*Warning…really long and likely rather boring post ahead unless you really want to know about the minutia of our housing situation. I’ve avoided talking about it for the most part because there has been so little to say so I saved up all of the whining for one post.
I started the weekend with high hopes. Our realtor called on Friday afternoon to give us a heads up that a couple would be making an offer on Sunday. The couple has visited our house 6 times in the past 6 months. Their main hesitation is the lack of a bathroom on the first floor (there is one upstairs and one in the basement) – they have 2 small children to potty train. They also want an updated kitchen. The house is over 100 years old (as are many houses in the city) so you are trading some of the newer amenities for charm and space. Our house has a good bit of space and a nice sized yard and is in the second best school system in the area. We didn’t purchase the house with an eye toward resale. We bought it because we loved it and thought we would live there forever. Life doesn’t always work out the way you plan it.
We have cut the price numerous times in the 7 months it has been on the market. We are now at $30K less than we started and $20K less than we paid. We will not even be break even on this deal – we are losing money – it is going to cost us money to sell the house and we have made this clear to our realtor. There is no wiggle room in our listing price. We are at rock bottom. I’m not happy about it but the market isn’t any thing close to what it was when we purchased the house. We aren’t willing to rent it out for several reasons. First and foremost, we don’t want to be long distance landlords. Second, in the current market, we would be lucky to get enough rent to cover our mortgage but there are also fees for someone to manage the property and lawn maintenance and who knows what else. Third, with an old house like that, maintenance could turn into a nightmare and end up costing us a pretty penny. We treated the house kindly because we owned it and loved it – renters wouldn’t necessarily be so gentle. Renting it out is a last resort for us right now.
I will admit I was a little excited when I saw my realtor was calling this afternoon. My heart quickly sunk. She gave us their offer – it was $12K less than we have it listed. They are also making the offer contingent on the sale of their home (in a neighborhood that I can’t imagine they will have an easy time selling). We countered that we couldn’t wiggle on the price. We told her we would come down $1K, which was really only because she would acting as dual agent and we would be saving $1K on her fee as a result. And the contingency was fine as long as it wasn’t noted as being under contract in any way in the MLS listing. So basically the house would continue to be marketed but they would get first dibs for 24 hours to go ahead regardless of the sale of their house if someone else makes an offer.
Their counter was only meeting us 1/2 way on the price. In the grand scheme of things, it isn’t a lot of money but it is money that has to come out of our pocket that we don’t have. We played with the numbers and finally said that the only way we could consider it is if they agreed to take the house as is – meaning no matter what the house inspection shows, it is their responsibility to fix it or walk away. We would offer no credits or assistance any way. They said no so the deal is off the table.
I’m sad. I don’t mind renting. Our apartment is nice and I like the community we are living in. Yes, I am a bit anxious to begin putting down some roots. I find it a little harder to rent when I want to start some family traditions for Sabrina but such is life. We anticipate renting for a year beyond the sale of the house to rebuild our cash reserves since paying rent and mortgage as well as having to make up the difference in the sale price of the house is sucking us dry. I was fine staying right where we are until the pregnancy. I’ve been trying to figure out how to fit a second crib and more baby stuff into the second bedroom here and no matter how I configure things it doesn’t work. We’ve agreed we will have to move again when our lease is up to a larger rental. I think we will likely try to move to one of the communities we are considering buying in so that we can get a feel for it and be sure that is where we want to settle. After doing some research, it looks like we should be able to rent a 3 bedroom single family home for pretty close to what we are paying for our 2 bedroom apartment (giving up the amenities of 2 pools, 2 tennis courts, the workout room, and 7 miles from downtown makes up the difference). I know it will be better for our family and the dog but I hate the thought of moving again – especially when I will be 7 months pregnant. But again, life doesn’t always go as we expect it to so we’ve got to roll with the punches. Some days being a grown up really sucks.