DGS49
Diamond Member
I am in a very bothersome period right now. My wife and I have purchased and paid for our next home , largely with a line-of-credit mortgage on our current home, and the current home is not selling (3 months in).
On paper, we are fine. The current house is theoretically worth $100k more than the one we bought, but it is "unusual." It is a large, three-bedroom house with a full apartment in the basement (kitchenette, full bath, sitting room, dining room, and bedroom). We built this house when my father lived with us, but he is long gone.
Everyone viewing our house goes up to the second floor, counts three bedrooms, and asks, "Where is the fourth bedroom?" Well, it's part of that apartment you saw in the basement.
Every Real Estate person we talk to says, "This is great! You could use that for an in-law, a long term visitor, a college student kid, or a dozen other uses." But no one who has walked through seems to have any of those uses.
In the meantime, we have to keep the house 100% clean and orderly. We have to be prepared to evacuate on a moment's notice to allow a viewing, and we have to keep the furniture in place because it's theoretically easier to sell a furnished house than an empty one. Theoretically. And after several months of purging, we still have too much furniture and too much stuff to fit into the new Condo, and we still haven't figured out EXACTLY where everything will go, and EXACTLY what we will do with the dreaded excess. It's all good stuff and we don't want to just throw it away. Maybe some Veterans' organization will cart it off. Tax deductions are no longer an issue, eh?
Our communications with prospective buyers go through at least two filters. We tell our agent something; she distills it and tells the selling agent; she distills it and tells it to the prospective buyers. Who knows what they hear? What we want to say is, "Make a low-ball offer and negotiate!" But it doesn't happen.
For now, we can't plan anything, don't know where we will be living on Thanksgiving (let alone Halloween), and of course don't know when this situation will end. We like to travel, go to Florida every year for a month of Winter, but we can plan anything while we are in this state of Limbo. We have hired a mover to move most of our stuff on November 10th and 11th. Fortunately, the condo is only ten minutes from the house, which will save money on the move.
In the back of my mind is the dreaded experience of the Buyer's inspector coming into the house and finding Who-Knows-What in the course of his inspection. The house has never been checked for Radon, and again, who knows what he will find? So we could accept a low offer and then be put into the position of having reductions demanded for unknown problems. Sheeeeeeeit.
The "bottom line" is that everything will eventually work out. Worst case, we will get enough money to pay off the line of credit and put money in the bank, but this is irritating. I wish it would end.
On paper, we are fine. The current house is theoretically worth $100k more than the one we bought, but it is "unusual." It is a large, three-bedroom house with a full apartment in the basement (kitchenette, full bath, sitting room, dining room, and bedroom). We built this house when my father lived with us, but he is long gone.
Everyone viewing our house goes up to the second floor, counts three bedrooms, and asks, "Where is the fourth bedroom?" Well, it's part of that apartment you saw in the basement.
Every Real Estate person we talk to says, "This is great! You could use that for an in-law, a long term visitor, a college student kid, or a dozen other uses." But no one who has walked through seems to have any of those uses.
In the meantime, we have to keep the house 100% clean and orderly. We have to be prepared to evacuate on a moment's notice to allow a viewing, and we have to keep the furniture in place because it's theoretically easier to sell a furnished house than an empty one. Theoretically. And after several months of purging, we still have too much furniture and too much stuff to fit into the new Condo, and we still haven't figured out EXACTLY where everything will go, and EXACTLY what we will do with the dreaded excess. It's all good stuff and we don't want to just throw it away. Maybe some Veterans' organization will cart it off. Tax deductions are no longer an issue, eh?
Our communications with prospective buyers go through at least two filters. We tell our agent something; she distills it and tells the selling agent; she distills it and tells it to the prospective buyers. Who knows what they hear? What we want to say is, "Make a low-ball offer and negotiate!" But it doesn't happen.
For now, we can't plan anything, don't know where we will be living on Thanksgiving (let alone Halloween), and of course don't know when this situation will end. We like to travel, go to Florida every year for a month of Winter, but we can plan anything while we are in this state of Limbo. We have hired a mover to move most of our stuff on November 10th and 11th. Fortunately, the condo is only ten minutes from the house, which will save money on the move.
In the back of my mind is the dreaded experience of the Buyer's inspector coming into the house and finding Who-Knows-What in the course of his inspection. The house has never been checked for Radon, and again, who knows what he will find? So we could accept a low offer and then be put into the position of having reductions demanded for unknown problems. Sheeeeeeeit.
The "bottom line" is that everything will eventually work out. Worst case, we will get enough money to pay off the line of credit and put money in the bank, but this is irritating. I wish it would end.