One of Those Months...
If you've ever had "one of those days," then you know the kind of experience Gail and I have been having with regards to our attempts at buying a house.
The first house we looked at we both immediately liked. Even though it had been on the market only a short time, we were sure this was "our house." Of course, that seller wanted to make a profit, and refused to haggle over a matter of $2500, which is chump-change (so I'm led to believe) in selling a house. Our realtor couldn't believe such a thing happened, and assured us that this was a very freak occurrence in home-buying.
The second house was even more perfect, if such a description can be made in this instance. The exterior of the house was extraordinarily apposite, the interior layout suited our needs extremely well, and the neighborhood was not only quiet and spread out, but also next to a country club.
However, this house also had been on the market a VERY short time, was in the same town as the first, and not only did the owners argue over LESS money ($1200 this time), but their realtors gave us no end of grief, simply because our mortgage company wasn't based in Oklahoma! Needless to say, our realtor was even more stunned this time.
Figuring it was a combination of the particular town and the particular amount of time that the homes had been on the market, we decided to attempt the home-buying experience elsewhere.
We found a house that was within our price range, in another city (actually, not far from where we currently live), and with a motivated seller. We even had the option of getting an appliance allowance thrown in! Even though the house needed attention, we figured we'd finally found something everyone - including the sellers - could agree on.
Then, the home-buying curse followed us.
First, we figured the numbers wrong when trying to calculate our loan, and had to hurry to fix them before the sellers signed our first offer.
Then, the appraiser brought in to inspect the home (FHA loans for first-time homebuyers require a particular type of certified appraiser) casually informed our realtor upon first sight of the property, "This place is ugly," and appraised the house at a value even below the county tax assessor (which is usually the lowest value, because the tax assessor just values the property, not really anything on it).
After a bit of finnagling and lots of complaining, the appraiser relented to the minimum value of the house, that being the tax assessor's value, which was FAR below the price we'd put on the original forms as our offer (another constraint of an FHA loan is that the house must appraise to the agreed upon selling value, or the loan falls through). This was another point in the process where our realtor was stunned -- usually the appraiser appraises the house at the offer price, and that's that. But, with an abundance of sub-prime loans in the mortgage market, I guess they didn't want to take chances.
We dropped the appliance allowance, negotiated a different price, and thought things were finally settled. We paid for house inspections, and were under way.
Then, we started having to meet the specifications set forth by the government to qualify for an FHA loan. One thing that we still need is an appraiser to compare our home to others in the neighborhood to verify value. But, as yet, none of the recent closed sales in the neighborhood come close to the value we want. Since there is one home sale that will be closing this Friday (mind you, we close the next Monday) that would be comparable to "our" house, we have to wait for that one in order to know how much money we're going to have to bring to closing, which is also stressing Gail out to no end.
One good note is that we have access to the keys to the new place, so we've already taken measurements for and bought new appliances, as well as having begun moving things into the house already. However, when we went by the house today, we noticed a 6" radial shatter crack in the outer window pane of glass on the window in the living room.
I swear, I've never seen Gail so close to a nervous breakdown (or, at the very least, wanting to rip her hair out) as I have today. For one thing, she took the responsibility of all the paperwork and all the research of buying a home onto herself, and all the stress that came with it. Secondly, she's wanted to move out of this place ever since I moved in, and she's been driving herself hard to accomplish it. And, really, with all the trouble we've had, and all the setbacks we've encountered, can you really blame her for being at wit's end?
Luckily, the current owners are going to get the front window replaced for us, but Gail's beginning to think that all the bad luck, bad breaks, and "omens" about the home-buying ordeal mean that we're in for something straight out of The Money Pit. I'm a little more optimistic, but if one more thing happens to set us back, I'm going to scream.
[Go with the hopes that you never have to buy a house by yourself.]
The first house we looked at we both immediately liked. Even though it had been on the market only a short time, we were sure this was "our house." Of course, that seller wanted to make a profit, and refused to haggle over a matter of $2500, which is chump-change (so I'm led to believe) in selling a house. Our realtor couldn't believe such a thing happened, and assured us that this was a very freak occurrence in home-buying.
The second house was even more perfect, if such a description can be made in this instance. The exterior of the house was extraordinarily apposite, the interior layout suited our needs extremely well, and the neighborhood was not only quiet and spread out, but also next to a country club.
However, this house also had been on the market a VERY short time, was in the same town as the first, and not only did the owners argue over LESS money ($1200 this time), but their realtors gave us no end of grief, simply because our mortgage company wasn't based in Oklahoma! Needless to say, our realtor was even more stunned this time.
Figuring it was a combination of the particular town and the particular amount of time that the homes had been on the market, we decided to attempt the home-buying experience elsewhere.
We found a house that was within our price range, in another city (actually, not far from where we currently live), and with a motivated seller. We even had the option of getting an appliance allowance thrown in! Even though the house needed attention, we figured we'd finally found something everyone - including the sellers - could agree on.
Then, the home-buying curse followed us.
First, we figured the numbers wrong when trying to calculate our loan, and had to hurry to fix them before the sellers signed our first offer.
Then, the appraiser brought in to inspect the home (FHA loans for first-time homebuyers require a particular type of certified appraiser) casually informed our realtor upon first sight of the property, "This place is ugly," and appraised the house at a value even below the county tax assessor (which is usually the lowest value, because the tax assessor just values the property, not really anything on it).
After a bit of finnagling and lots of complaining, the appraiser relented to the minimum value of the house, that being the tax assessor's value, which was FAR below the price we'd put on the original forms as our offer (another constraint of an FHA loan is that the house must appraise to the agreed upon selling value, or the loan falls through). This was another point in the process where our realtor was stunned -- usually the appraiser appraises the house at the offer price, and that's that. But, with an abundance of sub-prime loans in the mortgage market, I guess they didn't want to take chances.
We dropped the appliance allowance, negotiated a different price, and thought things were finally settled. We paid for house inspections, and were under way.
Then, we started having to meet the specifications set forth by the government to qualify for an FHA loan. One thing that we still need is an appraiser to compare our home to others in the neighborhood to verify value. But, as yet, none of the recent closed sales in the neighborhood come close to the value we want. Since there is one home sale that will be closing this Friday (mind you, we close the next Monday) that would be comparable to "our" house, we have to wait for that one in order to know how much money we're going to have to bring to closing, which is also stressing Gail out to no end.
One good note is that we have access to the keys to the new place, so we've already taken measurements for and bought new appliances, as well as having begun moving things into the house already. However, when we went by the house today, we noticed a 6" radial shatter crack in the outer window pane of glass on the window in the living room.
I swear, I've never seen Gail so close to a nervous breakdown (or, at the very least, wanting to rip her hair out) as I have today. For one thing, she took the responsibility of all the paperwork and all the research of buying a home onto herself, and all the stress that came with it. Secondly, she's wanted to move out of this place ever since I moved in, and she's been driving herself hard to accomplish it. And, really, with all the trouble we've had, and all the setbacks we've encountered, can you really blame her for being at wit's end?
Luckily, the current owners are going to get the front window replaced for us, but Gail's beginning to think that all the bad luck, bad breaks, and "omens" about the home-buying ordeal mean that we're in for something straight out of The Money Pit. I'm a little more optimistic, but if one more thing happens to set us back, I'm going to scream.
[Go with the hopes that you never have to buy a house by yourself.]