Housed!
We went up to Northeast Nowhere last week to buy a house. Most--if not both--of my Faithful Readers will remember my long-term plan to get the hell off the Gulf Coast because of the rampant stupidity* and hurricanes found there (plus, the humidity doesn't do my asthma any good). Well, we're ready for some major steps in that direction. So house-hunting we went.
We found a couple of acceptable places. House #1 was nearly perfect: beautiful floor plan, lake view like nobody's business, dock, detached boathouse. But, like all perfect things, it was freaking expensive. We were encouraged by the fact that it had been on the market for over 200 days with (or so we're told) ZERO offers placed. We tried a lowball offer (80% of asking price) expecting to be rejected, but to open negotiations. We wrote up a contract, sent it over, waited with crossed fingers for a response (I expected a near-full-price counteroffer). The next morning, we were told that not only was our offer rejected, but the house had been pulled off the market.
Wow. That's depressing.
Oh well; plan B time. House #2 was much more reasonable, well within our price range, and almost done with construction (it was built as a spec house). It seemed well-constructed and we had met the builder who seemed like a reasonable guy. He was asking about 10% more than the house was worth (based on comps) but we figured that was a negotiation tool. We offered 100% of comp price (10% less than he wanted) which we figured was pretty reasonable. He came back and told us that he was out of money, couldn't afford to finish the place unless we paid him everything he was asking, and wouldn't be able to make any adjustments to his plans.
We decided to look elsewhere.
Problem is there are no other properties in the area that meet our needs. We're just going to have to build our own.
*Yes, I know that stupidity happens everywhere. But I've been here for over 2 decades and I'm ready for a different kind of stupid.
We found a couple of acceptable places. House #1 was nearly perfect: beautiful floor plan, lake view like nobody's business, dock, detached boathouse. But, like all perfect things, it was freaking expensive. We were encouraged by the fact that it had been on the market for over 200 days with (or so we're told) ZERO offers placed. We tried a lowball offer (80% of asking price) expecting to be rejected, but to open negotiations. We wrote up a contract, sent it over, waited with crossed fingers for a response (I expected a near-full-price counteroffer). The next morning, we were told that not only was our offer rejected, but the house had been pulled off the market.
Wow. That's depressing.
Oh well; plan B time. House #2 was much more reasonable, well within our price range, and almost done with construction (it was built as a spec house). It seemed well-constructed and we had met the builder who seemed like a reasonable guy. He was asking about 10% more than the house was worth (based on comps) but we figured that was a negotiation tool. We offered 100% of comp price (10% less than he wanted) which we figured was pretty reasonable. He came back and told us that he was out of money, couldn't afford to finish the place unless we paid him everything he was asking, and wouldn't be able to make any adjustments to his plans.
We decided to look elsewhere.
Problem is there are no other properties in the area that meet our needs. We're just going to have to build our own.
*Yes, I know that stupidity happens everywhere. But I've been here for over 2 decades and I'm ready for a different kind of stupid.
posted by Ted @ 11:06
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