Cold Feet
On Saturday, the couple that signed a contract to buy our house backed out. We’ll never know the exact reason, but from what we can piece together, they appear to be somewhat naïve in the ways of the world and came to the realization that home ownership is a Big Responsibility best left to the grown ups. This happened after the home inspection, and they used that contingency to void the deal, which they had the right to do. We were given a verbal list of fix-ups from their realtor (nothing major, nothing I didn’t already know about), who was in the process of typing them up when she got a call from the buyers. I guess they came to the conclusion that they weren’t ready to shoulder a mortgage (+ taxes + HOA fee + insurance + maintenance) right now and got cold feet.
Needless to say, we were crestfallen. OK, I was pissed. For a week, we were BUYERS instead of sellers, and let me tell you, it was great. Unbelievable what a difference it was being on the other end. The market is so slow and people that HAVE to sell are desperate. You want granite counters, you got ‘em. That car in the garage? We can negotiate it. Closing costs? We’ll take care of it. Royalty for a week, we were.
Theirs was not the first offer we received, either; we had two others. The first, in writing, was for about the same amount as the last buyers but it was right after we reduced the price, and they initially bid $25K under that. Since it came so quickly, we figured we could do better so we rejected that one. The second was a verbal offer that was so ridiculous it wasn’t even worth considering: $45K below our reduced asking price and well below neighborhood comps. The guy was fishing for a desperate seller and didn’t find one.
This experience has left us physically and emotionally drained so we’ve decided to take our house off the market and stay put for the time being. Three offers in this market is pretty good; most properties aren’t getting any. So we’re confident the next time around we’ll be able to make a deal. It’s just a matter of finding the right buyer. And we never did find The Perfect House, anyway. Besides, being on the market instilled some good habits in us as far as keeping it clean and picked up. Well, at least for Lauren and I; not so much with Ally.
Needless to say, we were crestfallen. OK, I was pissed. For a week, we were BUYERS instead of sellers, and let me tell you, it was great. Unbelievable what a difference it was being on the other end. The market is so slow and people that HAVE to sell are desperate. You want granite counters, you got ‘em. That car in the garage? We can negotiate it. Closing costs? We’ll take care of it. Royalty for a week, we were.
Theirs was not the first offer we received, either; we had two others. The first, in writing, was for about the same amount as the last buyers but it was right after we reduced the price, and they initially bid $25K under that. Since it came so quickly, we figured we could do better so we rejected that one. The second was a verbal offer that was so ridiculous it wasn’t even worth considering: $45K below our reduced asking price and well below neighborhood comps. The guy was fishing for a desperate seller and didn’t find one.
This experience has left us physically and emotionally drained so we’ve decided to take our house off the market and stay put for the time being. Three offers in this market is pretty good; most properties aren’t getting any. So we’re confident the next time around we’ll be able to make a deal. It’s just a matter of finding the right buyer. And we never did find The Perfect House, anyway. Besides, being on the market instilled some good habits in us as far as keeping it clean and picked up. Well, at least for Lauren and I; not so much with Ally.
posted by Ray at 3:19 PM
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