<p>I get the feeling that our Realtor didn’t tell us about the higher back-up offer because…</p>
<p>1) he thought we might do something to make the “old buyer” change his mind so that we could have the better offer.</p>
<p>2) (most likely) because he was embarrassed about it since he convinced my siblings that the lower offer was the “best” offer we’d get. So naturally, he wasn’t going to tell us the next day that a higher offer (back up) had just come in. He probably hoped we’d never learn about it.</p>
<p>Today is – not a good day. The tree surgeon is here, with three guys and a wood chipper, to get rid of all the trees that have fallen around the property over the past 25 years.</p>
<p>The handyman is here, with three of his guys, to take care of 25 years of neglect from basement to roof.</p>
<p>The dogs think this is one big party.</p>
<p>DH and I are wondering if we can even use the bathroom without someone peering in from outside. :eek:</p>
<p>*Edit: It’s not like we haven’t done anything for 25 years. It’s just that standards are very high in my area for putting a house on the market. It needs to be immaculate. *</p>
<p>Immaculate sucks, I’m so sorry! Ours was by the end, and the only way to make that happen was to work like a demon for a month decluttering, rent a storage unit for stuff we want to take with us, then move our family of six to a tiny rental house for five weeks while renovations were going on and the house was staged and listed, and then sit tight for it to go on the market. Got an offer well over list in three days and, after two extensions, contingencies closed on Saturday. So, it was worth it (trying to give you hope) but I’d rather have a newborn again than repeat that process. (Well, maybe not…)
One question for you real estate experts–Our listing agent is obsessed about us not meeting the buyers until we close on May 1. We have a rent back to get us through graduation, so we will need to cooperate with the buyers at some point. What is the thinking about us not meeting until the house is actually sold? Is she afraid I will say something and mess up the deal or just superstitious? From their letter, the buyers seem very nice and eager. We were asked by our agent to be out of the house yesterday so they could show it to their visiting family. We did it and left the house looking very good, but it seemed silly.
On another note, the older kids are back in school after spring break, yippee! Just me and the three year old and a beautiful day, think we’ll go to the park.</p>
<p>Mom2CollegeKids – I’d seriously consider speaking about this failure to present the backup offer in a timely manner with both the agent and the agent’s broker. </p>
<p>We’re waiting on a response to our counter-offer. Dealing with a vestry is S–L–O–W. And then the whole deal has to go to the bishop’s finance committee. (Which has already, as we understand it, given an indication that it will be fine.) Meanwhile, I’m getting itchy wondering how much I should be doing in the way of getting estimates lined up for work we need to get done if we don’t sell to the church. Sigh.</p>
<p>Wordword, I found it very awkward to meet the sellers of the houses we bought, and the buyer of our last. No one was mean or rude, it was just <em>weird</em>.</p>
<p>Power washing house and deck and porch is nearly done, painting porch is next up, then interior painting. Still have a list of minor things after that but this will be the bulk of it #SeeingLightAtEndOfTunnel</p>
<p>We met with our buyers yesterday (closing this coming Friday) to show them things about the house, invisible fence etc. They are lovely young people and really appreciated my (engineer) husband’s tutorials. We are only living 2 miles away, and offered to come help with anything. I didn’t find it awkward at all. We used to see the sellers of the house to us at social functions in the neighborhood. No problem. I guess if negotiations had been nasty it would be a different story.</p>
<p>H got his last two items out of the garage yesterday. I never thought I would see the day! Thank God that is done.</p>
<p>Counting the days down. We move out of our house and into a rental this Friday and close next Thurs.</p>
<p>Regarding meeting the buyers…our realtor forwarded us an email that the buyer’s realtor sent to him. It asked if the buyers could get in our house (presumably to look around more and measure space) this past Saturday. We emailed back and asked if we had to leave the property for the 12:30 Saturday visit. Also asked if there was any real reason they couldn’t wait until this coming weekend when we would be moved out. And were the buyers aware that we are still in the house.
Realtor said No you don’t have to leave and if we would be here to let the buyers in the house, it would save him a trip! He did not address our other questions. </p>
<p>We thought it was sort of an imposition on us (here trying to clean out closets and pack up boxes to go to the rental) but I guess our realtor thought we shouldn’t do anything that might tick the buyers off. So they came and DH and I mostly stayed out in the garage/yard while they were here. They stayed almost an hour. Have no idea what they were doing all that time. </p>
<p>When they finished looking around they talked to us for awhile asking questions about the area and other “house questions”. They were very friendly/nice and left here saying “see you on the 26th” so I guess we didn’t scare them off.<br>
We just thought the whole thing was odd (and maybe a little rude) for them to want to come over knowing that we (and all our stuff) would still be here and that we needed every minute on Saturday to pack and clean in anticipation of moving this Friday…ugh.</p>
<p>I’m posting this from my garage, as the inside of my house is on the 7th day of being painted, and they got to the side of the house where we had trapped the kitties, so now I’m trying to get them used to the garage.</p>
<p>Most of the cleanup is done now. I’m on the final push of little things. Staging with pictures will be done the beginning of June, while we are in Hawaii. The house will go on the market a few weeks later while we are at my daughter’s college orientation. Hopefully it will sell that first week, so we don’t have to worry about keeping it neat.</p>
<p>We plan on renting back a few weeks, so I’m thinking any “measuring” can be done after closing, at which point there is no danger of scaring the buyers away.</p>
<p>I remember when we moved into this house the people rented back a few months, and we told them not to worry about cleaning, as we were starting the remodel before we moved in. Our destruction crews got there before we saw how hard the previous owner worked on cleaning up anyway. They then stayed across the street and got to see the remodel. It was kind of cute.</p>
<p>We met the owners of the house we purchased right after the Christmas blizzard of 1982 at the closing (which we arrived at after a six hour wait at the airport while they unloaded luggage by hand from a DC10, followed by a three hour trip (which normally would have taken about thirty-five minutes) weaving around abandoned cars littering the turnpike.) They later divorced, and a few years later I joined a group where the woman was a long-standing member, and we see each other quite regularly.</p>
<p>The DW rack has rusted as, for some mysterious reason, they tend to. [Ummmm – Dear Mr. Manufacturer: They get WET all the time, you know. And they’re METAL.] It definitely needs to be replaced and, if we were staying in the house, we would definitely do so. Of course it costs nearly as much as a new dishwasher. Is this a place that potential buyers are likely to poke??</p>
<p>I don’t think I’d think to look inside a DW, but I would want to know the age of the applicance. </p>
<p>You’re right, any of those parts cost almost as much as a new one. If the machine is aged, you might want to offer an appliance allowance anyway.</p>
<p>Our first house was bought FSBO so we met and negotiated directly with them. They were pretty much like us so it was fine. I later did my own FSBO and it was also fine. Same deal–nice educated married couples. Liked having house in good hands.</p>