On Jan. 12, the day of my first OB appointment, all the inspections on the house were finally completed and reports submitted. They showed a structural problem with the roof's original construction, one that was causing the roof to bow 2 to 3 feet in some places. Also, the electrical box was 100 amps. The code since the box had been installed had been updated to require higher amps. These were the major defects and there were a handful of minor problems.
So we submitted the cost of repair of the major defects to the seller, asking for a price reduction. We did this on Sunday, Jan 14. The seller had seven days to respond. And they took all seven days to say that they'd talked to a contractor who said the problems weren't anything urgent and so they would not be offering a credit.
About halfway through our time of waiting for the seller to respond we decided we would walk away from the deal if the seller refused to negotiate.
But when the seller responded, it was clear they had more than one offer in the wings that was significantly higher than ours.
Because they were already in their new place, we knew they had carrying costs. We knew they had been looking for a quick sale and closing because they'd reduced the price of the place by 6 percent after it had been on the market only 3 weeks. And it was a great price for the house and the neighborhood. I guess this is the classic definition of a motivated seller.
So, when all the sudden the seller wanted to release us from the deal, and could we please hurry up and sign the release form, we started to wonder if maybe they just wanted to get rid of us. Indeed, their realtor said "The seller does not want to sell to your client."
This from sellers who were so anxious to close the deal as soon as possible!
So we were certain they had buyers that were offering a much higher price -- a price that would cover carrying costs, roof repairs and a little extra for that long vacation they've been wanting.
We decided to step back and re-evaluate the deal on its merits rather than getting emotional over the fact that they didn't want to negotiate.
We thought about it for three days. Every day we got multiple emails from our realtor about how many calls she was getting from the seller's realtor, asking us to just sign the form so they could move on with the other buyers. It made me want to not turn on my computer.
The first of these days we were thinking about it was Monday. I already had a full workload, but got another couple projects handed to me to finish that day too. Then David and I had a fight. And this was all before 9 am. Then I had to rush out to a meeting at another company.
My cell phone was nearly dead, so I went to move the nearly full cup of three-day old cafe latte from the cup holder in front of the charger. I managed to spill it -- a little on my lap and a little on the seat. The bit on the seat was seeping further into my pants, so I went to get up to stop further damage.
I didn't notice that I'd put the car in reverse. So as soon as I got out it started rolling backwards. Initially, I couldn't figure out why. I kept trying to pull up further on the emergency brake in those 5 seconds that seemed like 5 hours. Then I noticed the gear, put it in park, and pulled up on the emergency brake again, as far as it would go. The car stopped short of hitting the boulder across the street.
I pulled the car back into the driveway and went back into the house to change my pants. My hands might have been shaking just a little bit. Then I cleaned up the car and went on my way to my meeting, taking extra care in driving even though I was late.
That was my Monday morning, and the rest of the week I have just been feeling overwhelmed. Work has been so busy. The realtors kept telling us they didn't understand what was taking us so long.
Finally, Wednesday, we told the realtors that we would continue with the deal with the house "as is." It is a tremendous value for the price and the neighborhood. Jack can walk to school only having to cross one residential street the whole way. (not yet, in a few years.) It just had everything we wanted and then some. Like bonus features -- a laundry chute, a jacuzzi tub (although an older bathtub sized one), and a three car garage -- unusual for the neighborhood where most people have two car garages. This will come in handy if David decides to go forward with his plan to build a kit plane.
I feel much less stressed out since we told them of our decision, probably because they are not pushing for it so many times a day anymore. I no longer feel like crawling under the covers to hide for the rest of the week.
Now we have to make sure all the papers are signed and in order, including the Power of Attorney, and the giant check for our closing next Wednesday, Jan 31.
And of course, the stress of getting our place on the market has reared its head again, now that it is not overshadowed by the stress of the non-negotiating sellers and whether or not we should dump the deal. We are putting most of the proceeds of our house sale into the new house. But since we are buying the new place first, we had to do it in a tricky way.
We could either do two mortgages on the new place, one that we would pay off entirely once the old house sold. Or we could do a home equity line of credit on the old house to cover the non-mortgaged part of the new house. The interest rate was lower for the second option, so that is what we did. That still means huge carrying costs though.
Also, the insurer of the new house says the company will cancel the insurance if we do not take occupancy in a month. So there is a bit of time pressure here on a number of fronts.
Add to that the fact that there is a toddler living with us who takes some time and attention. (i.e. It is hard to get anything done on the packing unless he is at daycare or asleep.)
So I've been on major overwhelm this week, under a mountain of clutter as we pull everything out of everywhere and try to get it packed and in order so we can get our house listed. I am ready for a massage and a nice soak in that jacuzzi tub, let me tell you.