I'm forming a posse...I need to kill someone.

[newanatomy]

I'm liking this group! I'll get busy making star badges.

Today, we made our FIFTH offer on a house. This one is empty and bank-owned and we offered a teensy bit over the asking price. We shall see.

Good luck!

 

[DianaCox]

Because it is HER policy and if the couple of thousand of dollars worth of work is done incorrectly (at no, or minimal, expense to me) by a licensed contractor, at least I have someone to threaten. And there is a small chance they will do some of the work correctly. If she gives me a $500 credit, the MOST I can expect is $500's worth of work.

But that deal is done.

Oh, I thought the home warranty was transferrable.

 

[southernlady]

Oh, I thought the home warranty was transferrable.

Some are or are bought with the purpose of transferring to the new owner.

We had the option of adding one to the sale price but knowing what a royal PITA they are, we declined the offer even tho the house is 100+ years old and the appliances were ALMOST that old, (okay, they are mostly 10-15 years old)

 

[JackieOnLine]

I'm liking this group! I'll get busy making star badges.

Today, we made our FIFTH offer on a house. This one is empty and bank-owned and we offered a teensy bit over the asking price. We shall see.

and buying ponies, too, right? because I want a pony.

hope you get it.

I mean the house.

 

[Spiky Bugger]

Oh, I thought the home warranty was transferrable.

I know that a new policy would exclude pre-existing stuff, which is all the stuff we found at the inspection. So if I want to go with a different company, we are just screwed. On this one, I wanted it to be on HER policy, in case I went with a different company, but also because if we transferred her policy to me, I would still be a customer and have some rights as far as getting the work done correctly.

Moot point, now.

We have offer in on House Number Five!! We are asking for a response by noon tomorrow.

 

[Whit]

We had our broker and the sellers broker agree on the contractor and received one bid then whacked the cost of repairs off the price of the home. We then competitively bid out the work and supervised the work. However I live in a a large city with options...

I do not like guns but can always call cousin Vinnie let me know...

 

[Larra]

Count me in! Put me on the phone and I'm a force to be reckoned with.

 

[Sheanie]

We called on a house today I found on line. We were JUST on that street yesterday and no "For Sale" sign was in the yard. When I asked the realtor about that, he said they had problems with the tenants taking the sign down. WTF? Then I asked why there were no good photos of the house and none of the interior? Tenants won't allow them. Let me guess: seller is from out of state? Yep. So we tooled back over and took a walk around the property. Tenants have settled in like they are permanent owners. Shrubbery, landscaping, garden with permanent looking trellis, you name it, they installed it. Beautiful Craftsman home, but I guarantee they will absolutely GUT it if they are forced to move. There is a shaky offer on it now, I'm betting it's the tenant. Their lease is up June 30th.

We want to downsize, our house is 2400 and heating bills hit over $500 this past winter, even with my hot flashes. Neighborhood is deteriorating, home value dipping. SEV is ridiculously high, we will be lucky to get 75% of what they say it's worth.

Home buying games are NOT for sissies.

 

[Sheanie]

Oh, and yeah, the Posse? Count me in. The tenants have to leave or die. I WILL get a look at the inside of "their" house.

 

[k9ophile]

Home buying games are NOT for sissies.

Neither are home selling games. We've had some rather bizarre experiences in selling property. I had feelings that our realtors were doing something hinky, if not illegal, but I don't know enough to know it that's true.
I don't think it's easy no matter what you're doing.

 

[Spiky Bugger]

We just changed realtors. First one did not follow instructions. Offered to pay for our next (moderately high rent district) home inspection, but never acknowledged that she did anything wrong. She thinks of us as friends, she wrote. I wrote back that even BFFs sometimes need a little time apart.

Two days before we fired her, we interviewed a different broker. That evening, we contacted the one we had just met. By later that evening, she had a list of properties...we had seen or discounted several of them, but she was on the right page. But one of them we had not seen.

The next day, we went to that house, made an offer and it was accepted with one tiny change...seller wanted to stick with his title company as he has just purchased and flipped the house and would get a discount going with the same title company. So we pay for a mobile signed...I can deal with that. (I'm in an ABSOLUTE seller's market and want to move asap so that I can be one of those sellers right now!)

We are holding our collective breath...but the house is almost completely packed...electricians will be here Tuesday to change a really ugly, dated fixture in the kitchen to can lights...we took down ugly cabinets in one bath and the Spackle and, if necessary, drywall mud, are ready to go...and we have the bid from the painters, who will be here as soon as I get the decorator here to tell me what color paint I want. (The house is tile floors except for living room and bedrooms, and the beige in the carpet is nowhere to be found in the tile and I find beiges IMPOSSIBLE to coordinate with...my eyes just don't get it.)

I'm still debating about listing with the new agent. She was great in finding us what we wanted. But she isn't here to market this house. The horrid, evil thing I will probably do is get this place ALMOST fully staged and call two or three local brokers to find out how THEY would price and market it. (And if one of them just happens to have a buyer "who would LOVE" this house, I might consider a one-offer listing at a discounted commission and then it could be a Done Deal, with little effort on the broker's part and a few more dollars in my pocket.)

 

[JackieOnLine]

First one did not follow instructions. Offered to pay for our next (moderately high rent district) home inspection, but never acknowledged that she did anything wrong. She thinks of us as friends, she wrote.

seems like with friends you would try extra hard, rather than slack off.

and your done deal sounds like a good plan, win for everyone. not so evil...

 

[Spiky Bugger]

seems like with friends you would try extra hard, rather than slack off.

and your done deal sounds like a good plan, win for everyone. not so evil...

Oh, good. If Jackie approves, it's probably not very sleazy.

 

[Sheanie]

Home buying games are NOT for sissies.

Neither are home selling games. We've had some rather bizarre experiences in selling property. I had feelings that our realtors were doing something hinky, if not illegal, but I don't know enough to know it that's true.
I don't think it's easy no matter what you're doing.

So can you elaborate? What can I look forward to here?

 

[k9ophile]

The worst situation probably won't apply... I owned a city block that I put up for auction. Believe me, it was a very unimpressive city block. Three ramshackle houses and a nine unit trailer park with trailers from the 50's if not older. The auctioneer asked me to say I had never been in the houses. I had been in one of them about 30 years earlier. My dad bought the property for rental income potential and I was hopping to live in one of the houses. I told him that; he said it was best not to say that I had ever been in it. Granted it was a long time since, but it was still a lie. Then came the actual auction. There was a guy who wanted it real bad. He and his partner kept calling it a piece of **** so they could keep the price down. There was a team who kept bidding it up. Halfway through the auction, I had to swear on tape recorder that it really was for sale. Off the record, I had expressed that I hoped I would get at least a certain amount for it. Lo and behold, I got what I wanted plus $500 more. The guy who wanted it so bad made the last bid after I got my desired price. I really think there were shills there to drive up the price, yet I can't prove it.

For our regular house sale, I wanted 100% full disclosure of the problems and was willing to accept less money so that the new owner could fix it up. I think some of the problems were glossed over to make the price higher. We had that house for 20 years, I knew we'd do well because when we bought it was basically farm land. When we sold, it was a thriving section of the Denver suburbs. It had tripled in value. Yet, we interviewed two relators before listing it and their approaches were so different. I was already in TN when we sold it, so my DH had to deal with it. There really wasn't just one big thing that stood out, just a few statements here and there that raised flags.

I really hate the whole process of selling and buying. When we bought our present house, I was renting from a realtor who owned our rental. I figured it would be easier top break the lease if we used her to find a house to buy. I had one firm deal breaker: no basement or second story. The first three houses she showed us, had stairs. Then she showed us the one we eventually bought. It was perfect. It was even a house plan I had picked should we ever build. So why didn't she show it to us first? Then there was the price. I thought the asking price was reasonable, but I guess one never offers that price unless there is a bidding war. She told us to bid $4000 lower, the owners countered halfway. Then our relator said we had to throw in conditions of what had to kept in the house for us to buy at the counter offer. I said, "Window treatments and the garage door opener." That sealed the deal.

We bought our first house in a new development. We picked the lot, chose our floor plan, and moved in when it was finished. That was easy! I hope that either I die first or that my husband and I die together. If I survive, I'd probably be facing one last move/sale.

Read Spiky's post above about her selling the present house. That has some good things to think about.