Contract Signed

I’m not sure if I have figured out my life balance, but I do know I’m not feeling the angst of last week. This week though still crazy, has been really good to me and my family. Of course there was Thanksgiving and we had so very much to be thankful for, but his year was particularly special. It was on Thanksgiving that we signed the contract to buy our new home. 

Now we began looking for a new home over two years ago and previously put offers on two different homes but never ended up with anything. In January of this year we decided to seriously start looking for a new home, mainly because it was time for us to own our home, but also because the older the boys get, the more we are growing out of our current less than a 1000 square foot home. 

Unfortunately in the small town that we live in, there has not been a whole lot available with the criteria that I wanted (a pool, no HOA, quiet street, 3 bedrooms plus a den). Finally in June, through the recommendation of our flag football family, we found the home that we just signed the contract for. When we first viewed the home in June, the owner told us it would be three to six months before she was ready to sell, because she had to take care of all of her dad’s things, since he had recently passed away. 

It was during Fall Break that the homeowner contacted us to let us know she was ready to sell. We of course jumped on the opportunity. I can’t explain it, but there is something about her house that we love. Over the course of the last two years, we have looked at a number of homes, and none of them felt like this home. This was the only home that the boys told us they wanted to live in. This is the only home that when we walked in we felt like it could be ours. I think that is why we waited so patiently for the owner to be ready to sell. 

The deal was that we were going to buy it without any realtors being involved. We all thought that would be the easiest and most economical way. The seller being a teacher just like ourselves was looking to save money just like we were. 

When the seller contacted us over Fall Break she brought us a copy of an appraisal that she had done over the summer. We figured that we would be buying the home for what it appraised for, which was a very conservative appraisal for the size of the house and the street the house was located on. Since we had never gone through this process, we thought that it would be best to consult my husband’s aunt and uncle about our offer. They are the people that own our current home and have gone through this process multiple times. 

Lucky for us they were more than willing to help and offer advice. The first thing they suggested was getting an inspection so that we knew exactly what we were getting into and how much it would cost should we need anything repaired. We did exactly as they suggested and got the home inspection. 

That’s when we ran into a few major snags, both the plumbing and the Air Conditioning. While there is nothing wrong with either currently, the fact is they are both very old and will eventually need replacing especially since the original plumbing is cast iron. The problem is we don’t know when they will need replacing. The other issue is the home has a flat roof, which means that the plumbing will be very difficult and expensive to replace, since there is no attic or crawl space allowing easy access to the plumbing. 

It was recommended that we get further inspections on both the plumbing and A/C so we knew what exactly we were getting into. The following week, I scheduled both of those inspections. When all was said and done, we found out that if the A/C and plumbing needed to be done, including both repiping and sewage drain replacement we would be looking at spending some $40,000 on fixing everything. 

My husband’s uncle being the numbers guy that he is as a CPA and CEO of a local power company recommended that we offer $40,000 less than the appraisal. We followed suit only to be rejected immediately. The truth was that there was no way the seller could afford to accept our offer. It was a low ball, and we knew it. For us, it was a starting point, to kind of see where she would go with it. 

It was so low that the realtor that the seller hired to find her a new home contacted us and asked if she could come over to negotiate with us. We figured there was no harm in it and so we welcomed the realtor into our home. This was when that realtor said their counter offer was the appraisal price plus closing costs. We decided it was necessary to take a few days to reconsider this counter offer. There was a lot to consider, especially since this home could end up being quite costly should everything go wrong at the same time. 

A couple days later we had enough time to consider it and decided, that there was nothing currently wrong with the home. We were basing all of those numbers off “what ifs” and all we had looked at previously were older homes. That being said regardless of what home we chose, we were going to have to put some work and money into the home, because it would be an older home. So we finally after much deliberation,  decided to accept the counter offer. 

That’s when I called the realtor (who we were not even supposed to be dealing with) back and accepted the offer. 

“I never said that the seller would cover closing costs. I could call her and ask if she’ll be willing to go halfsies, but I never said that.”

I was livid. I know she that. When I got off the phone, I was so angry I didn’t know what to do with myself. I couldn’t even respond properly to this woman, because I knew what she said. She said it multiple times to us, like she was trying to sell it to us. I did check with my husband to be sure I wasn’t going crazy and he confirmed that I didn’t hear things. The realtor did say that all closing costs would be covered by the seller. 

At that point I didn’t want to deal with the realtor anymore. After all it wasn’t our original intent to deal with a realtor at all. We were just two parties making a deal on a house. I did have the common courtesy to tell the realtor we needed more time to consider it and this time I used my brain and asked for the counter offer in writing.

After mulling it over for a few days and finally talking to both my neighbor who has dealt with a lot of real-estate and my husband’s aunt, they both encouraged me to screw the realtor and go talk to the seller. They told me since the realtor doesn't have a contract with the seller to sell her home, I had every right to go talk to the seller face to face. 

So that’s what I did the day before Thanksgiving. I visited the seller and sat and talked to her woman to woman. And I am oh so glad I did. The seller and I had a wonderful conversation about the home, about what she needed to break even, and about our concerns of what we were getting into. I also shared my hesitations with dealing with her realtor that had gotten involved and the seller understood why I no longer wanted to deal with that realtor. She even agreed that she would have a hard time trusting the realtor if she had been treated as we were. 

Turns out the seller wasn’t even making any money on the house, with her counter offer she would basically be breaking even. The seller even shared with me, why she chose us to sell the house to. She wanted her home to be a family home and she saw that we had a nice family and would treat the home as she thought it was intended to be treated becoming our family’s cherished home. 

After that conversation I finally felt at peace with the whole thing. The seller also offered to buy a year’s home warranty, which would cover any of the major things if they should falter our first year. With all of this craziness worked out, we decided we were ready to make our offer and sign the contract for our new home. 

Through all of this, I have learned to never be afraid to stand up for myself and my family. I have also learned to never be afraid of talking to people. Sometimes, it is the human connection that is most necessary. Had I never gone back over to the seller’s house and talked to her woman to woman, we may never have decided to agree to the counter offer, having been so put off by the realtor that really doesn’t know what the heck she is doing or saying.