Things with our vacation house sale have been...difficult, to say the least. The buyers have been challenging, and we have been super accommodating. We finally hit the breaking point of how flexible we would/could be, and their realtor gave us a 10% chance of closing.
Our expiration window is today at 5 pm. They accepted at 4:40. I'm absolutely over the moon thrilled by the end result, but very frustrated by the transaction process. I won't get into the details, but it was a long & messy process. We accepted a buyer credit in the initial offer, with the clear feedback that the credit would avoid back & forth during the inspection process (e.g. could be used to cover any minor repairs as needed), & they agreed. We found a previously unknown issue, and agreed to cover that, as it was impacting the usability of the item. Irritating, but fine & totally understandable. The rest of the nickle & diming over the repairs, despite the prior agreements around the credit, and then asking for multiple other smaller ticket things that we approved without question....sigh. It was a lot of drama.
Now we just have the appraisal, and we'll be moving towards closing. Hurrah. I was up at 4:00 am, because I couldn't sleep. Too stressed about the house. I've learned a lot about myself, and let's just say that I'm not, by any means, the kind of person who enjoys buying/selling homes. I need to avoid this in the future, and let M manage all of the negotiations.
To change my mood, positive things:
- The weather has been perfect for Sam's (6 hour a day) soccer camp. Sunny & beautiful, but not too hot. Low 70s all week.
- We leave on vacation in just a few days, and the last "hurdle" (COVID tests) is tomorrow. After that, it will be pretty smooth sailing.
- I can head into the vacation knowing that things are in hand with the vacation house. Based on what the realtor said, I thought we would instead be putting the house back on the market this weekend.
- Nick has officially "graduated" from middle school. I have two high schoolers on my hands! Whoa, there. Not sure I'm ready, but here goes.
- We are going out to dinner tonight, for a work event. I haven't worn proper adult clothes in a while, & I'm looking forward to it.
I think buyers have heard it is a buyer's market and pushing the sellers beyond what I would stand. I am glad to hear you have good weather as we are having rain and more rain and bad storms for the last few days and should last another four.
ReplyDeleteEx-husband agreed over the phone to lower price of the house and we received a new contract that I refused to sign. He was a pushover. I was not and there was no way he could force me nor could the buyers.
Oh, it's definitely a sellers market. Property sales are very high, throughout the US. In our market, it's also very, very high compared to previous years.
DeleteHope the weather improves on your side!
Your buyers sound like the people who bought our first house in Portland, and the ones who almost bought our second (we backed out of that arrangement)! But in cases like this I blame the realtor - it's their job to tell them no or what's reasonable, realistic, etc. Anyway, BIG congratulations! I know you'll have an even better time in Hawaii for getting this accomplished.
ReplyDeleteLaura
(The Occasional Nomads)
Their realtor was a Portland realtor, and not at all familiar with the coast market. I also blame her. Our realtor was fantastic & has worked incredibly hard on the deal.
DeleteGlad your sale went through. Even if it did have a bit too much drama, at least this is over.
ReplyDeleteSo happy to hear your vacation house sale is going forward! House buying and selling is stressful. I hope you have a lovely trip to Hawaii! Cindy in the South
ReplyDeleteI really dislike the process - that's for sure!
DeleteI hear you sister. Selling a house especially in this market brings out the worst in people.Hubs and I out at least $20,000 into repairs to our house and then the buyers came back with the most ridiculous things they wanted done and we said NO!!!!! they bought it anyway. SO aggravating.
ReplyDeleteIt was pretty nuts. We've bought houses before, & I always feel we were pretty reasonable.
DeleteGlad the process is moving. I had buyers like that - complained about little thing at closing - I was going to walk away but my realtor gave them a blank check for her handyman to fix the issues. On one of the issues there was a quick repair that wasn't going to be satisfactory in the long run and another fix that would have taken maybe a day. Both covered in full. They chose the quick one. 3 months later they called my real estate agent wanting me to pay to have the problem fixed the right way. She explained that it was their problem not mine since they bought the house - not rented it. Idiots
ReplyDeleteThey have been so difficult, and they/their realtors just clearly do not understand the market (they are buying a vacation house on the coast - things are different there!)
DeleteUgh. Sorry you were having "issues" with house sale. It certainly can be stressful. We recently sold our second home in AZ & it could not have went any better. Sold in 48 hours, had 16 people through, 4 offers, 2 OVER asking price, one cash offer. So we took the cash offer for $15K over our asking price. He didn't want a home inspection, etc. AND he purchased all of our furniture, decor, kitchen dishes, etc, small appliances, bed & bath linens, even our bikes & pool floats for an additional $10K. (he really got a deal!) So I left him a new tube of toothpaste in the bathroom - because all he really needed to bring was he toothbrush & his clothes! :-) And we almost made double what we paid for the house 9 years ago. So it was the right time to sell, although I will miss it come next winter & we are stuck in the snow here! :-(
ReplyDeleteThat's amazing! Well done. We also sold our house turn key, which is a gift to the buyers & us. Moving all of that and/or trying to get rid of everything would have been a tremendous amount of work for us.
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