<p>Antique fixtures do attract some buyers, so are antique houses. But to an extend, modern homes with modern fixtures attract more buyers. If the house is in an “antique” district, keep those fixtures, if the surroundings are all modern homes, its going to be a disadvantage.</p>
<p>Well, we got our first offer. </p>
<p>It’s 89% of our asking price. So we came down 4%, and they came up to what is now 92% of our asking price. </p>
<p>All that happened today. Our broker advises us to sit overnight before we counter. (Maybe that increases their anxiety and eagerness to come up??)</p>
<p>We had the house inspected in May and repaired everything but the roof. The buyer’s offer came with both a mortgage contingency, which we’re not worried about – they’re putting down 35% – as well as an inspection contingency, which I am concerned about. Not because there’s something terribly wrong with our house, but because they could use any little thing as an excuse to walk. Our broker is going to show them our inspection and see if that will eliminate the inspection contingency.</p>
<p>Thoughts?? Advice???</p>
<p>Well for one,yay! An offer!</p>
<p>Is whatever you didn’t repair on the roof disclosed? I had to disclose any defects or issues or repairs I knew about on a disclosure form. Which doesn’t mean they can’t walk because of those things but does suggest they have taken it into account when making the offer.</p>
<p>We did complete a disclosure form but I don’t recall anything specific about the roof – I believe we did put down the age, which is at least as long as we’ve been in the house – 25 years!</p>
<p>I don’t think you could get away with without an inspection contingency, but it should only be for a short period of time. They need to do it within X period, and they shouldn’t be able to come back to it later on. One thing to keep in mind is that most buyers fall in love with the house they are buying, so they want the inspection to come back with no problem as much as you do. If there is anything wrong, I would suggest for you to offer them money rather than fixing it. The reason is you would then have no liability once the house is closed.</p>
<p>I would also do the same with the mortgage contingency, to only give them a fixed period to get a mortgage. They need to apply for mortgage within few days after the contract is signed, and have one month to get the mortgage approved. I am sure any good lawyer should be able to put very tight language around it.</p>
<p>Congratulations.</p>
<p>Thanks, oldfort and ohiobassmom. But it ain’t over till the fat lady sings. Fingers crossed.</p>
<p>Now, of course, comes: Holy ****!!! Where are we going to live??!!</p>
<p>We had buyers who were hung up on the aqe and supposed condition of the < 20 year old roof from day one, their first viewing, (they had replaced theirs prior to selling). They were so hung up on that that after we accepted their low offer that they never did try to get anything else (we dug in on the roof, which doesn’t leak etc and any other money issues because of the offer and another one that had come in too late). I was afraid they would back off, less so after the inspection request for repairs deadline passed- ten days. They had an accepted offer on their house and the contingency for buying our house was closing- they had simultaneous closings last month. Crazy to not make an offer until your house sells, but buyers there weren’t afraid of losing a favored house I guess. Once they were within two weeks of closing I began to relax as they would not have been able to find, get an offer accepted, have an inspection, appraisal et al in time to vacate their house and be able to move into one.</p>
<p>Be prepared to fix a leaky roof if an inspection shows that. Otherwise the age of the roof is part of why you were asking the amount you did instead of more. Hopefully they were financially screened by their realtor so they will be able to get their mortgage, and the house appraises for the asking price. </p>
<p>We negotiated a lower price on our current house after it appraised a lot lower. We were cash buyers and the seller wondered why the accepted price was okay until the appraisal. Well, if we had to sell soon we couldn’t get the price we paid, duh. She also couldn’t find a buyer needing a mortgage above the apprised value. Appraisers are low balling here- in Florida- after the mortgage problems of recent years. I found out from our selling real estate agent that appraisals are never higher than the agreed upon price- if a higher price had been agreed upon the appraisal may have been higher. The price paid doesn’t affect the tax assessment, either. We had had the assessment lowered earlier in the year and they are stuck with it- significantly higher than they paid (we also made sure the tax proration was based on the new assessment, not last year’s taxes).</p>
<p>Good luck getting through the next few weeks. It is such a good feeling to unload a house and completely move on. Take plenty of pictures for the memories. I just looked at mine- so glad we moved before the drought and all of the perennials and trees/bushes flowered their best this past spring. My last pictures have moving boxes and furniture we left behind to be given away when the house sold (offer came in a week after we left). Two plus years on the marketwas plenty long. But looking at photos makes me wonder why we left the known house, neighborhood, city, state. But then I remember our life was over there- jobs, old neighbors had left, winters…</p>
<p>As of today the only pending item is the escrow for the water bill- a couple of weeks worth we will owe and a refund due us. All refunds from various insurances received. Finally done with the whole process. Now am in the process of (or would be if I would get off CC) getting needed updating done (a PINK 25 year old house with many other update- I guess blush pink cabinets, counters and carpets were the in thing back then- another house was apricot).</p>
<p>Good luck VeryHappy and congrats wis75. We have received 2 offers in 2 weeks. The first one was very low and we countered, back within a couple grand of the asking price, and they walked. Our latest offer, that came in today, was stronger and we will again counter it. The hiccup with this offer is that the buyer’s home they sold just went pending 3 days ago.</p>
<p>Since our home is for sale or lease, renters can be worse to deal with than buyers. For example, we received an application to lease our home. Not only did they offer 10% less per month of what we were asking (which our realtor says was below comps to begin with), they also want us to replace our dishwasher and microwave (which are both completely operational), AND they also want us to re-paint an auxillary bedroom (1 of 4 auxillary bedrooms not counting the master) to a more neutral color.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>jshain, I don’t understand. The buyer – the folks who made an offer on your house – just sold their own house? I don’t understand what you mean by “pending.”</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>We haven’t even started to look seriously. The last thing I wanted was to pay two mortgages at the same time, for an indefinite period of time.</p>
<p>pending is a term used in RE, meaning the house is under the contract, but not closed yet.</p>
<p>Wis, I thought you are in Wisconsin, but all of a sudden you are in FL already. are you selling your old WIS house or your FL retreat?</p>
<p>The people who just made an offer on our home just went into escrow on their sale 3 days ago so their offer on our home is contingent on the successful close of their escrow.</p>
<p>Wis75, why was there an appraisel if you were a cash offer? Was the appraisel a contingency? Or would you lose earnest money if you walked away?</p>
<p>Our house closed, and we are now packed. We are heading to Charlotte to meet our furniture in a few weeks, but we will be renting until we find the right neighborhood, and then the right house.</p>
<p>When we do buy it will be cash, and I was not anticipating requiring an appraisel. I’ll have to think about adding tcontes a contingency. When we accepted the offer on the house we made sure there was no financing contingency, which only works in these white hot markets.</p>
<p>VH-
Not sure of the real estate rules in your state, but its pretty much expected that any buyer will want to do their own inspection and use anything that shows up as a negotiating point to adjust the price. Who knows what their inspector might find in addition to the intact, but old roof. You don’t have to agree to do whatever it is they come up with. If they say they want you to replace the roof, you can offer to reduce the price a few grand and let them replace the roof at their convenience and with one of their choosing. Everything is negotiable.</p>
<p>Thanks, jym. I know.</p>
<p>Now that this seems to be happening for real – although we are still a bunch of dollars apart – I’m thinking, “OMG, what have I done!!!”</p>
<p>My sister didn’t help yesterday when she said, “Aren’t you going to be terribly sad and upset when you leave the house where you raised your children? I’d be crying all the time.”</p>
<p>Thanks, Sis.</p>
<p>FWIW, when we sold my dad’s house, the roof had two different finishes on it on the front and the back. It never came up. Instead, they brought up the sticky handle on the garage door. Go figure.</p>
<p>I know. We all have our little things that we notice and focus on. I think we do so to alleviate anxiety – at least we can focus the anxiety somewhere instead of dealing with it free-floating. </p>
<p>Here’s hoping their anxiety focuses on something – stupid and minuscule, like a sticky handle on the garage door!</p>
<p>Maybe they’ll love the new rack in the dishwasher :)</p>
<p>When we sold our house 2 years ago, the roof was the original (18 years old), but it passed the inspection. The problem we had was finishing the basement without a permit. The basement was finished according to the code 10 years ago, but we had to bring it up to the newest code. Depending on your city requirement, you may want to look into that.</p>
<p>Tomorrow we are bringing out what we have put in the storage 2 years ago (my term of storage has expired). I wasn’t there when H and the mover packed everything up. We now will decide what to keep and what to throw out. I imagine it will be kind of emotional. </p>
<p>VH - when you settle into your new, more managable and lower monthly costs place, your sister will be the jealous one. My sis is trying to sell their 6000 sq foot home in NC with very little luck. They are empty nesters now, and the place is just too big for them.</p>
<p>Congrats, VH! Fingers crossed everything goes smoothly.</p>
<p>Well, here’s a new twist.</p>
<p>Not only did we get an offer and start negotiating on the house yesterday, but today we got an offer from an entirely separate buyer. It’s for a bit less than the first offer yesterday, but hey – it never rains, it pours.</p>
<p>How is this possible? It’s been on the market for something like 80 days with no offers, and then in two days, we get two separate offers? You can’t make this stuff up.</p>