'Frustrated' has put an offer on a house...

[movie zombie]

congrats to Begonia and Mr Begonia! job well done on so many fronts.

ok, so now the hard part: getting that house sold pronto.

unasked for advice: during your breaks from what i'm now going to call "the purge" do some research of your own. do not simply rely on your realtor....and not all realtors are created equal!

search to see what similar properties have sold for in your neighborhood....and those close by. look at pictures of their sales listings if there are any. do a drive by of those properties. see if you can find similar properties currently for sale. here in this county we have access to records to what property sells for.....very helpful in setting a realistic sale price and for knowing what the market will bear when/if an offer comes in.

btw, you negotiated well, Begonia!

 

[Enerchi]

Begonia

Tee Hee - get this. We currently have one bathroom, and the new place has two and a half! In Begonia's world, that is equivalent to a 8 mm spread OEC, I color with a most unique cut found on the secondary market by someone who had no clue what they had, or what to charge. Dreamer is saying "pish, what's so hard about that?".

Total score!!! I'm sure Dreamer would still be proud of you

That is fantastic news - I'm so excited for you - this is going to be fun to follow the next steps --- but hang in there, it will get stressful, tempers will flair, there will be resistance. Just keep the end goal in site - that OEC/2.5 bath new home!

 

[MissGotRocks]

I am so happy for you Begonia! I so admire your sense of humor - as long as you have that you'll do well! Best of luck on selling your current home as well - it will all come together for you!

 

[Dreamer_D]

Begonia

Tee Hee - get this. We currently have one bathroom, and the new place has two and a half! In Begonia's world, that is equivalent to a 8 mm spread OEC, I color with a most unique cut found on the secondary market by someone who had no clue what they had, or what to charge. Dreamer is saying "pish, what's so hard about that?".

Total score!!! I'm sure Dreamer would still be proud of you

LOL indeed! We went from a 900sq foot home with one bath to an 1900sq foot home with 2.5 baths when we bought our home, and it is AMAZING the difference the bathrooms make! And our kids are still babies Yup, its worth moving for JUST THAT ALONE!

Begonia, I think we live in the same part of the world.. would love to know where you are buying. I am so curious. Are you in the area where it costs and arm and a leg and an arm to buy even a 500 sq foot hovel?

 

[Begonia]

Begonia

Tee Hee - get this. We currently have one bathroom, and the new place has two and a half! In Begonia's world, that is equivalent to a 8 mm spread OEC, I color with a most unique cut found on the secondary market by someone who had no clue what they had, or what to charge. Dreamer is saying "pish, what's so hard about that?".

Total score!!! I'm sure Dreamer would still be proud of you

LOL indeed! We went from a 900sq foot home with one bath to an 1900sq foot home with 2.5 baths when we bought our home, and it is AMAZING the difference the bathrooms make! And our kids are still babies Yup, its worth moving for JUST THAT ALONE!

Begonia, I think we live in the same part of the world.. would love to know where you are buying. I am so curious. Are you in the area where it costs and arm and a leg and an arm to buy even a 500 sq foot hovel?

Heck, where I live, it's gonna cost you a kidney!

Having a stiff upper lip and being very 'British' about it will help of course.

I think we'll look back on living in 940 square feet and consider it 'character-building'...funny story about that though. Living in a small space with 4 people requires a certain amount of respect about the noise level. We don't talk really loud, and are careful about noise when the kids have gone to bed (nobody wants to deal with tired kids in the am!). Of course the tv has to be kept low too (as I am quite noise-sensitive). My sister comes to visit and asks (when the tv is on) if we are lip-reading it. Mind you, this same girl has over 2400 square feet...

Thanks MissGotRocks. Ya gotta laugh...and drink hot brews!

 

[partgypsy]

Hey Begonia - I'm back from a vacation and got on here to check on you. Whoo hoo! I'm really excited for you! That is a lot of change in a small amount of time.

Thinking about myself, I've been with hubby over 20 years, and since moving in together shared 2 places. Our first was a rental house that was also 900 square feet, one bath, moving to a 1500 sq foot place with 2 full baths. The kicker was that the house needed a ton of work, so we basically had to redo the two bathrooms (as well as nearly everything else). Though we have done a ton of work on our house, its still not there, at least for me.

I've been at a crossroads for a couple years, wanting to move or seriously remodel our house (add square footage via the attic). We came back from vacation, and somehow came to the agreement all we may really need to do is (seriouslly) de-clutter and re-organize. This is going to be really hard for my husband but we started this weekend and I'm proud of him and excited for us!!!

 

[partgypsy]

Begonia, any updates?

 

[Enerchi]

Yes, enquiring minds want to know!!

I was thinking about your situation and wondering how things are going - please come back and let us know what's going on!

 

[Begonia]

Howdy PG, E and others!

Go pour yourselves a brew, cuz my story goes on for a while

Getting the kids back to school this week, which has kept me busy, and is messing with my Zen thing may I add?

I'm the type who is always waiting for the other shoe to drop, so I tend to keep mum for a while, but it looks like we have bought and sold. I won't count my chickens until we are in the new place (closing Oct. 15th).

Whooeee what a ride it's been!

I have a few thoughts about realtors.

We bought the other place without selling ours as a clause. Made for a much better price when buying and we were confident about ours selling (enter first thought about realtors).

We got an offer on our place 4 hours after listing, which we accepted. The place looked great. I cleaned, decluttered and staged the inside. Pictures looked very nice. I'm a landscaper by trade, so the outside was very nice IMO. Flowers, fruit trees, veggie garden, hanging baskets etc. We did a lot of upgrades: new roof, windows, interior/exterior doors, flooring, hwt, perimeter drainage, painting, fixtures. We are on a 1/4 acre smack in the city, so most of our value is property.

Now the downside is that my wee abode is 60 years old.

She's a senior citizen.

She's also on a crawlspace. A clean, dry, gravelled and lined crawlspace.

She has a bit of dry rot on the perimeter of one side. It pre-dates us and when we put the drainage and dried the crawlspace out, it stopped that. It is there though. You see I live in the Pacific Northwest, aka rotsville.

We priced out house accordingly, but the buyers were old folks who are on a fixed income and wanted absolute turn-key. That doesn't happen where I live. Their realtor lied to us and said they were a vigorous and young 55 year old couple (enter another thought here). Not that we cared, but we had indicated that the best people to target were contractors or younger folk who wouldn't be intimidated by the repairs. Not a old couple on a very fixed income who are in ill health. See it got a lot of attention right off the get-go, and I think our realtor should have brought forth a better match as the first offer (enter another thought).

Well they held us up for 10 days and tried to force us to do the repairs. That was one possibility, but we had priced appropriately, and just wanted it to go 'as is', and felt that it could.

We finally got out of that deal, and it was opened up to showings again.

Now can I add that cleaning has taken on a whole new dimension for me when it comes to showing your house? OH MY GAWD.

It generated a lot of interest again, and we had many showings over a 5 day period, at the end of which a fella offered close to asking, and get this...unconditionally! No inspection, no contractors for estimates. I find that part very stressful.

I believe he is a contractor himself who is going to rent it for a few years and then likely develop. That means my little house may not be here much longer. That saddens me. She is a cute little ole gal that has such positive energy. Not to mention great oak hardwood floors and cove ceilings. I have a plan for the next part of my life however, and must look ahead.

So, in short, the lawyers have his deposit, and things seem to be progressing as they should.

Gosh I sure hope this all goes through.

Our new place (scares me to talk like that at this point but what the hell), is about 2000 square feet to our current 1000. It is close to the kids schools and a good investment for location. We got it quite a few thousand under assessment, as it was on the market for a while. I hear real estate in our area will undergo a correction over the next while (indeed prices are falling rapidly) and our buying price accounts for quite a correction. Hopefully prices won't go too far...

Now we've gotta tackle floors, windows, molding/trim, doors all over again. And the yard? Oy! Seriously, how can a house be 30 years old with no landscaping? It ain't rocket science. Ah well, a blank slate...

Suddenly I am very tired.

This process is stressful and tiring yes?

Now we have to move. That I can do like a hot damn. I'll switch from my usual hot brew of tea and go to coffee for a while It's the buying/selling/inspection part that leaves me cold.

That was some learning curve.

I went from one hot flash to the next.

Thanks for listening. I really mean that.

 

[yennyfire]

Hi Begonia!

Can I just say that reading your post made me re-live our moving experience again and left me in a cold sweat!! The whole realtor/loan officer/inspection part is awful. It's like living in a glass bubble and waiting for just one crack, which will bring the whole thing down on you. I will be cheering for you on October 15th! Hang in there...this long, miserable ride is almost over!!

 

[Gypsy]

DUST for house selling and for quick, HAPPY, efficient move and transition to new space.

 

[Anastasia]

Congratulations!! I wish you the best as the process unfolds. I know how nervewracking it is, but it will be so worth it in the end.

I thoroughly enjoyed your latest update - you have a talent for writing!

 

[Begonia]

Hi Begonia!

Can I just say that reading your post made me re-live our moving experience again and left me in a cold sweat!! The whole realtor/loan officer/inspection part is awful. It's like living in a glass bubble and waiting for just one crack, which will bring the whole thing down on you. I will be cheering for you on October 15th! Hang in there...this long, miserable ride is almost over!!

Spot on with that analogy Yen!

I'm gonna sell my own house next time. I have a few years to figure out to do it

 

[Begonia]

DUST for house selling and for quick, HAPPY, efficient move and transition to new space.

Dear Gypsy, you are my conscience and my sage.

The next phase of my life will include work outside and inside the home.

 

[Begonia]

Congratulations!! I wish you the best as the process unfolds. I know how nervewracking it is, but it will be so worth it in the end.I thoroughly enjoyed your latest update - you have a talent for writing!

Thanks Ana. It is good to hear that. It's what I've been hoping for through all this.

Talk about being out of my comfort zone.

It's usually just me and the bees (or wasps at this time of year), pruners and a shovel.

Not gonna give up my day job...

 

[JewelFreak]

Congratulations, Begonia! Good news even if hard won. I also understand how you feel about the potential future demise of your house, wrenches the heart. Maybe the buyer just really likes old places with personality, as I do. Having all that new space will be a huge joy & you will not believe how fast you all manage to fill it up with stuff.

You bring back ugly experiences from our last move when our realtor lied to us and to the sellers of this house. I didn't know about it until at the closing, the wife burst into tears from the stress our realtor had caused her. I was just disgusted. And there was the wacky incompetent realtor for the buyers of our old house, who made everybody's life hard for several months. It sure taught me at least not to hire a realtor without a thorough interview, not just take the one the agency sends. If I have to offer a bonus to get a good one, I'll grumble like hell & do it.

Happy days ahead for you & family!

--- Laurie

 

[Enerchi]

Hip Hip HOOORAY!!! I'm so thrilled for you and all the other Begonia family members!! ... space... the final frontier....

The selling part is so hard. When we sold our house prior to building our current one, I swear I was one breath away from a nervous breakdown. I HATED having nameless, faceless strangers coming thru my beautiful home, and criticizing something insanely stupid... just because they could!! I mean - did their mom's not teach them "if you can't say something nice, don't say it at all"??? Holy crap... I just took it all way so personally - which you shouldn't because it does become a public commodity, not your personal haven, once that sign is on the lawn.

I'm thrilled your journey is on the easy part now - not that packing and moving is easy, but the stress of 'what if' is now over. Congratulations!

 

[Begonia]

Congratulations, Begonia! Good news even if hard won. I also understand how you feel about the potential future demise of your house, wrenches the heart. Maybe the buyer just really likes old places with personality, as I do. Having all that new space will be a huge joy & you will not believe how fast you all manage to fill it up with stuff.

You bring back ugly experiences from our last move when our realtor lied to us and to the sellers of this house. I didn't know about it until at the closing, the wife burst into tears from the stress our realtor had caused her. I was just disgusted. And there was the wacky incompetent realtor for the buyers of our old house, who made everybody's life hard for several months. It sure taught me at least not to hire a realtor without a thorough interview, not just take the one the agency sends. If I have to offer a bonus to get a good one, I'll grumble like hell & do it.

Happy days ahead for you & family!

--- Laurie

Oh yeah. That was how the whole thing went down.

Left a sour taste in my mouth...

Thanks JF/Laurie

 

[Begonia]

Hip Hip HOOORAY!!! I'm so thrilled for you and all the other Begonia family members!! ... space... the final frontier....

The selling part is so hard. When we sold our house prior to building our current one, I swear I was one breath away from a nervous breakdown. I HATED having nameless, faceless strangers coming thru my beautiful home, and criticizing something insanely stupid... just because they could!! I mean - did their mom's not teach them "if you can't say something nice, don't say it at all"??? Holy crap... I just took it all way so personally - which you shouldn't because it does become a public commodity, not your personal haven, once that sign is on the lawn.

I'm thrilled your journey is on the easy part now - not that packing and moving is easy, but the stress of 'what if' is now over. Congratulations!

Yup, yup and yup. I hear ya E. I've almost finished putting myself back together.

Was certainly one of the nastiest experiences of my life.

Cleanin' and packin' I can do blindfolded with one hand tied...well never mind. Just keep the comfort drinks a-comin'.

Now, having said all that, haven't we learned a lot? I sure have.

It's always been a question of character, and some people (alas) just do not have any.

Take care E. Your character reaches out to me right across cyberland.

All of you.

 

[Enerchi]

Hip Hip HOOORAY!!! I'm so thrilled for you and all the other Begonia family members!! ... space... the final frontier....

The selling part is so hard. When we sold our house prior to building our current one, I swear I was one breath away from a nervous breakdown. I HATED having nameless, faceless strangers coming thru my beautiful home, and criticizing something insanely stupid... just because they could!! I mean - did their mom's not teach them "if you can't say something nice, don't say it at all"??? Holy crap... I just took it all way so personally - which you shouldn't because it does become a public commodity, not your personal haven, once that sign is on the lawn.

I'm thrilled your journey is on the easy part now - not that packing and moving is easy, but the stress of 'what if' is now over. Congratulations!

Yup, yup and yup. I hear ya E. I've almost finished putting myself back together.

Was certainly one of the nastiest experiences of my life.

Cleanin' and packin' I can do blindfolded with one hand tied...well never mind. Just keep the comfort drinks a-comin'.

Now, having said all that, haven't we learned a lot? I sure have.

It's always been a question of character, and some people (alas) just do not have any.

Take care E. Your character reaches out to me right across cyberland.

All of you.

Thanks! {{{HUGS}}}

The journey that started so strained is almost over!! Just another month and a bit and you'll be unpacking in your new castle! The new 'mansion' will be pleased to have you guys bring life to its shell

 

[movie zombie]

what a strange long journey its been.....but so worth it.

 

[partgypsy]

oops duplicate post

 

[partgypsy]

Aw sorry that the realtor was being so crappy. I hear that houses sold with realtors do not sell for more (actually sell for a little less than fsbo) but they sell quicker. Sometimes I think they focus on that (quick sale) more than what the seller wants.

I does sound like you have your work cut out for you, but but you are getting what you want (a house with more room) and it will be worth it in the end. Sometimes myself I stress about house stuff (want things to happen sooner than they do). But if it is not something that will cause the house to cave in, then try to reduce wear and tear on yourself and enjoy the journey and not just the destination.