,
i never did understand why you are leaving WI? i was just there and up in the NW area. it is a pretty area. i am from MI and it reminds me of northern mi. i know you want to build your own home but is this just a case of build your own w/ no mortgage? BTW, i like your posts and parsnips are my favorite root veggie. forgive me if i am sticking my big nose in an area you don't want to discuss.
IIRC, Homegrown complained about the cold all last winter they were there. I sympathized with her.
Apaknad,
We moved because we just couldn't handle the long, cold, dark winters. And, being a southerner, wearing a coat on the 4th of July is flat wrong!!! We moved up there in early 2005 because DH had just finished graduate school and it was the first place he got a good job offer(though he got one about a week later in MI). At that time, he didn't have his US citizenship yet, so he couldn't work for any of the companies in the south that require citizenship for security clearance. Also, all of my family is in Oklahoma, and they are the only family DH has in the US, too. It was crazy going three years without a date with my husband because we felt like we didn't know anyone well enough to leave our kids with them (the exceptions being the times my mom visited.) My grandma is getting on up in years, and I wanted to move back closer to her so that my kids will remember her when they are older. While we were up north, we lost my paternal great-grandma and paternal grandpa without my kids ever really getting to know them.
So, about a year or year and a half ago, DH started putting in apps at different places in the south. He got offered several jobs before choosing this one. He almost took one in Wichita, KS instead. Glad he didn't take any in the Houston/Galveston area. I was kind of hoping he'd get a job in Tulsa because I like the eastern part of the state so much, but in all honesty OKC is closer to home. I'm glad he took the job he did.
NW Wisconsin is VERY beautiful. We took a vacation up in that direction one time... of course, during the summer. Don't think I could do it in the winter!! The place we lived was pretty too, but was in the SE corner, about halfway between Milwaukee and Chicago. We were both homesick for Oklahoma, though, and the kids were even worse off than us. There weren't any little kids in our neighborhood, and the girls didn't have a lot of friends. Seemed really hard to make friends there, perhaps because there were a lot of Chicago folks who seemed to still have a city mentality. No one talks to strangers, so you stay a stranger for a long time. We did have some good neighbors though, but we didn't really get to know any of them until our last year there. Seemed like all our attempts at being friendly were met with suspicion or outright coldness. The thing that killed me worse than the weather or the homesickness, though, was seeing my little girl sitting in the front window looking out at the blowing snow with tears running down her face and looking at me and asking, "Mom, when can we move to summer?" My big girls are both solar powered and both seem so much happier since moving back home. My husband, who grew up in Korea where the winters are bitterly cold and dry, sometimes says that he can't go back to Korea now that he's lived in Oklahoma, and likewise, he can't go back to Wisconsin. As he put it, he thinks the tough folks that live in places like that can live there because that's what they know, but he thinks if they were to experience a mild southern winter all the way through, they'd have a hard time going back.
And Glenn, as to wetting the bed to stay warm, we weren't desperate enough to try that, but my poor skinny little husband slept in a stocking hat all winter, as well as sweats and socks! (sometimes even more than one layer of socks!!) It wasn't so bad after we replaced the windows in the bedrooms, though. Our second daughter HATED the cold. I can remember bundling her up like the little kid on "Christmas Story" and still she would scream from the front door of the house to the car, and then when we got where we were going, from the car until we got back inside someplace warm. She would just yell, "NO!! No! No!" and shake her head as if that was somehow going to make the cold go away. It would have been funny had I not been thinking the same thing on the inside!!
If you've ever read the poem "The Cremation of Sam McGee" by Robert W. Service, I really sympathize with Sam.... I'd be the same way. ;D
thanx HG for a look into your private life. i found it touching. i always like hearing about other people's trek through this earthly manifestation. good luck in your endeavors.
dan
So Dan, have you always lived in Michigan? People we met in Wisconsin told us that if you were raised up there you just got used to the winters....
Another reason for leaving was the cost of living and the high property taxes... but that's another story altogether. There are a lot of things I miss about it though... my grocery store up there was great, the apple orchards this time of year, etc.
Quote from: Homegrown Tomatoes on October 16, 2008, 03:58:42 PM
People we met in Wisconsin told us that if you were raised up there you just got used to the winters....
I was born, raised and lived in Manitoba, Canada. I never did really enjoy winter weather, more so when I personally discovered that -30 degrees, and colder, is not a normal state of affairs everywhere in the months of December and January. Snow scenes can be pretty and the summers have wonderful weather. But I'm glad I met and married an American who led me south of the 45th parallel. :)
yes HT, except for a 2 yr. stint in the marine corps(california, vietnam, n. carolina). it's true, you do get used to the winters and there is a certain beauty to seeing everything clean and white on a cold frosty morn. it's the sloppy transitional periods that are a PITA. taxes and cost of living are pretty high here also but you balance that out with all the lakes(including the great lakes) and nature away from the cesspool cities(detroit,flint) and there are some plusses. that being said, i don't know if i'll stay here when i deal with mom's estate(she's 93 and has terminal cancer) but if i can't sell her house i may have to. all depends on the economy and i may be in a situation like yours. i would sell at a loss to build my own place in the country.
Hey Dan I was in all of those places when in the USMC. I also did some time in Okinawa, the PI and Phu Bai along the way and added VA at the end of my time. I was at the Navy Brig in Norfolk (as a guard mind you). That was a trip. d* I led a charmed life. That would have all taken place between 1967 and 1970 for me. Old guy here.
hey Des, i was in okinawa also. 2 year stint in the corps. enlisted and volunteered for Nam. '66-'68(you are not THE old guy) :)
I do not like the word "old"....Can we say "seasoned" instead? :)
Old is my age plus maybe 15-20.
62 here.
Age is actually more a state of mind, IMO. Mostly I don't believe I am 62. ( ...and a third). .... it simply can't be.... ::)
Back 'then', one of the fall rituals was to cut a circular hole in a piece of cardboard and place it before the radiator. Even a 195 degree thermostat couldn't guarantee enough hot water for the heater in Dec-Jan. My Land Cruiser came factory equipped with a spring loaded roll up "shade" in front of the radiator. There was a control pull cord inside under the dash. Way cool hot!!
Does anybody here remember "frost shields"? Or know what they are?
OK. Here ya'll go. A frost shield was a piece of clear plastic sheet that was applied to the inside of an automobile window as a 'storm window'. There was a thin air space formed between it and the window glass. They came in all sizes, from small enough triangular shapes that would fit on a vent wing window to those large enough to fit a rear window. The air space between the plastic and the glass insulated just enough to prevent frost from forming on the inside of the window. We'd have them on all side door glass as well as on the rear window.
Does anyone still doubt my dislikes for cold northern winters.... ?
The old '48 Ford truck on the farm also had them on the windshield as it didn't even have a decent heater let alone a defroster. They were glass though; with thin foam rubber gaskets glued to the 2 piece flat glass windshield.
On a motor trip to FL one winter ('67 Chevy Biscayne 2 door sedan with a 396 and three-on-the-tree... odd car ;D ), when asked by a kid in a full service :o gas station what they were we told him they were bullet proof shields. I think he was impressed. ::)
hmm .... you guys are old.... I was class of '69 (HS)
In 1969, Don I worked at a full service 76 Union where we washed windows and checked oil.
i defer to the lady, i am "seasoned"(well seasoned) ;D
I'd like you to show a little more respect for your elders Glen. Kids should be seen and not heard. I'd tell you to go stand in the corner but I don't think your house has any corners. c*(class of '65)
[rofl2]
I have always had a problem with that, Dan. Guess I had to be there... rofl
Quote from: apaknad on October 17, 2008, 07:20:30 AM
i defer to the lady, i am "seasoned"(well seasoned) ;D
Now you sound like a steak... rofl
Quote from: glenn kangiser on October 17, 2008, 01:32:09 AM
hmm .... you guys are old.... I was class of '69 (HS)
In 1969, Don I worked at a full service 76 Union where we washed windows and checked oil.
Class of 1966 here.
... class of '64 :)
;D Gee, you guys are all about my Mom's age!
thanx alot HG, what a bummer. :(
...and you're about our son's age HGT. 27
We'll still let you hang out with us though, Homey... :)
You do seem to be exceptionally bright for your age... heh
I decided you are all old and any one of you could be my dad...
Class of....I mean BORN 1966
heh
Awww -- you're just a baby.... ::)
Quote from: MountainDon on October 17, 2008, 09:34:08 PM
...and you're about our son's age HGT. 27
Not quite that young, Don!
Quote from: apaknad on October 17, 2008, 09:20:15 PM
thanx alot HG, what a bummer. :(
Hey, she's single fellas.... ;)
Quote from: apaknad on October 16, 2008, 05:11:37 PM
yes HT, except for a 2 yr. stint in the marine corps(california, vietnam, n. carolina). it's true, you do get used to the winters and there is a certain beauty to seeing everything clean and white on a cold frosty morn. it's the sloppy transitional periods that are a PITA. taxes and cost of living are pretty high here also but you balance that out with all the lakes(including the great lakes) and nature away from the cesspool cities(detroit,flint) and there are some plusses. that being said, i don't know if i'll stay here when i deal with mom's estate(she's 93 and has terminal cancer) but if i can't sell her house i may have to. all depends on the economy and i may be in a situation like yours. i would sell at a loss to build my own place in the country.
I admit that there were times when our place up north was beautiful with a thick blanket of clean white snow on everything. It was the fact that it STAYED like that until it all finally melted off sometime in mid-late May that bothered me. That's what I love about OK, though. Here it snows, and sometimes we even get a fairly deep snow, and the next day it'll be gorgeous and sunny and nearly 70 degrees and as the big snowdrifts in the Wal-Mart parking lot are melting, you'll see folks walking into the store wearing flip-flops. My "heavy coat" when we moved to WI was just a little hooded fleece thing. Sure, if it got really cold, I'd wear this old down-filled heavy coat of DH's (he actually rescued it from a dumpster in college) to go feed the animals and do chores, but I didn't own one that was decent enough looking to go anywhere in it until we moved up there. After we moved up there, I can remember walking around inside the house with a heavy coat and stocking hat on a few times. Once I get cold, it is so hard to get warmed back up....Heck, we had a cool front come through the other day here and it was down in the 50s and I was cold all day long.
We had two more showings of the house up there over the weekend. Hope something comes out of them.
sounds good HGT, people interested enough to go see it is a good sign. It sounds like your new realtor is at least trying.
I guess I am one of the younger ones as well on the forum, I graduated high school class of 94, only 32 now myself.
Once again, the folks who looked at the house this weekend complained that various rooms were too small, the stairs were too narrow, etc. I called the WEBUYUGLYHOUSES folks tonight and they said they weren't even sure that someone would be willing to drive down from Milwaukee (45minutes) to look at it, let alone consider making an offer. If they would only bellyache about something we could change or fix, then possibly we could do something about it, but can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear, I guess. **sigh** So depressing. Trying not to get too stressed out about it, but it is getting to me.
Oh, and to top it off, we got a bill for the city sewer and the trash pickup from that house. First one we've gotten since we moved, in spite of leaving a forwarding address. The bill for the sewer that hasn't been used in 8 months and for the trash that hasn't been picked up in 8 months was $283. I called the city offices to see why their late notice had gotten to us but the regular quarterly bills had not. (DH, who is doing bills these days, assumed that since we weren't using those services that they just weren't billing us for them...yeah right!) Anyway, I wasn't trying to argue our way out of paying, though I think it is crazy expensive, but I did ask them to remove the late charges and so forth because we hadn't received any bills since January. The gal on the phone got rude and irate even though I never said or did anything impolite. She actually started yelling when i asked why if they'd sent the bills they hadn't been forwarded even though the junkiest of junk mail has made its way 900 miles south. She said, "Well, I can't control the postal system and you're still responsible for the bill, and now there's an additional $10 late fee!!! You know good and well that the bills are every quarter and it's your fault and your bill and you'll **** well pay it." I told her I had every intention of paying it, but I also thought it was strange that we never got a bill. She started ranting about our street address being the billing address, and I reminded her that the street address was also the address we left the forwarding notice for, and it was for all of our names, not just mine, and that we'd called the city(with a date) before moving to give them the correct address. She was threatening to add it to our property taxes and have our house auctioned for back taxes (which we don't owe!) Anyway, I finally just got sick of trying to talk calmly and reasonably with the woman, and I hung up. When DH came home, I told him about the call and said I thought I'd write a letter to the city government and tell them that people like their workers are the reason I couldn't wait to move out of WI, and DH just said dryly, "Yeah, a letter; that'll show 'em." [toilet]
Quote from: benevolance on October 20, 2008, 08:16:38 PM
I keep denoting them as spam and ask to be removed.. but they keep coming....
Peter, unless the email is from someplace where you actually signed up for something, you are best advised to never use an unsubscribe link. Just delete the email or mark it as spam in your email program. Frequently, most of the time ???, using an unsubscribe will only verify that your email address is valid and bring on more spam.
Marking an email as spam in your email program is no guarantee of the filter working either, as spammers have their methods to keep one step ahead.
Quote from: StinkerBell on October 18, 2008, 03:13:06 PM
I decided you are all old and any one of you could be my dad...
But would we want to be... ;D
Quote from: MountainDon on October 21, 2008, 01:03:44 AM
Quote from: StinkerBell on October 18, 2008, 03:13:06 PM
I decided you are all old and any one of you could be my dad...
But would we want to be... ;D
Hmmmm, probably. I not afraid of work and adventure. Plus I can fight! heh
Quote from: benevolance on October 20, 2008, 08:16:38 PM
I would not let webuyugly houses look at my house...they will offer you 50% below market value... those home buying services operate on the assumption that you are about to foreclose... My wife filled out a survey where she indicated we were buying a second home...they shared our information somehow because we started to get calls to sell our first house from a home buying service...I told the lady on the phone that the house was appraised at $160,000 before we put 10 new windows in it and finished renovating the upstairs...(central Heat and air refinished the hardwood floors...etc....And the person told me that they could not even consider buying my home unless it was under $100,000...
I said no way it would ever be sold for that kind of money...And then she replied that she could pay cash instantly and keep me from foreclosure which would hurt my credit... I assured her that was not possible...But that was one of her big sales kicks to get people to consider selling their houses for roughly half of what they are really worth.
Since that time I have gotten a dozen e-mails from another one of those home buying services..I keep denoting them as spam and ask to be removed.. but they keep coming....We decided to rent our house out as opposed to taking half of what it is really worth.
Yeah, I know you are right on that, but if they do make an offer, it might be that DH's company would say to go ahead and sell it for that. They've price protected us up to $150,000. The house appraised last year for $189,000. We paid about $150K and put another $25K or so into it. So we're still losing no matter what, but we are so ready to be done with it. It should sell for the list price right now ($139K) in a heartbeat, but it just isn't happening. :-\
another good reason to live in the country HGT. it doesn't cure everything but it lessons dealing with the bureaucRATS! Good luck. >:(
Who's your daddy Stink? WE ARE!!! ;D
HGT,
if you have a price lock from your company i would seriously consider letting the house go to the UGLY business rip offs. the economy is Not going to get better other than a few temp props to stabilize it for short term, and you could easily get stuck w/a worse offer or no offers ever. don't do anything on my rec. but consider it for your long term strategy.
good idea Ben. give someone a break plus the garuantee is something to consider.
Real Estate is a difficult market. Something looks like a good deal right now but will it in 6 more months. We are pricing based on our memories. Where will the decline finally come to rest. Where does it all stabilize. There are now three market factors. Supply Demand and Desperation. When we become desperate enough we will take what we can salvage to move forward in another area.
Quote from: apaknad on October 21, 2008, 10:15:32 AM
Who's your daddy Stink? WE ARE!!! ;D
I think this is how Freddy Krueger came about.....heh
Your brother, Stink? hmm
Oh glenn if you didn't watch Nightmare on Elm Street slasher movies, the comment might be lost on you.
Too scary....
Guess I missed out... ::) d*
*Chokes on Halloween candy.* rofl
Looked at a gorgeous place out in the boonies today.... the driveway must be a mile long of the worst road in history, though.... Don't know what it would take to make it so that it wouldn't rip out the guts of our Impala.... the truck did fine on it though. It didn't help that it was pouring cats and dogs when we drove out there either. The road isn't graded properly, and there were washes everywhere, and even with 4WD, I slid around a bit. Would hate to see it in really bad weather. But the place was absolutely the prettiest place I've looked at so far. Near Chandler. It'll probably be sold to someone with a bigger truck than ours before our place up north sells and we're in a position to buy. :-\ My truck is so filthy now it looks like I went off-roading down a clay river bed. Only two houses on the road on a 20-acre interior lot, and this one was the last one... the road seems to be a private road, so would be our expense to get it more driveable. Nice barn and 20 by 30 shop with power. House is very unique. Cabin with a cordwood living room that is about the neatest looking thing I've seen on all my house hunting trips. The house was little and had 3 bedrooms and two full baths, and then it also had an additional bath tub in the master bedroom. The folks built it themselves, I'm pretty sure, but it is really nicely built and has a ton of charm and character. Big wood stove with a top that could be used for cooking in winter... plenty of wood around to keep it broiling hot in there, too. Kind of a saltbox style house with an open loft area where you can see down to the living room below. The downstairs bedroom would probably have to become our dining room because there was nowhere else our table would've fit, but that would be OK, too. If we were to buy something like that, we'd probably either build on or build a guest cottage eventually (seems we're always hosting someone, and it would be just about necessary to have a little more room.) Oh, and did I mention that the price was pretty good... now... if that house in WI would just sell.
I got a call from the ugly houses folks. They basically were trying to tell me our realtor should've already sold it for the list price and she's just not marketing it hard enough and if I'd fire her and hire them then they'd sell it in two weeks for my asking price or better. They knew that we aren't in trouble, we're just sick of paying the mortgage and want to get into a place here, so rather than asking us to sell for a fraction of the price (because they could tell we're not that desperate yet) they wanted me to break my contract with our realtor and give the listing to them. I thanked them and hung up.
When it starts out, I found a place in the boonies, it has my attention!
Quote from: Homegrown Tomatoes on October 22, 2008, 10:10:38 PM
Looked at a gorgeous place out in the boonies today.... the driveway must be a mile long of the worst road in history, though.... Don't know what it would take to make it so that it wouldn't rip out the guts of our Impala.... the truck did fine on it though. It didn't help that it was pouring cats and dogs when we drove out there either. The road isn't graded properly, and there were washes everywhere, and even with 4WD, I slid around a bit. Would hate to see it in really bad weather. But the place was absolutely the prettiest place I've looked at so far. Near Chandler. It'll probably be sold to someone with a bigger truck than ours before our place up north sells and we're in a position to buy. :-\ My truck is so filthy now it looks like I went off-roading down a clay river bed. Only two houses on the road on a 20-acre interior lot, and this one was the last one... the road seems to be a private road, so would be our expense to get it more driveable. Nice barn and 20 by 30 shop with power. House is very unique. Cabin with a cordwood living room that is about the neatest looking thing I've seen on all my house hunting trips. The house was little and had 3 bedrooms and two full baths, and then it also had an additional bath tub in the master bedroom. The folks built it themselves, I'm pretty sure, but it is really nicely built and has a ton of charm and character. Big wood stove with a top that could be used for cooking in winter... plenty of wood around to keep it broiling hot in there, too. Kind of a saltbox style house with an open loft area where you can see down to the living room below. The downstairs bedroom would probably have to become our dining room because there was nowhere else our table would've fit, but that would be OK, too. If we were to buy something like that, we'd probably either build on or build a guest cottage eventually (seems we're always hosting someone, and it would be just about necessary to have a little more room.) Oh, and did I mention that the price was pretty good... now... if that house in WI would just sell.
I got a call from the ugly houses folks. They basically were trying to tell me our realtor should've already sold it for the list price and she's just not marketing it hard enough and if I'd fire her and hire them then they'd sell it in two weeks for my asking price or better. They knew that we aren't in trouble, we're just sick of paying the mortgage and want to get into a place here, so rather than asking us to sell for a fraction of the price (because they could tell we're not that desperate yet) they wanted me to break my contract with our realtor and give the listing to them. I thanked them and hung up.
That sounds like my kind of place. Waiting for something you have no control over is difficult. Taking action is the easy part when the circumstances are right.
I told DH that going to check the mail every day would amount to a 2-mile hike, therefore exercise is accounted for. ;) It is a pretty way to get in, too, and a little creek runs across the drive and across the back of the 20-acres. I checked out the drive time, though, and it would be nearly a 50-minute drive. However, places I've looked at that are much closer, mileage wise, and range from $40K-100K more in price, are only 5-10 minutes less of a drive. If we do somehow end up buying that house, DH would have to change the oil in his car every 3 weeks, and it would mean about $200 a month in gas at current prices, which is a lot more than he is putting on it now. Also, it is already high mileage, but how long would it last doing that commute every day? Of course, I probably wouldn't be driving much of anywhere. The drive in is very steep and hilly, but just gorgeous in spite of the bad road. I'm forcing him to go look at it again with me this Friday. Of course, we don't have an offer on our house in WI yet, though.
Quote from: Homegrown Tomatoes on October 23, 2008, 10:53:51 AM
If we do somehow end up buying that house, DH would have to change the oil in his car every 3 weeks,
I was going to digress the topic, but decided I'd start a new one. :)
http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=5446.new#new
You now have an excuse to own a quad. If you needed an excuse.
Quote from: MountainDon on October 23, 2008, 11:51:58 AM
Quote from: Homegrown Tomatoes on October 23, 2008, 10:53:51 AM
If we do somehow end up buying that house, DH would have to change the oil in his car every 3 weeks,
I was going to digress the topic, but decided I'd start a new one. :)
http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=5446.new#new
Oops, I meant every six weeks, not every three. I'd only had one cup of coffee when I wrote that... my math brain wasn't awake yet.
HG I don't know if you ever worked with an auctioneer before but a good one can sell a house that no one wants to buy. Just a thought.
You know, actually Scott, that's not a bad idea. It beats the ugly houses folks, and it gets 'er done quickly. I wonder if DH's company would agree to something like that? ??? They didn't want us doing the lease purchase option (and really, neither did I because it is too risky for us if the buyer changes his mind down the road and we're stuck in the same boat again.) I'm assuming you could set a minimum bid the same way you would for any auction, right? So we could set the minimum bid at whatever the company decides is the bottom line, and go from there.... Hmmm. May have to call DH at work and have him talk to the HR guy and see what he says.
Thanks.
I used to go to alot of real estate auctions. I've seen houses that sat on the market for years sell at or near market value in minutes. I was looking for bargins but seemed like someone always got excited and bid it up. They say an auction will bring the real value of the house. I've seen that proven more than once.
Good news... a couple is going to be looking at our house at 5 o'clock today. The husband liked the house after looking this morning but wasn't sure his wife would like that the upstairs only has a half bath that would have to be shared by their three kids (oh, boo-hoo, poor things, having to share a bathroom!!) Anyway, they're coming back to look this evening, so I am hopeful that she likes the house and gives her husband the go-ahead on it... they won't find anything as good in that price range.
fingers crossed here :)
haven't heard back yet... that could be either good or bad. :-\ I am really hoping they make an offer. Took DH to the cabin in the boonies today and he liked it--a lot. We cut through the woods and came out into the most gorgeous pasture just as the setting sun set it on fire with color. Right in the middle of the pasture near the creek was this huge old pecan tree. There were a lot of other pecans everywhere in the wooded areas and along the creek, but this particular one was huge and majestic in the sunset. It is probably a good ten acres or more of native prairie grasses that look virtually untouched. There was also at least one really nice clearing in the woods that had a little bit of grazing land. For whatever reason, the ice storms from last winter seem to have missed most of the trees in the woods there... I don't know how because all the surrounding land was hit hard. I'm trying so hard not to get my hopes up too much on the house up north selling before this place is gone, but I really like it. Thought we were never going to get the kids back in the truck... they were busy chasing frogs and picking grasses. DH is already making plans to finish out the shop that was half-baked. The girls are bombarding heaven with prayers that our house would sell... they are so in their element in a place like that. My oldest was in the creek before I could catch her (and it's in the 50s with a pretty good breeze, so she was pretty frozen by the time we started to leave.) According to the listing, the cabin is more than 1000 sq. ft., but it sure doesn't seem it. I'm wondering if they include the covered back porch in that figure?
If it makes you feel better we have only had an agent take a look at our home. Just so he knows how to price his competing listing....
Well, trying not to hold my breath, but just got an email from my realtor up north and she is showing it to the couple for the 3rd time as I write!!! You know what they say... third time's a charm!!! They wanted to see how light it was during the daytime, so they were meeting the realtor there at 4 o'clock, and as I haven't gotten a call or email back yet, they are still there hashing it out. They are very interested.
Seriously, OSU is playing Texas today and the game is really a close one, and here I am back on the computer every few minutes to see if she's emailed me back yet!
6:30 pm and nothing yet... they were looking @ 4 o'clock. d*
It's like the watched pot that never boils... I am so impatient and keep checking my email every little bit to see if she's emailed me anything.... If they make an offer, they may want to sleep on it first, so I don't know that I'll get any feedback before going to bed tonight. :) I need to go pick up some milk and stuff, but hate to leave in case the phone rings.... May wait until the girls are in bed and then run to the store or send DH. If they got to the house early enough, they got to enjoy the sunset (if it is clear up there today... I don't know because for a change I didn't watch the weather forecast for up there.) I was up all night last night with the baby because she is teething and fussy, and as tired as I am, not sure I can sleep tonight...
Soak in a nice hot bath then have a nice hot cup of tea.
;D Well, got an email from the WI realtor today and they are "sleeping on it" and will "hopefully" make a decision by tomorrow (the realtor's words, not theirs, I think.) They are seriously considering it, obviously. I hope that we do hear something by tomorrow, and that the something is in the form of an offer!
I hope so too. :)
sure do hope so.... I am so ready. Every time the phone rings, I'm tripping all over myself to get there and answer it, only to find out it is a telemarketer or some politician campaigning by phone.
Quote from: Homegrown Tomatoes on October 25, 2008, 07:26:33 PM
It's like the watched pot that never boils...
One thing brewing beer has taught me is that the watched pot never boils anecdote is bogus, I would re-write it as an unwatched pot will boil over. Making macaroni and cheese for the kids on dads cook night has also reinforced the lesson ;D
Anyway, were all keeping our fingers crossed and praying for you girl, hope it comes through SOON.
rofl That's about the truth! Thanks for the chuckle... still waiting for word from our realtor. She is a very cautious type (I can almost bet you that every room in her house is a different shade of "eggshell") and she won't say anything until she knows something for certain. Meanwhile, I'm kind of glad the people who have the house we like have such a lousy realtor. Because of that, they're not likely to have many showings anytime soon. When we called to go look at the place, the realtor snapped, "Well, you couldn't possibly pick a worse day to look (it was raining). I sure hope you have 4 wheel drive, and if you don't you shouldn't even bother. It'd be a waste of your time!" He doesn't even have a sign up, and his online listing doesn't even show the best features of the property, or bother to list the amenities. He also gave lousy directions, and he had "no idea" what the cross streets nearby were. We found it only because I remembered the address from when I looked online and happened to see the address on the mailbox out on the main road. Anyway, the house is smaller than most people would want, and isn't the typical American McMansion, so hopefully that and the road to it will deter others long enough for us to make an offer.
Well, gotta get back to lessons with my kids... stopped long enough to check email and have another cup of coffee.
I have found that to be the case with many realtors. What you want is not what they want to sell you. I want the least expensive piece that fits my needs. Everyone I have come across wants to sell me the most expensive property, Mcmansion and all. You would think they represent all customers equally, but they don't. In my experiance if they think they can sell the person into one of their more expensive properties they will try, sometimes at the sacrifice of no sale at all.
Lunch time Monday and still no word... I am thinking if they'd decided against it, they would have made up their minds by now. Hopefully they're just hashing out what to pay for it.
Quote from: Squirl on October 27, 2008, 11:45:45 AM
I have found that to be the case with many realtors. What you want is not what they want to sell you. I want the least expensive piece that fits my needs. Everyone I have come across wants to sell me the most expensive property, Mcmansion and all. You would think they represent all customers equally, but they don't. In my experiance if they think they can sell the person into one of their more expensive properties they will try, sometimes at the sacrifice of no sale at all.
We really had that problem when we first moved to WI... our realtor flat wouldn't show us stuff we wanted to look at. Her idea of "land" was a postage stamp lot backing up to a city park.
When we bought our up-north land, we were looking at a different property. The agent we were going through kind of misrepresented the property. While we were looking at it, a car pulled into the driveway. Another agent from the same office.
We explained that this wasn't what we were looking for and the reason why. (It was built on a swamp with about 3 inches of fill under the house to get it up and out of the water.) After talking with him for 5 minutes about what we were looking for, he told us about a piece of land he was getting a listing for in the near future.
We went out to look at it, and drove back to tell him we wanted to put an offer on it as soon as it came on the market.
Well, the initial agent we went through had "dibs" on us, because we talked to her first. (agency rules, which the second agent was fine with). Fast forward 3 weeks and the land came on the market. We waited a week for the first agent to contact us. No calls, no emails. Finally we called the second agent and told him that if the first agent didn't call us back in an hour, we were going with him, rules or no rules.
We got our call, put and offer in, and then got a "frantic" call from the agent. "More than one offer has been made and that usually means AT LEAST a full price offer"...
We held our ground and said fine...our offer stands as is. The worst thing that will happen is that we buy a boat instead.
We got our land, but will deal with the second agent if the opportunity arises. He was that much better.
Benevolence, I agree that most of them are far more concerned about making a buck than what is in their client's best interest. We had one quibble over a thousand dollars on the offer one time...I offered a certain amount and she was trying to argue that they just couldn't let it go for that little and they needed at least a thousand more. So, I told her that I was sorry, but my offer stood and I wouldn't pay one cent more. A few hours later she called back and accepted the offer. Come to find out later, she hadn't even spoken to the owners about the supposed thousand they so desperately needed. It was just what she wanted to protect her bottom line.
I finally emailed her and asked if she had spoken to them yet or if they had made any decisions. I also reminded her that we would entertain ANY offer and work with them, and that she won't lose her commission even if the offer is low because the company will cover it. Hopefully that will be enough to help get it sold.
hope it works out Homey, i can't wait to see the new place.
That is one of the bigger problems I have run into. I am more interested in the land not the house. That just flips the model of the system to sell houses on its head. Many real estate systems will not even allow you to search or sort listings by land size. The value added benfit of a large house is where the commissions are made. Most realtors won't even give me the time of day. I don't know why they even list just land. If they get 6% on 20,000 piece of land they make 1200 for a day of work. The problem is everyone is looking for the 12,000 income still for a few days work. During the real estate boom every waiter I knew got his or her real estate liscence. They kept bragging how much money they made for doing no work. I just don't see why many are not willing to accept the money that you are willing to pay them and look at you like a big fish to real in.
I believe the real estate market has shifted along with the rest of our economy. I also think that realtors who have been in this on the ride up to the top of the boom are having a tough time readjusting.
Well, here is one of the places we like. Pretty sure they are including the covered back porch in the sq. footage because there is no way it is that big. Also these pics don't do the place justice, and they don't show the big gorgeous pasture. Hope our place will sell soon enough we have this place as an option. I thinkk it would be fairly easy to build a shed-roofed addition so that we could use the current living area as a dining room. Enjoy.
http://www.realtor.com/realestate/chandler-ok-74834-1103627671/
Looks like a great place HG. Good luck.
Quote from: benevolance on October 28, 2008, 02:04:34 PM
Stink
Nice place...good acreage with a garage...Sounds like a winner... Good price as well. 1300 Square footage is not a lot when you consider it is a full 2 story... that is only 22 x 30 which is not a large house and from the pictures the house looked to be a fair size.
Take the tape measure with you when next you go... our eyes can be deceiving... the tape measure never lies ;)
I am soooo confused....and in another thread I was confused with sassy.....I have no identity!
rofl That was funny.
Well, finally got an email from our realtor, and she is still waiting to hear back from the couple that wants our house. She finally tells me that if they make an offer it will have to be contingent upon them selling their current house in IL. Oh boy... let's see, it's taken us over 8 months to even get someone to look seriously at our house and they are going to try to sell theirs in an even worse market in order to buy ours... [frus] [frus] [frus] [frus] [frus] [frus] [frus] [frus] [frus] [frus] That sounds like loads of fun. Oh boy, I can't wait to make ridiculous mortgage payments on a house I no longer live in for months on end so that I can eventually (if I'm lucky) sell it for less than I owe on it. The whole thing is making me [crz]
Quote from: benevolance on October 28, 2008, 02:04:34 PM
Stink
Nice place...good acreage with a garage...Sounds like a winner... Good price as well. 1300 Square footage is not a lot when you consider it is a full 2 story... that is only 22 x 30 which is not a large house and from the pictures the house looked to be a fair size.
Take the tape measure with you when next you go... our eyes can be deceiving... the tape measure never lies ;)
FWIW, it's not a full 2-story. There is a partial loft with two sleeping areas and a bathroom. It looks bigger in the picture than it really is. Yeah, and the stair railings and the loft railing about gave me a heart attack when my kids were climbing around on it.... they were far enough apart that not only the baby and the four-year-old could get through between the rails, but even my big 5-year-old could easily squeeze through. Doesn't matter anyway because at this rate it will probably be sold before our place is sold anyway. Dang it. :(
:(
There is a home I want, but can't bid on unless I sell my home. I understand! Probably will be sold before I sell mine!
>insert a tantrum right here<
The moral of this story? Never leave Oklahoma. Hang in there HG maybe wisconsin will get hit by a hurricane or something. d*
Quote from: benevolance on October 28, 2008, 02:48:35 PM
Sorry stink you crazy ladies all look the same to me on the internet d*
Hey Peter.... This could be a two bag date ---
One for your computer and one for you in case the one on your computer falls off. ::)
Quote from: ScottA on October 28, 2008, 05:48:24 PM
The moral of this story? Never leave Oklahoma. Hang in there HG maybe wisconsin will get hit by a hurricane or something. d*
rofl rofl
OK, OK already. I've repented for leaving Oklahoma in the first place. Keep in mind, it was never
my idea in the first place. ;D It was that husband of mine; he made me do it. ;) My realtor here shrugged the other day when I was telling her the dilemma with the house and she said, "Well... there's always insurance fraud."
I was going to suggest that but I didn't want to give you any ideas.
Quote from: Homegrown Tomatoes on October 28, 2008, 08:21:02 PM
Quote from: ScottA on October 28, 2008, 05:48:24 PM
The moral of this story? Never leave Oklahoma. Hang in there HG maybe wisconsin will get hit by a hurricane or something. d*
rofl rofl
OK, OK already. I've repented for leaving Oklahoma in the first place. Keep in mind, it was never my idea in the first place. ;D It was that husband of mine; he made me do it. ;) My realtor here shrugged the other day when I was telling her the dilemma with the house and she said, "Well... there's always insurance fraud."
What the heck does that mean?
Don't do it, Homey --- they have already recorded this posting..... [crz] rofl
Just remember --- If we do it, it's fraud, but if they (AIG?) do it , it is grounds for a multi billion dollar bail out with taxpayer money -- and you can even throw a half million dollar party, but you will have to cancel the billion dollar parties, 'cause them nasty ol' taxpayers are such whiners and spoil sports. d*
Why would ya want to work with someone who even suggest such a thing?
The world is full of them - some get away with it - some don't - I wouldn't think of trying it. A guy has to live with himself. I'm not that low yet.
Yes the world is full of them, but why would I want to work with one the is advertising?
I do not like working with under handed people.
I agree. You are a good conscientious girl, Stink. I still don't understand why you hang out with me... [crz]
Cause there is hope for you.
rofl Thanks, Stink
She was just trying to be funny, Stink. She proceeded to tell me that bounce fabric softener is one of the most flammable substances known to man. She and I have had many disagreements on moral issues, though, not the least of which is an insinuation that it would be OK to commit insurance fraud. (In the first place, I could never do that even if I didn't have a problem with it morally, because I put too much darn work into that house to destroy it!!!) This is the same realtor who tried to get me to make a contingency offer on the place I like because she was "worried about us not being happy" in the rental house we're in. I told her that it might have been an issue if being happy with where I'm at is my ultimate goal. I also told her that people consumed with being happy now are responsible for the mortgage mess going on nationally. She apologized for being pushy. She talks about people being 'bigots' but then also says she can't stand people from India.... she is a study in human nature. She is unprofessional and tells way too much personal information that I never wanted to know. I get very frustrated with her at times, and while on one hand I see her as a person who needs to be shown grace, on the other I find her one of the hardest to be gracious to. And, I have a six month contract with her because of the 'first person you talk to gets dibs on you' policy. This woman closes on houses every week, even in the current economy, and she does know real estate (though she is kind of ignorant about what constitutes good land.) I don't know why I'm working with her other than a good friend recommended her and she is the first one I talked to. She likes me, and asks if I will come visit her in the nursing home when she ends up in a nursing home because she is sure she'll have Alzheimer's before too long because her mother did. She is not married and has never had children, lives in a giant mansion alone, and is constantly looking for ways to earn and hoard earthly wealth. Truth be told, I feel sorry for her.
Good for you! I struggle with the giving grace issue to those who drive me looney.
:) Me too, can you tell? Some weeks even when I really do want to go look at properties, I'll put her off because I'm not quite ready to deal with her again yet.
>hug<
Well, I'm hoping that after the election that someone gets brave enough to buy our house up there. The couple decided not to make a contingency offer and instead are trying to sell their house first, and I'm relieved.
Breaking news!
What did I say about after the election we'd get an offer? First thing the morning the phone rings and it is the realtor up north. Got an offer. It is a truly awful one, so bad, in fact, that I'm not sure that DH's company is going to agree because it would mean that they have to cough up an additional $39K in excess of the gobs of money they've already spent on our relocation, temporary housing, etc. Also, the couple that made the offer this morning doesn't seem to be able to pay much higher than they offered, and we're not sure how much more they will be able to handle. DH is going to HR as I write this and talking with the HR guy and the pres of the company (who just happens to be in town in one of his four visits a year) to see what will happen. It is totally out of our hands at this point what happens. If the company can't help us that much (the price protection was as long as the offer wasn't below $130K) then we probably won't be able to sell it.
Sounds like you may have found...The Place.
You can always figure a way to buy it usinbg your old house to secure the deal. Your already looking at the driv time, gas etc. Only you can decide if that's OK.
Roads can be graded and crowned. The big thing will be gravel. That gets expensive but there are ways around that also.
Wishing you luck!
Well we are still trying to work out a deal with them. Hope that we can work stuff out and everyone will be happy. ???
Just be careful. Many have gotten into trouble moving faster than circumstances should have allowed. Ir only takes a short time to work a deal and get in but when owing double payments each month it can eat your lunch in a hurry. Don't let your wants overpower your ability to perform.
Oh, we aren't ready to make an offer anyplace yet. And we won't until we've hashed out a deal with the other folks on the house in WI, and probably then not until closing is over with. When we first moved to Wisconsin, we were paying on our house back home and the one up there, and we don't ever want a repeat of that. In that case, it ended up being worth it as we ended up clearing more than $16K on our old house when it sold, but because of the expense of the place in WI, there is no way we could pay two mortgages right now. It is bad enough trying to pay two utility bills right now.
I am still waiting for the realtor to send me the written offer because I told her that I wouldn't bother DH's company about it until we had a legitimate offer to show them, and I tried to push her to get a better offer. Even though DH's company is willing to go in the hole tens of thousands for our sake, I'm not willing that they should waste any more of their money than necessary. The offer that this couple made is ridiculously low... and it is honestly insulting, considering what's gone into that house. FWIW, though, they do love the kitchen that we remodelled ;D. We'll see. In a way, I'm hoping that before we've finalized a deal with them that we get another better offer.
Anyway, gotta get on with homeschooling for the day. Will post more as things progress.
Quote from: Homegrown Tomatoes on November 06, 2008, 09:22:50 AM
and probably then not until closing is over with.
I would delete that word "probably" from your statement. No matter how well intentioned and sincere they might be, it's not over until the closing is completed. 99 44/100% completed is not the same as 100% completed.
true. We've personally never had any problem closing on time, and in fact, when we sold our old house in OK, we closed earlier than expected on it. But I know so many people who've had folks back out at the last minute, etc. However, once we have a closing date set and it looks like everything is going as planned, we might start verbal negotiations on a place here...we won't do anything in writing until closing is over. Living in this house has been so frustrating because it is so poorly maintained. The mice have a superhighway in through the back door where they've chewed through the rotted threshold, and then we've had tons of venomous spiders (black widows and fiddle backs, and then we have the spiders on steroids... they aren't wolf spiders, and they're nearly as big as tarantulas... never seen them in my life before this house, and they're INSIDE.) In addition to the jerk who owns the house caulking over moldy grout in the shower, and the flood when we first moved in from bursting water manifolds, and the leaky shower, and the leak under the kitchen sink, and the filthy house when we moved in, and the carpet that smells like pee, it is frustrating having the neighbors RIGHT THERE. When I open the blinds in the morning, there is our neighbor lady a few feet away drinking coffee in her kitchen.
"When I open the blinds in the morning, there is our neighbor lady a few feet away drinking coffee in her kitchen. "
Relax HG, it could be worse...
You could be neighbors with Glenn and have to watch him having his morning coffee. c* d*
rofl Or even worse than that, like the time DH looked out our window in WI and got flashed by the neighbor couple who had the blinds wide open, the light all the way on and their clothes all the way off! [crz] He used to have a hard time talking to them after that because of the flashbacks.
easy homey, calm down. we need you to try and keep your sense of humor so we can communicate w/o worrying about you losing it. some day you will laugh about this whole thing(in the far future). when i was in vietnam i remember it rained for 38 days straight and one night while i was doing gaurd duty out in the boonies i was sooo uncomfortable, sand everywhere including places i won't mention in front of the ladies and as i was fighting off sleep in the middle of the night remembering that if i nodded off i might get the whole company killed i told myself in between halucinations from staring into the black night, that if i made it out of here i would never ever worry about anything else that i thought was insurmountable. you can endure, i know you can. you are the strength of your family. keep your sense of humor(it's hiding way down deep in your brain and you scared it so it is afraid to come out ;D).
Quote from: MountainDon on November 06, 2008, 11:08:17 AM
Quote from: Homegrown Tomatoes on November 06, 2008, 09:22:50 AM
and probably then not until closing is over with.
I would delete that word "probably" from your statement. No matter how well intentioned and sincere they might be, it's not over until the closing is completed. 99 44/100% completed is not the same as 100% completed.
+1 - very good advice here.
Quote
easy homey, calm down. we need you to try and keep your sense of humor so we can communicate w/o worrying about you losing it.
Even better advice here, apaknad's right. Things have a way of working out homegrown maters, you will smile about the "flash"-backs later. God never closes a door without opening a window, it will work out and eventually you'll see figure out why you (or your children) needed this lesson in life. It will work out so try to remain focused and keep your sense of humor about it.
QuoteGod never closes a door without opening a window
I like that. Seems to almost always be true.
Quote from: ScottA on November 06, 2008, 10:15:42 PM
QuoteGod never closes a door without opening a window
I like that. Seems to almost always be true.
heh so long as it's not the window into my neighbor's kitchen!! :)
I don't know what's going to happen with it. DH's company has been GREAT through this whole deal. They could've sent us packing back to Wisconsin a couple of months ago, or they could have cut us off of temporary housing in August, but so far they've bent over backwards to keep us here. To be honest, I think there's some kind of handshake deal going on between our realtor and the realtor of the buyers... I'm thinking she told them to just come in and make any offer and we'd take it because DH's company wants us here. I feel like God has been overly gracious to us, and it is amazing to me that with the exception of not selling the house yet, everything that has happened since the move has been favorable. But it is also to the point where we feel deeply indebted to DH's company because they've been paying temporary housing now for 9 months (their obligation ended at 6 months) and they've allowed us some price protection on the house in hopes of getting it sold faster. I think I hate debt worse than just about any other thing. (Just ask my husband... when he proposed I wouldn't marry him for almost a year because I didn't want to marry while I still owed a penny to anyone. At the time I only had a few hundred dollars in debt, mostly school debt.)
Yes I am frustrated with it all, but I am not entirely discouraged, either. Mainly just tired of it. I also wouldn't be surprised if DH goes in to work tomorrow morning and they tell him to accept the offer and let them make up the difference. And if they do, we'll probably take them up on their generosity. But I had to really hold myself back when the doggone realtor in WI starts in on this whole, "Yes, but if your company doesn't want you to take they offer they're going to have to keep paying your temp housing...." I cut her off and said, "Look, they don't HAVE to do anything. They don't have to help sell our house. They don't have to pay our rent or anything else. They have no obligation to us whatsoever." She starts in again with it "only" being another $15,000 (as if it were pocket change!) out of their pockets. In this she was forgetting to count the fact that they're also asking for 3% at closing. I told her for that plus what they were already shelling out in the offer they could hire another engineer for a year, if they got one right out of college.
Anyway, we'll see what happens. I want it to sell really badly, but at the same time, I don't want to sell it for so little, not only for our sakes, but for DH's company's sake. DH was so stressed out by even telling the HR guy about the offer (because he is afraid they'll tell us to take it and that they'll extend the price protection yet again) and when he got home from work today he just wanted to go out and get away from this rent house for a little while. So, even though we just ate out the other night, we went out again (we never eat out twice in the same week.) Found some 24-hour pancake house and went in and ate breakfast at 7 PM, and listened to him flip-flop back and forth 100 times about whether he hoped the company okayed the deal or not. The girls were really hopeful that it will sell. They really are ready to get back to someplace where they have a little room to run.
Update:
The company lowered the amount that they would accept from the buyers, but not to the offer level, which was a total rip off(the buyer's offer, not the company's!). We presented it as a non-negotiable counter offer with the condition that we would not pay any of the buyer's closing costs. They have until Monday to think about it and try to come up with the money; otherwise we are released from the deal and can try to find someone else to buy it... and maybe find another realtor. As soon as I told our realtor that we would lower the price again but paying the closing costs was a non-negotiable, she started stammering, "But, but, but... what if they raise the price back up to the 129,900? Then would you pay the closing costs?" I was so aggravated with her that I had a hard time controlling my voice when I said, "Take it or leave it. We aren't paying closing costs, and besides, you already told me that they couldn't afford $129,900... now if they can suddenly get that much money, they should have just taken our last offer, shouldn't they?" I told her I didn't want to hear from her until Monday, and I guess she took me literally, because today she emailed me paperwork for the offer and the rejection and counter-offer(s), and never called to let me know it was in the inbox waiting for me to sign it, scan it, and send it back. ???
I have never had a good felling about your realtor.
I almost suspect the person she is dealing with is a family member or a good friend, thinking they can rob you.
Dunno, just a feeling.
I think you need a new realtor. Fire this one (if the deal falls through) and just explain to her that you are getting a new realtor to help provide you with a new perspective.
If the deal falls through, I think that we will do that. Today is the day of truth. We should hear a yea or nay from them sometime today. I told them I don't want any other answer besides yes or no, and I won't look at another counter offer. Sick of playing games. I am going back to the cute little cabin in the boonies today. :) It's dreary and rainy, so nice day to look at a little cozy cabin. Taking the camera to take pics so that I can kind of keep up with what I like/don't like about it, etc. Also going to look at a couple of places that are a bit closer...but I already drove by them and don't really like the location as well.
I think Stinker is right about this something is fishy.
If you ever feel pushed, stressed, lied to,ect.ect.ect. it is time for a new realtor.
They work for you!
A different realtor would be a good idea.
Good luck,W
You have to be firm about your bottom dollar. Some realtors will work the seller as hard or harder than the buyer. It's just a commission to them, the cheaper the property is, the faster it sells, and the faster they get their cut. That's why it's important to get market estimates from several realtors when you're getting ready to list a property, as well as doing your own research. Sometimes it pays to get your own appraisal done.
I still say you need to raise the price. Too cheap scares people into thinking something's wrong with the house. I'd raise the price and increase the marketing budget.
Argh!!! After telling the realtor that we wouldn't even look at another counter offer, she sent me another one today!!!!! >:( I wrote back without printing and signing the document she sent and told her our offer stands and if she wants the deal to go through, they can either come to our price or she can take it out of her dadgummed commission!!! I was so irate reading that.
Apparently there have been a lot of lookers at the place we like, but no one wants to brave that road, so they haven't had any offers yet. The weather was pretty awful today, but the road was no more or less driveable than it was in fairly good weather. Slipped around a bit, but didn't have to use the 4WD. The drive to the house is the only part of the road I'd worry about. The county road from there is good, even though gravel. The driveway is approx 1/2 mile long, but seems longer because of the condition. The first 1/3 is OK, and would be doable in our Impala, most likely, but after that, it would rip the guts out of the car. The bridge over the little creek seems to be the best part after the first 1/3 of the drive. The rest of it is sand, clay, or sandstone; it is very slippery with big chunks of sandstone sticking out everywhere. Don't have a clue what it would cost to fix it. Of course, it needs several loads of gravel, but it also needs some grading/drainage issues first. Don't know if we'll get it or not, though.
Fire your realtor.
Oh yes, and when you fire her, tell her that you got your instructions from glenn, therefore it is all his fault.
Thanks, Stinky. I once had a dog named Stinky....not that long ago. ::)
you might want to sleep on firing her outright if you decide to go that route, it is a buyers market and the buyers know this. If the realtor is representing the buyer as well she is obligated to inform them of any information she has in order to get them a good deal. Unfortunately if she is representing you she has a similar obligation to you as well, which puts her in a moral crunch when she represents both. Usually a higher commission yields the realtor acting in the sellers favor, but in this climate - any sale may be good enough. Someone mentioned above it might be a friend or relative of the realtor looking to get a sweetheart deal as well, I wouldn't rule it out.
I understand you can't wait to just have it settled and behind you... for good or bad. I wouldn't go making plans to fix the driveway on the new place until the old one was gone. First things first and all that. Keep the focus on priorities, out with the old. Get stable. Then plan to move forward.
All that being said, I have some plans I worked out for a homemade rake/boxblade you can tow behind your truck to even out that driveway on the cheap.
She is not representing the buyers... another realtor is, from the same real estate company but in a different office. I think I lit a fire under her tonight. Got a short and to the point email promising that she and the other realtor would talk tomorrow about taking the closing costs out of their commissions. We'll see.
Oh, and Muldoon, I might have to check out your plans if/when this all goes through and if/when we're able to buy a place.
Quote from: glenn kangiser on November 10, 2008, 10:43:51 PM
Thanks, Stinky. I once had a dog named Stinky....not that long ago. ::)
Glenn your dog Stinky has been over at my place again >:(
(https://i455.photobucket.com/albums/qq278/Minermatt/BIG_BEAR_SCAT_.jpg)
[shocked]
That's one big dump, Whitlock.... you sure it was her? hmm
Quote from: glenn kangiser on November 11, 2008, 01:46:59 AM
That's one big dump, Whitlock.... you sure it was her? hmm
You tell me she is your dog [slap] Glad I didn't step in it, the picture doesn't show it but that pile is about 12 inches tall [shocked]
Sorry for stealing you thread HG
hi homey,
just thought i'd let you know that i had the same problem w/my long driveway. someone had put sandstone down and it didn't work worth a you know what! turned to mush in wet weather. grade it like muldoon was saying and in the bad spots dress with slag if you have it out there. it works great and hardens like concrete so water doesn't get under it and soak the driveway. it used to be cheap(by product from steel smeltering) and they couldn't give the stuff away but now it is more expensive. do the bad spots first and as you can afford it spread out from there. i found it works much better than gravel. downside? it may have to be removed if you want to pave w/asphalt and maybe concrete.
Is slag the crushed, whitish-grey stuff that is really fine and ends up almost as good as pavement? My grandparents used to dump gravel and more gravel on their quarter mile driveway when I was a kid, and finally they put some of that stuff down and never had to add gravel again. The sandstone is outcroppings from underground where the soil has washed out. Don't know if there is a solution without building the road bed back up, and if we do that, how and with what materials? For now, I am thinking that surely there can be no objection to parking the Impala out at the cattle guard by the main county road, and then DH would have to either walk 1/2 mile to the road in the morning, or I'd have to drive him out there in the truck on bad weather days. Don't know. Counting chickens again here. We're hoping to reach some sort of deal on the Wisconsin house today. I told the realtor to take the difference between the final offer we gave and the buyer's last counter out of the commission. I think she gets the point that if she doesn't make this happen, she is going to lose our listing.
Some notes on rural driveway design, soil identification, and base material.
http://theurbanrancher.tamu.edu/construction/ruraldrivewaydesign.htm
As for grooming, get creative. an old box spring with a few 50 pound sacks of concrete being drug behind a truck would be better than nothing. Or, a 6x6 board with a 10' length of chainlink fence attached, again with some concrete blocks or sacks to weigh it down. If you need teeth on the front, drive in and epoxy some rebar vertical on the front face. Theres always a way to make do using what you have. Kinda fun to lash something crazy to a 4 wheeler and drag it around a while too.
You can look at some of the commercial styles to get ideas,
http://www.drpower.com/twoStepInquiry.aspx?X=1&Name=Power_Grader_G&src=AW61060XE2813309&gclid=CMq9koK87ZYCFRg6awodCDh0rA
And cheaper alternatives that you might mimic in design if they are not outright attainable for you.
http://www.drivewaygroomer.com/
http://www.handozer.com/html/mg.htm
yes, that's slag. all the country folks up here use it and it hardens like concrete. it also blends in w/the country look IMO. no maintenance. good luck on house. if you get your house let me know and i will give you more info on how to use slag(nothing to it).
Also, Homey, if water washes down the slope of the driveway put waterbars in the repaired work to make the water drain off to a side ditch. They are just bumps to take the water to side - I like to angle them toward the down hill side about 30 degrees in the direction of downhill travel- they can be gentle - so the water doesn't gain velocity down hill and remove material.
Well... after 9 months of beating our heads on the wall, the buyers in Wisconsin reached an agreement with us. Closing is on Dec. 9th. I'll be soooo glad to be done with it! Now, to start figuring out what to offer on the house we want here. Need more coffee. c*
WOOOHOOOO!
Congrats!
I beat a weight has been dislodged from your shoulders.
Congrats HG!
Good luck on the new home!
Thanks guys! I'm glad it is going to happen finally. When our last house sold, we did well, and we went out for steak that night. I think tonight we'll celebrate with ramen noodles or something! :P
Grats HG. I bet you're happy. :)
I'm happy for you all, but I'm holding my breath till Dec 9. :-\ :-\ Just the way I function.
Quote from: Homegrown Tomatoes on November 11, 2008, 04:35:37 PM
Thanks guys! I'm glad it is going to happen finally. When our last house sold, we did well, and we went out for steak that night. I think tonight we'll celebrate with ramen noodles or something! :P
awesome news and not a minute too soon. I agree with Don on waiting for the 9th to officially have your big steak celebration night, banks are still acting funny lately so I'll be keeping my fingers crossed for you until it's finalized. . o O ( Hope that potential mortgage isn't with Downey Financial after today d* )
The even better news is that you have learned that as the buyer YOU now have the leverage the next time at the negotiating table.
YEA HOMEGROWN, CONGRATS!!!! :)
Here's hoping all continues to go well until closing. Best to you, Homey, Lyon and kids. :)
:) And it comes with a free pizza! We decided to go out for pizza last night, and I stuck the chicken stew in the fridge for tonight because I hadn't had time to finish it up yet anyway with all the interruptions yesterday. Hadn't been to Hideaway Pizza since college, so we went in and sat down. They brought us menus, and then we just sat there for about 20 minutes. I didn't think too much about it because the one in Stillwater where we went to school always used to have kind of slow service. Anyway, this kid comes out and apologizes profusely for not waiting on us. There was a mix-up as to whose table we were. So, he takes our order and runs off to get our drinks. About ten minutes later, he comes out and tells us that they made the wrong pizza for us, and it will be even longer, so would we like a free appetizer while they remake our pizza? Then he brought us a huge plate of fried mushrooms (yum!) and apologized some more. We're sitting there enjoying the mushrooms when the manager, who looks like a character out of some sci-fi fantasy movie with his strange and painful looking piercings, etc., brings out the pizza and apologizes yet again, and then tells us our dinner is on him. We didn't even ask. It wasn't a big deal, but it would have been over $30 with the drinks and the mushrooms, etc. I was in shock that we got a free meal, and we hadn't even complained about the service or how slow they were. Anyway, it was kind of a fun way to celebrate, especially since it didn't cost a dime, except for the tip.
they are doing the well test and inspection tomorrow on the WI house.
Way to go Homey!
A year ago I was deep in the offer / counter offer stage and was biting my nails. It is a great feeling to get closed on the old and the new.
Congrats on the pizza too ;D
-f-
[cool] [cool] [cool] [cool] [cool] [cool] [cool]
Just got an email from our agent in WI. Apparently the inspector found all sorts of junk they want us to repair if the deal is to go through. We just don't have the money to do any more repairs. I feel sick. Almost everything he noted is stuff that was wrong when we bought the house or is just flat stupid (the batteries in the smoke detector have gone dead, so he noted that it is "inoperable". ) Heck, it went off every time my husband decided to cook breakfast on a Saturday morning, so I know it works.
Sorry!!!!!
I was afraid that may happen. Seems like they want to do everything possible to NOT loan money.
Even before the meltdown, a lot of inspectors were complete idiots. I had a friend who sold his house three years ago. The inspector came out and among other impossible things, noted no foundation vents. The problem was that it was built on a slab. ???
I am so sorry to hear that. :( I wish I had more to say.
sorry homey,
i used to do home inspections and i was obligated to point out every little thing to prospective buyers but i also told thom that unless it was a $500.00 problem that they shouldn't really worry about it. ALL homes have problems. even $1,000,000 brand new mcmansions.
This is not nice -- any as is offer or room for negotiation? -- like they are expecting new for a bargain price?
Quote from: apaknad on November 14, 2008, 09:43:54 AM
sorry homey,
i used to do home inspections and i was obligated to point out every little thing to prospective buyers but i also told thom that unless it was a $500.00 problem that they shouldn't really worry about it. ALL homes have problems. even $1,000,000 brand new mcmansions.
Dan, I wrote to our WI realtor and asked her where they hired the inspection Nazi because I want to hire him for whenever we get to the offer stage of buying a house. He was very thorough, even if he couldn't spell, way better than either of our previous inspectors. He left no stone unturned.
Quote from: glenn kangiser on November 14, 2008, 11:10:17 AM
This is not nice -- any as is offer or room for negotiation? -- like they are expecting new for a bargain price?
Yeah, I think that pretty much sums it up. I asked the realtor to find out what they want, but that for the price they're getting they should accept it as it without exception! We haven't heard from her all day. I'm going out with DH to look at a couple of places tomorrow.
He was very thorough, even if he couldn't spell.
Not to pointing a finger at you Homey
I can't spell :-[ (witch I'm sure you all know this) and have always wondered why people look down on me or bring it up. ??? This forum is helping me to learn how to spell. [cool]
Every post is a struggle :-\ we all have our weaknesses. The spell checker helps (But???)
This post took me 12 minutes to type d*
Thanks for understanding,W
Maybe a good weekend of work will solve their issues. A 9 volt battery for a smoke dectector is easy. Maybe the rest seems worse than it is. Or a minor price modification to get them to accept things "as is". You have come this far don't give up now. You have your husbands employer in yur corner with some resources too.
Quote from: Whitlock on November 14, 2008, 09:39:35 PM
He was very thorough, even if he couldn't spell.
Not to pointing a finger at you Homey
I can't spell :-[ (witch I'm sure you all know this) and have always wondered why people look down on me or bring it up. ??? This forum is helping me to learn how to spell. [cool]
Every post is a struggle :-\ we all have our weaknesses. The spell checker helps (But???)
This post took me 12 minutes to type d*
Thanks for understanding,W
[rofl2] OK, so there is a difference between typos and spelling mistakes. It is just that every time he wrote "improper" or "inoperable" he wrote this:
"in proper" and "in operable", which just cracked me up. But, to be honest, he was a lot better speller than the first inspector on our first home, who must have been pretty dyslexic because there were some words that I just couldn't figure out no matter how much I stared at them or tried reading them aloud. I can see why spell check missed the above mistakes. However, I don't know if our first inspector even knew what spell check was or how to use it. This guy in Wisconsin also took pictures of everything he took issue with, which I thought would be a helpful thing to the buyers. So, forgive me for picking on his spelling; he is a good inspector. I just wish he were working for us and not the buyers!!!
Oh, and Whitlock, to be honest, I'd never noticed that you can't spell.... the only reason I noticed this guy's spelling was that they were paying him $300+ to communicate clearly and it kind of stood out on the page because he was writing it as two separate words. Glenn picks on my grammar all the time, and I used to be an English teacher. ??? (I'm really good with misplaced modifiers and run-on sentences.)
By the way, still no word back from my realtor on what's going on. Haven't heard from her since Thursday night, which I think is kind of a poor way to run a business, but, what can I do? She's 900 miles away!
...and now that you are back in Oklahoma you say ya'll (sp) all the time.... :)
...and I have actually eased up on you a bit but I'm really having second thoughts about that. rofl
Some Realtors Suck >:(
Quote from: glenn kangiser on November 15, 2008, 10:50:43 PM
...and I have actually eased up on you a bit but I'm really having second thoughts about that. rofl
Glenn, give me an inch and I'll take a mile. It's "y'all". rofl
Quote from: Whitlock on November 15, 2008, 11:34:12 PM
Some Realtors Suck >:(
Yeah, I'm not really happy with her, Whitlock. Been so stressed out the past week or two that my back is all in knots and I'm walking kind of like John McCain... have to turn my whole body to turn to the left...need to get my kids to walk on my back and see if they can get it back into place. :-\ I've sent her two emails since we got the inspection report on Thursday, and she needs to at least notify me of what they want us to fix, but she's not called or emailed anything. She could at least send me a one-liner saying, "They're getting an estimate" or something. I really wonder just whose side she's on part of the time. :-[
Quote from: Homegrown Tomatoes on November 15, 2008, 11:45:10 PM
Quote from: glenn kangiser on November 15, 2008, 10:50:43 PM
...and I have actually eased up on you a bit but I'm really having second thoughts about that. rofl
Glenn, give me an inch and I'll take a mile. It's "y'all". rofl
OK... got that.
Please splain me sumpin, Lucy. I'm actually referring to you, Homey.
What's the difference between "y'all" and "all y'all" ? hmm
Someone asked a guy to spell Mississippi. To which he responded "The river or the state?" My fingers seem to land on the wrong keys lately sometimes and I have to proofread about everything these days.
Quote from: glenn kangiser on November 15, 2008, 10:46:22 PM
...and now that you are back in Oklahoma you say ya'll (sp) all the time.... :)
It's subtle, like the placement of an apostrophe, seeing as how y'all is a contraction of "you" and "all". ;)
That's giving me contractions, Homey. rofl
Des, I have to proofread every comment I make. Not only do I type pretty fast and add letters but dyslexia often slips in and my keyboard is getting worn out and I miss letters. I often lose my s. d*
You should have seen me typing this.
glen,
be vewy, vewy caweful, you don't want to lose your ess. [scared]
On one of the pro gun boards I frequent....and don't care for a lot of the people there, after I posted something, a member wrote
Call me nitpicking and shallow if you like, but I hate people who interchange you're and your.
I replied:
Your nitpicking and shallow and you forgot anal!
He wrote:
It's ANILE.
???
He doesn't even know the correct spelling - I'm sure you knew what you meant, peter rofl
Quote from: Homegrown Tomatoes on November 15, 2008, 11:49:24 PM
Quote from: Whitlock on November 15, 2008, 11:34:12 PM
Some Realtors Suck >:(
Yeah, I'm not really happy with her, Whitlock. Been so stressed out the past week or two that my back is all in knots and I'm walking kind of like John McCain... have to turn my whole body to turn to the left...need to get my kids to walk on my back and see if they can get it back into place. :-\ I've sent her two emails since we got the inspection report on Thursday, and she needs to at least notify me of what they want us to fix, but she's not called or emailed anything. She could at least send me a one-liner saying, "They're getting an estimate" or something. I really wonder just whose side she's on part of the time. :-[
So what'd you do, Homey? Pray for patience???? :D d*
If you pray for patience you may get pregnant. I no longer pray for that. I learned my lesson. God will give you what you ask for.
hmm I've never gotten pregnant....
...but then again - I've never prayed for patience... [crz]
:slap <---- you really need to get the emote.
[slap] You mean that one -- in the [more] section, Stink.
I guess I had a duh moment...
Of course that would be YOUR fault.
[slap] [noidea' heh
Still waiting on doggone realtor to contact me back. Haven't heard a word from her in several days now. Not as patient as I should be, I suppose.
ARGHHHH!!!!! These people are wanting us to do $1700 worth of repairs to the house that they're already putting us in the hole on!!!!!! Forget it, they can walk if they want. There isn't a single thing on the list that they couldn't do themselves. There's even stupid stuff on the list like cleaning out the gutters!!!!!!!!!!! I can't fathom that they could be so stupid as to ask for stuff like this. Surely there's a better offer out there? Dang it. If they want it bad enough, they're going to take it as is.
tell them to look for a condo if they can't clean their own gutters for goodness sake(unless elderly).
>>>>>>>HUG<<<<<<<
You've sure had your "trials" this past year... hopefully it will all work out very soon & you'll be able to get into your own home...
:) Well, I just fired off an email to my realtor (which she'll no doubt share with the buyer's realtor) basically telling her the buyers could kiss my grits, but we're not going to do their honey-do list for them. We did agree to change the hot water heater IFF it really needs changing (after our neighbor/contractor looks at it and gives us his opinion.) I hope for it to go ahead and close on December 9th. I have to think that these folks have already put down $1000 in earnest and they've paid for an inspection, so hopefully they don't want to lose their money. Meanwhile, I'm fed up with the whole deal; wish that I had the option to hibernate until it all blows over! If we get this house sold and buy another place, we are staying put and not moving again! (ScottA was so right when he said the moral of the story is : Never leave Oklahoma!!!)
Found out today that the buyers don't speak English, so that's why they have no idea that they can clean their own gutters or get a spark-arresting cap for the chimney themselves. (And I'm sure that "kiss my grits" was lost in translation :-\) Anyone know how to say "grits" in Spanish? Anyway, it looks like the deal will go through. I'm sending them an amendment to tell them that we'll do whatever repairs are required for FHA loan to go through, but otherwise they can forget about it.
That's annoying. No one can get a mortgage these days except a couple who don't speak english. >:(
Quote from: Homegrown Tomatoes on November 18, 2008, 12:49:24 PM
(And I'm sure that "kiss my grits" was lost in translation :-\) Anyone know how to say "grits" in Spanish? .
Maíz machacado.
Esta es bien, Homey.
Es todo su glenn de la avería
Uno mas Cerveza fria, Por favor?!?!? ??? don't know if it's right but after saying it a few times I don't remember how they told me to say it [crz] d*
Yes Stink - I know.
Another cold beer, cordwood - Corona OK? hmm
Quote from: Homegrown Tomatoes on November 18, 2008, 12:49:24 PM
Found out today that the buyers don't speak English, so that's why they have no idea that they can clean their own gutters or get a spark-arresting cap for the chimney themselves. (And I'm sure that "kiss my grits" was lost in translation :-\) Anyone know how to say "grits" in Spanish? Anyway, it looks like the deal will go through. I'm sending them an amendment to tell them that we'll do whatever repairs are required for FHA loan to go through, but otherwise they can forget about it.
When we sold our last house one prospective wanted us to "pump" the septic,.....I said no but we do have a certified inspection that should be enough. They wanted it pumped so they would be starting "FRESH!!!" I told them they could start "FRESH!" on their own dime, I couldn't afford to pump the septic every time someone looked at the house ::)
They watch those tv shows that tell them to ask for the moon just to see if they can get it but they forget there are tv shows that tell the rest when to tell them to get lost ;)
In our state it is required for the sellers to pump the septic unless they had it pumped within 12 months of sale.
Well, I think that's pretty crappy, Stink. d*
Quote from: glenn kangiser on November 19, 2008, 01:08:26 AM
Well, I think that's pretty crappy, Stink. d*
Ditto!!!
If you list it for three years ya gotta pump it three times? [toilet] [frus]
If I was the seller and was confronted with that pumping requirement, I'd see if I could write the deal to give the buyer the cost of a typical pump out off the sale price and have the buyer get it done after the closing. ???
Hey, I didn't write the law.
I am just the messenger here.
Crap flows downhill, Stink. You are bound to get some on you. ::)
Quote
When we sold our last house one prospective wanted us to "pump" the septic,.....I said no but we do have a certified inspection that should be enough. They wanted it pumped so they would be starting "FRESH!!!" I told them they could start "FRESH!" on their own dime, I couldn't afford to pump the septic every time someone looked at the house ::)
They watch those tv shows that tell them to ask for the moon just to see if they can get it but they forget there are tv shows that tell the rest when to tell them to get lost ;)
That's funny!
My husband had mentioned doing something similar before buying a place. I kind of chewed him out. I figure if it has been pumped fairly recently, and inspected and everything looks fine, it would be stupid to ask for something like that, and if we were the ones selling, we'd think it was frivolous. Our relocation package will pay to have a septic inspection, so I told him we could just do that.
Our realtor called me yesterday. Seems that she has decided that she is on our side after all. She sent the buyers an amendment yesterday that says we'll pay for either the electrical OR the hot water heater (which isn't leaking, according to her son, who is a contractor, but is a little corroded from when the basement flooded in the spring...) and that we'll only do that if FHA requires it. Haven't heard back, but if they want to close by December 9th, they better get it in gear and come to an agreement soon.... otherwise we won't have time to get a check cut for the deal to go through.
ED: fixed quote - MD
Well, looks like the deal is falling through. Totally fed up with the prospective buyers. They don't want to clean their own gutters or reattach the downspout that fell off, or clean the leaves off the roof, or put a spark-arresting cap on the chimney, etc. They won't give an inch on anything. They're just being flat stupid about it.
I am so sorry to hear that. Words can not express enough.
I'm sorry also. There's a lot that I could say but without a lot of explanation, would sound insulting to many people....so I won't go there. I will repeat a phrase I used a lot when I was building spec houses whenever I got a buyer like yours....
Thems that gots the least....demands the most!
They want us to "fix" all this stuff, most of which is routine maintainence, and I'm afraid we'll send the money to fix it and they'll show up at closing without enough to close. Then we've spent money to "fix" stuff that could be done without and still don't have a real buyer. Their realtor sent me the most obnoxious email. Maybe I should coolly tell her to kiss my grits, too? Anyway, if they can't afford to do routine maintainence on a house, what makes them think they can afford to live there??? My gosh, who'll clean the gutters out next spring, or maybe they'll want it in the contract for us to do that, too??
d* d* It's OK, at this point, as badly as I want to make an offer on the place we like, it isn't going anywhere fast, and even if it does, there'll be something else come along. At this point, I wouldn't want to give a cat I liked to these folks, and I'm not a cat person.
Just a thought....since you seem to be getting the bottom of the barrel anyway, why not place an ad on Craigslist for that area. Around here, Craigslist is getting more buyers than the Real estate Agents. ....Make sure you set up an email account just for that or you'll be getting junk mail for years.
Well, I figure if they actually can afford the house and are just trying to get a sweet deal, they'll come back and accept our final offer. If they truly can't afford it, then they really don't need the house anyway and would only end up in foreclosure if the deal proceeded. Still, I'm hoping while they're piddling around trying to decide that someone else will come along and make a better offer so we can just get it sold. Our realtor is going to do another open house in the next week or two.
If this deal does not go through, I really think you need a new realtor with new perspective.
Well, she sent the paperwork today from the other realtor to end the negotiations. In a way, I'm relieved. DH's company is still helping out with temp housing, so hopefully we'll get a better offer. Our realtor is doing another open house this weekend. She's got ads out already. It is really in God's hands... we have no control over what happens with it because we have done the very best that we can to make it happen, but I just can't see emptying our bank accounts so that they can have their house.
:-\
Selling my house in Oregon was one of the most irritating events in my life. When I finally turned over the keys, I never looked back. I didn't want to know what was going to happen to that place, after all the deprecatory remarks I received about it during the sales process. I know that the buyers were just trying to get a deal, but gads some of it was harsh. And the house was only 3 years old, not a mark on it. [frus]
The good news is I've been mortgage free since. I feel for you Homegrown, that stuff will make you crazy....but only temporarily. :)
Homegrown, Sorry to hear about all the problems you are having. There are buyers out there that you would like to drop down a very deep well. I am a broker with my own business and I had some clients that everyone who dealt with them, called them THE CLIENTS FROM HELL. There was some extra muscle brought in for the closing in case they went crazy and did something.
If the other agent sent you a nasty email, send it on to the Real Estate Commission. They need to know what the people they license do. There are many rules that must be followed.
Hopefully things will improve and you can get it sold.
Considerations, I've always read that next to losing a loved one, moving is one of the most stressful experiences in life. However, I'd beg to differ. Moving 900 miles in bitter cold weather with two small kids and two dogs and a parakeet while seven months pregnant was actually fun, relatively speaking, particularly because I was so glad to get back here. However, selling the house has been a little bit of a pain in the neck, and I'll be really glad when it is over. I'm through hoping to get a good price for the house, and through with hoping it will all go smoothly; if we could just get 'er done, come heck or high water, I'd be glad. We feel like our life is just been put on hold indefinitely; DH and I were talking the other day and he made a comment that he still feels like we're "living in a hotel" because of the fact that we only unpacked necessities (I have exactly three long-sleeved shirts out... have no idea where a sweater or heavier clothes may be, but did find a pair of courderoy jeans the other day which were a welcome sight.) Normally, we would've gone fishing and camping multiple times over the summer, and maybe gone on at least one decent road trip. Granted part of the lack of normal activities is because there is a new baby, but most of it is just that everything is still on hold until that house is gone.
SSis, I may have to do that. She didn't use any foul language, but she did say that we had "issues" because we wouldn't continue to dig ourselves deeper in the hole so these folks could have a house. She also hinted that we were racist because we wouldn't, and that we were lying about what we could "afford".... apparently she thought we were rich? My realtor was completely worn out from dealing with her, and described trying to talk to her as being like slamming her head into a brick wall.
Your 'clients from hell' story reminds me of my first real job when I was in highschool. I worked at a portrait studio. This woman came in one afternoon raising cain about where was the "michelle" she'd talked to. Three of us were named Michelle, and there was another girl named Shelly, and none of us recognized this woman, nor could we figure out why she was yelling at us. The assistant manager came back from break about that time and got into it with the gal. The other two michelles and the Shelly and I watched around the corner of the office door because we thought there were going to be punches thrown. Anyway, turns out the lady was there to pick up her pictures, and one of us had called her on the phone to let her know they were in, so we'd never actually talked to her in person. Once the assistant manager found out why she was there, they went into the office to look at the pictures. We heard a lot of shouting from both sides and expected the assistant manager to be calling for help any second. All of the sudden, the door burst open and the lady huffed out with a bag under her arm. The assistant manager came back in and took a sip of her ice tea, while we all clamored around her wanting to know what happened. She smiled coolly and said, "You just have to know how to deal with people like that." One of the Michelles asked her if the lady had bought anything, whereupon the AM smiled and said, "She bought them all, ordered extra, and took two frames as well."
Homegrown, the other agent should have never sent you anything. If she had an issue she should have addressed it to your agent. That agent sounds like a holy terror that needs to be taken down a few notches. She was already counting the money she was going to get from the commission and got mad when it fell through. I never counted on my commission until the minute I held the check in my hand. Even sitting down at the closing table, the deal can fall through.
Just hold your ground and a buyer will come along that doesn't want the stars and moon and the whole universe.
Quote from: southernsis on November 22, 2008, 08:27:14 AM
Homegrown, the other agent should have never sent you anything. If she had an issue she should have addressed it to your agent. That agent sounds like a holy terror that needs to be taken down a few notches. She was already counting the money she was going to get from the commission and got mad when it fell through. I never counted on my commission until the minute I held the check in my hand. Even sitting down at the closing table, the deal can fall through.
Just hold your ground and a buyer will come along that doesn't want the stars and moon and the whole universe.
In this part of the world, contacting you directly without your agent's permission, is an ethics violation.
Peter, it is an ethics violation. The agent can be in deep trouble for what she/he did.
Quote from: southernsis on November 23, 2008, 09:31:03 AM
Peter, it is an ethics violation. The agent can be in deep trouble for what she/he did.
Isn't it interesting how ethics go out of the window....when times gt tight. ???
[frus] [frus] [frus] [frus] [frus] [noidea'
I don't know... maybe we should have just given them the moon, but then they would've asked for the sun and stars too. No one showed for the open house over the weekend.
I hope that estate agent for that couple you just dealt with didn't do something to sabotage your open house. :-\
I also hope your agent really did her best to have an open house.
Praise the Lord!!! We have another offer, a legitimate one this time, from a guy who's already got the VA loan paperwork pretty much done, and they want to close on Dec. 29th. I am flabbergasted. They aren't asking for everything and a kite like the last offer, and they know what the previous inspection turned up already, so there are no surprises. Couldn't ask for a better Christmas present than that!!!!
This sounds good, Homey. I feel better about it. :)
Sweet! Fingers are crossed. ;D
Yeah, poor folks are moving from HI to WI in DECEMBER!!!! That's gonna be rough! I wonder if they're from that area though and that's why they're moving there. Or maybe he is getting stationed at Great Lakes? Either way, I'm ecstatic. We already sent our counter.
Super! c* to success!
You must have been a good girl for Santa to bring you such a wonderful gift. Congrats!
homegrown i am sooo happy for you. when this is all said and done i expect you to send cookies to all forumites(well it doesn't hurt to ask). [cool]
HT I am happy for you. I know what a pain you have been dealing with. Probably would have been better to show in Aug with someone from HI. But take it when you can get it. ;D
I still had my fingers crossed from the last one, but I'll be keeping them that way until your all done. Sounds promising, hoping for the best. Sure would make a nice Christmas present.
Hope it works out HG. I was in OKC today. It was cold there too. ;D
I am so very happy for you.
One, because you deserve to have this done with.
Two, so now I can step in and complain about my home not selling. heh
Yay, homegrown! I hope it all goes through...and quickly! Our JUST closed Wednesday after over a year of waiting. We didn't get much out of it, but we were SO glad to see it go so that we can be "free." Best wishes!
;)
Quote from: StinkerBell on December 04, 2008, 09:04:01 PM
I am so very happy for you.
One, because you deserve to have this done with.
Two, so now I can step in and complain about my home not selling. heh
Rant on, Stink! I feel your pain.... it's been 10 months since we moved and finally, though I may just be hallucinating, I think I see the light at the end of the tunnel. I'm trying not to count chickens just yet, but kinda hard not to. Don't know that I deserve to be done with it or not, but sure will be glad to be free!
Scott, it has been a bit chilly...went out earlier to pull a branch out that had fallen into the dogs' water...water came out with it. ???
Dan, will peanut brittle do? I just bought a bunch of big bags of locally grown peanuts the other day and that's sort of what I had in mind. ;D
Well, don't have it all in writing yet, but it sounds like they are accepting our counter offer; they have accepted verbally, and are in a hurry to get it ready to close. They are wanting to close before the new year, so they're working to get all the inspections, etc. done now. Whew! I'm still trying hard not to count my chicks before they hatch, but the cute little cabin in the woods is still available for sale at the present time. Hope it all works out this time.
Three weeks till the date they set for closing. Hope it happens. We're still negotiating the fine points, but the price is already agreed upon. Hope that they get their ducks in a row so that we can have the money ready in time for closing. I'd hate for them to be homeless in WI in the winter. As we're dealing again with the frustration of using a go-between (realtors) I just wish we could speak directly with the buyers and we'd probably git 'er done a lot faster and with everyone happy. Hopefully by this afternoon we'll have all the written agreements done with so that we can move on to the well inspection and so forth.
Woohoo! :)
Heard any more?
It's under contract, but don't feel like our realtor is doing us any favors.... it's a long story. Anyway, I haven't heard from her in two days and am really starting to wonder what's really going on and what's going to happen with it. I'm thinking that the negative impact that our realtor is having on this deal is not so much out of maliciousness as it is ignorance. :-\ ANyway, hope it still goes through.
Homegrown, how is the deal going? Ask your agent questions and make her/him give you answers. I have may fingers crossed for you.
Ssis,
I sent you a message.
We are waiting to hear back from her still. Hopefully, if they're going to do the sewer inspection, they've already done it or set it up at least. I asked my realtor why on earth she gave the previous home inspection to them (it was a confidential report for the previous buyers and bought at their expense.... I am assuming that it was because they decided not to do an inspection and that she was trying to help "speed the process".) However, when the inspection was done she said herself it was the worst one she'd ever seen because of the way the inspector wrote it... he made minor, minor issues sound like deal breakers. (Remember he was going to charge the other buyers something like $45 to re-attach a downspout -- a two minute, max, job?) Anyway, in his report, he said that although he left the water running (for close to an hour) in the house and flushed the toilet numerous time and everything "seemed" fine, the buyers may want to have a sewer inspection because it is an older house and because there are mature trees in the yard. Now after we have a signed counter offer, the buyers suddenly want us to go back to the counter-offer that is already signed (their counter, incidentally) and add another clause to it about them having the right to do a sewer inspection. I told them no because that would be forgery for us to add to a contract after they've already signed it, and more so since it was their counter in the first place. I told them they could inspect the sewer, test for lead paint and radon gas or whatever the heck they want to do, but they need to remember we have a signed contract and the deal stands. They're getting $4k at closing for "repairs", even though the total of all the stupid nitpicky stuff that the inspector for the previous buyers only amounted to $2K.... they have enough to fix absolutely ANYTHING wrong or potentially wrong with that house.... and now I don't know what is going on because we haven't heard a word from our realtor since I told her that I wouldn't change a contract that was already done, and if they needed to amend it, then they could type up the amendment themselves and we would consider it. They are already getting the house for nearly 18K LESS THAN WE OWE (not less than we PAID, but less than we OWE!!!) It is about $47K less than we have IN the house. Dang it! I told our realtor that we are keeping the earnest money if they back out for any reason, and if they won't take the house for some reason without additional money, it has to come out of the commission, because she was the one that gave them the previous inspection (I'd given her permission to disclose anything found by the inspection, but not the inspection itself because it was written in such a blatantly biased and negative tone and made it sound like the house was about to fall in around them.) Anyway, that's where it stands. If this falls through, we are definitely hiring another realtor... hopefully one with a backbone and some good business sense! [frus]
good grief. sorry to hear about your ongoing war.
loosing earnest money should motivate them, hoping for the best (still).
Me too. It is a good, sturdy, well-built, cozy, and charming house. It is well-insulated, level, on a good foundation with no cracks to be found. The basement is dry, full and fully finished except for the furnace room and the laundry room. The main bathroom has been totally remodelled, the kitchen has been gutted and redone. The first floor has all new laminate flooring. It is a cute and comfortable home. There was a slight leak found around the chimney flashing, which is something that I'm all for fixing. There was also a broken glass block window in the basement (the kid we hired to mow after we moved probably threw up a rock and busted it or something.) Those are the two worst "problems" with this house. Most of y'all have seen the pictures from our website of how the kitchen looked when we finished with it. It has a brand new stove and cabinets with the wire pull-out drawers that make all the hard to reach places accessible. The yard is like a park. It is a block from a swim beach on one of the cleanest lakes in the region and has a great view of a field, stream, and railroad track in the distance out the majority of the windows. The floorplan could've probably been better thought-out, but then there's always some room for improvement, and yet it is more than adequate. It has 4 bedrooms, 1.5 baths, a finished basement, etc. I'm thinking we've lowered the price too much and are attracting the kind of buyers who are going to want a lot of something for nothing.??? Very depressing and we still haven't heard ANYTHING back from our realtor, which really makes me wonder what is going on... haven't gotten any notice that they're terminating the deal either, so I hope we're still going forward, but there is no way that we can have money for the closing on Dec. 29th because we still don't have a closing statement so that I can give the info to DH's company.
HT that is the nature of the beast. Find something wrong and get a lower price. It is not only with houses but everything.
Homegrown, I sent you a message.
Thanks, Ssis. Well, they're doing the sewer inspection this morning. I finally heard from our realtor late yesterday evening. They had to wait out a snowstorm to do the inspection, I guess. Don't know WHY the snow should matter since the inspections are usually done from INSIDE the house? Anyway, I am waiting to hear from the realtor after the inspection. I don't forsee any problems, but if there are, the money they're getting in escrow at closing should take care of anything that might be wrong. I'm sure the plumber will probably mention that the tub drain combines cast iron and PVC and is not up to current code (whoopty-doo, it still works just fine.) There aren't any safety issues with the water coming into the house though, at least, and I doubt that there is any trouble between the house and the main sewer. The house is on a well, but has city sewer. Go figure.
If it's on city sewer, why are they doing sewer inspection. The inspections are for septic tanks, aren't they?
The city sewer should take all of the water you want to give it. d*
I do sewer inspections all the time. They have me check them for leaks. Nearly always related to a real estate deal.
yes, HT, peanut brittle will do just fine. Glen, the sewer insp. might be to look for roots and breaks and connections.Mmmm... peanut brittle [hungry]
Dan, was wondering how long it was gonna take before you caught that....was beginning to think maybe you didn't lke peanut brittle!
The inspection went great yesterday and we're back on track.... they are still trying to close on the 29th, but I should get the figures today to turn them in to DH's company. Well inspection and survey done today. 16 days till closing!
It sounds good Homegrown. Ask your agent for the HUD statement. I am sure glad things are going okay.
Thanks, Ssis. I was ready to call you and then things started working out. I guess maybe I was being paranoid because of what happened with the last deal. It looks like everything is going to work out OK. It still would've been better if our realtor hadn't scared them to death with that other inspection! Anyway, at least they still want the house and we're moving toward that end. Thanks so much for your good advice. I'm still trying to remain halfway calm until it is a done deal, but I will be so glad to be out from under that burden. It will have been 11 months since we moved by the time it closes, and a year by the time we are able to move into a new place... it is so funny that we've been here that long. We hunted like crazy yesterday trying to find the Christmas tree stand. I remember seeing it when we moved in and we chunked it back and a box and stuck it somewhere (attic, garage, shed???) thinking we'd move again before Christmas, so there was no need to unpack it yet! Now here it is nearly Christmas, and we don't have a clue where it is! :)
Got a closing statement yesterday and DH submitted it this AM to his company. Two weeks from today is closing!
Homegrown, I am very happy that things are going great for you. That would make a great Christmas present for you. Merry Christmas
Get this: I just got an email from my realtor, and the loan has gone to the underwriters. The buyers have good credit, a substantial downpayment, and everything looks like a go. We will know if/when closing will be for sure by (drumroll please)..... Christmas Eve. That's great, because then the day after Christmas, we can start the process of haggling on the place we want here!
Or maybe the day after that, because we're having DD's b-day party the day after Christmas. ;D ;D
I am so tickled for you HT.
(http://www.allfordmustangs.com/forums/attachments/fun-zone/41701d1206528437-hillarys-happy-dance-happydance.gif)
rofl rofl rofl
That was hilarious, especially with your quote under it!!!!
rofl rofl rofl
Looks like it is going to happen and so I drove out to the place that we like from the front door of DH's company to the driveway of that house is 46 minutes. We thought it was more than that, so it was pleasant surprise. And, no, I didn't speed!
Hope all continues good, Homey. :)