If you provide proof of funds in a real estate transaction, I would recommend BLACKING OUT (don’t just cross out), use a Sharpie:
Address
Account Number
Phone Nbr, email address
and, be very careful, because sometimes your PIN or SSN is embedded in some coding on the statement
Monthly bank accounts don’t do any good for me when I am trying to purchase a property. The balance goes up and down wildly. So I usually have to go into bank and ask for a letter with current balance.
I agree that a letter from the bank or other custodian on official letterhead, that XX has $yyyyyyy in the account unencumbered on zzzzz date would meet my requirements. Wouldn’t need account # or other details. There would be no need to black anything out and tougher to doctor.
BUDGET UPDATE
I finally dug through the bottom of my purse and found every single receipt for the project. I still have to pay one guy about a half day to clear things out of the house, but that is included in the estimates below.
PURCHASE PRICE $552,000
PURCHASE COSTS $ 1,250
TOTAL PURCHASE = $553,250
REMODEL COSTS = $ 151,500
This is approximately $65,000 over original budget, 75% over
CARRYING COSTS = $ 30,000
This is approximate $10,000 over budget for 2 reasons; 3 months over schedule and had to borrow a lot more money with large interest charges and carry a lot of credit card interest
So, the total break even at this point (excluding commission and selling transaction costs) is $735,000
This is the largest amount of money I ever spent on a remodel by at least $55,000!!! A portion of that is huge costs for the permits, services, special inspections, ridiculous over the top shear wall and foundation changes. Other part of the overrun is selecting really nice cabinets, lighting, finishes for the design. As we moved along and the local agents started giving hints about future potential sales price I knew that I had to pull the house into a high-end league. I probably did not need to do all the detailed woodwork and trim, but what fun is that??
Oh well, there was a lot of emotional satisfaction in the outcome. We can probably put about $10-15k down to ‘over improving’ 
But the Chicago deal looks like it’s a go?
If the Chicago deal goes thru as scheduled, looks like you will make a nice profit for your very hard work. Congrats and thanks for sharing. I could not do all that you do, but I am very impressed!
Yes, we are chugging along through the contingency periods. There are three critical contingencies:
Physical Inspection - the buyer has a foundation inspection scheduled for 11am today. This is our last hurdle. My agent is planning to be there, I haven’t decided whether I should be there or not. It probably wouldn’t hurt in case he finds something small that I need to fix. That way I won’t be getting the explanation third hand from someone. This contingency has to be removed by Monday.
Appraisal - my agent has been calling the appraiser daily trying to get the report done. It is supposed to be turned into the appraisal company today and we do not know when it will arrive at the bank. Buyers have until Friday to release Appraisal contingency, so I’m hoping that we will know the value sooner rather than later.
Loan - my understanding is that the only thing waiting for the loan package to go into final approval is the appraisal report. This contingency has to be removed by Monday.
Fingers crossed!!
@coralbrook, please report back after the foundation inspection. I’m on the edge of my seat!!
CB: out of curiosity, did your remodel costs include the salary for your main man?
i watch HGTV shows sometimes; and wonder if labor is included in many of their project costs. . . .
Yes, the remodel costs include the salary for two employees. However, it does not include the employer taxes, workman’s comp insurance, etc. Those are business overhead costs that were not included in the numbers shown above. The numbers above do include specific costs for the property such as property insurance, utilities and property taxes.
So, when you see the numbers on HGTV there are a lot of costs not shown such as carrying costs, transaction costs (title, escrow, property taxes, etc) and the business overhead costs for insurance, etc.
I’m on pins and needles also about the foundation inspection. I was assured by my carpenter that he didn’t see anything terrible in the foundation except the one crack that was repaired with epoxy.
The Foundation Inspection company is known to me and I have had dealings with them before. Unfortunately they are the MOST EXPENSIVE repair company in town. Somewhat reasonable in their inspections, but horribly outrageous in their ‘estimates’ given for repairs. So, if they do find something that needs to be repaired they will send an ‘estimate’ to the Buyer to correct it. This usually causes panic and some unreasonable ‘credit’ demands from the Buyers. For example, they probably would have charged $1,000 for the epoxy into the crack. It cost me $55 for the exact same materials and about 1 hour of labor.
So the lady owner of the company sent some ‘inspector’ to the property who spent about 40 minutes under the house. He then came up and told my agent that he cannot report anything because he has to take the pictures back to the owner so that she can provide the informal report. This is not the type of inspection where they have to write up a formal report. He wouldn’t say anything to the agent, except for a tidbit… there’s a couple of minor cracks in addition to the crack that was repaired with epoxy. And… !!! the foundation piers were installed correctly !!!
Yippee!! I think you should call up the first inspector and gloat. JK, but wouldn’t that be fun??
Evidently the original Home Inspector had to call the Buyer and ‘apologize’ for false information he must have received from other structural engineers ‘informally’. This was after I sent all of the evidence that the piers had to be strapped at bottom per licensed Structural Engineer and City.
Huh. One would hope that this would have shaken their faith in false issues raised by the alarmist.
ÇB…good! That first home inspector was way out of line.
“Evidently the original Home Inspector had to call the Buyer and ‘apologize’ for false information he must have received from other structural engineers 'informally”
Wow, it sounds like Mr. Ass Inspector is covering his you know what!
Oh yeah, it was the other guys’ fault.
Totally, VH. :big eye roll:
Well, unfortunately the original Home Inspector has now caused a domino quagmire. First he raised the issue of the foundation piers, and then he told them there was a 1/2" crack in the foundation (only one in 80 yrs, I consider that good condition for old age!). While we were at the table he recommended that they get XYZ Foundation out to inspect and that it needed to be filled with epoxy. They looked at me and asked if I could fill it with epoxy, and while I was at it, could I fill the small crack in the concrete garage wall. I said yes, I will fill with epoxy.
Well, evidently that was a big mistake that we did!! First, it covered up the crack so that someone cannot really see how small or big the crack was. My carpenter measured it and it is only 1/4" at the widest.
Then they got scared after they got back to Chicago, and hired the XYZ Foundation Company. I was informed of this inspection after we had made all the repairs that were discussed at the table during the original inspection. The foundation company couldn’t come out until today and the clock is ticking.
Now it appears that the Foundation Company did not perform an ‘inspection’. They only come out to give an estimate to fix things. They have told the Buyer that the epoxy was not applied correctly - it needed to be ‘shot’ into the foundation. They are sending an estimate to correct the situation to the Buyers Friday morning. And they told the Buyers that they should have a Structural Engineer come out and inspect the foundation.
Now the Buyers are in a panic and have hired a Structural Engineer to come out and do a full report, to the tune of $750 at their cost. The Structural Engineer is coming Thursday at 1pm and I expect we will start all over with another quagmire. I will be there so that I can show this guy the detailed plans from the ‘other’ licensed Structural Engineer and the thousands of dollars we spent on new foundation stuff.
Buyers have hinted to my agent (they are being very coy because they know that the agent is representing both parties) that they will be asking for a ‘credit’ based on the estimate provided by the Foundation Repair company. I know this foundation repair company and they are the most expensive place in town. I have dealt with them several times before - they seem to be a favorite for real estate agents (who want to cover their butt) to call out for ‘estimates’.
So, what I am suffering here is a ‘pass the buck’ phenomenon where each party is trying to pass the liability to the next party. Original inspector specifically mentioned XYZ foundation company to come do an inspection because he was not an ‘expert’ on foundations. He recommended XYZ foundation because they are the highest cost company and most well known (to cover his butt). XYZ Foundation Company has now recommended Mr Structural Engineer because ‘they are not an expert on structural integrity’. Pass the buck for liability.
We cannot get a straight answer on whether Mr. Structural Engineer (they will not give my agent his name or phone nbr, just told her to meet him there to open up the house) is coming just to look at the epoxy and/or the crack, or whether he is coming to do an entire structural inspection.
Meanwhile, the Buyers have indicated that they are going to ask the Original Inspector to come back and inspect all the items repaired. This is After they communicated they want an independent inspector to come look at the repairs, and they even named the company in an email. I asked my agent if there is any way that I can legitimately refuse to have the same inspector back in my house??
Geez, the fun never ends. This is getting very stressful.
Hugs. I can’t add anything but stress relief. Jeezzzz