Monday, December 31

2012, 2013 and that house thing

Back in June, when we put our townhouse on the market for sale, we never imagined that we wouldn't be in a new house for the holidays. We didn't even thing we wouldn't be in a new house for Halloween. But there it is, Halloween, Thanksgiving and CHristmas have come and gone and we still are camping in a small apartment. What happened ?? Well complications for sure. If you want to short story you can skip to the end of this post. 

Here is the long story. Back in May we started scouting the area for houses, we spotted a house we really liked, in a great neighborhood, with great schools. Unfortunately this house had been on the market since March 2009 years and unoccupied since May 2009 because it was a short sale, the bank holding the mortgage was making the process drag on and in the meantime, the house suffered some damage and with the repairs needed, the asking price was way over-stated. There had already been several offers on the house, some had been retracted due to the delays some still active, so we decided not pursue it. 

Early August, once the sale of the townhouse was finalized, we started seriously house hunting in the neighborhoods we had previously retained as possible and soon thereafter found a suitable match: a large split level house, with a pretty yard and room to grow. Our offer was accepted and we thought we would be moving in by the end of September. Everything seem to workout well until the bank ordered appraisal came back, way lower than the price previously agreed on. We tried to re-negotiate the price but to no avail. There we were, at the end of the summer, back to square one, house hunting again. 

Then in one of those crazy curve balls of life, that same house we had been eyeing back in may was back on the market, this time the asking price was well within our range, even factoring the inevitable repairs. So we decided to visit the house. After assessing the situation (not as bad as we had anticipated)  and discussing the other available options thoroughly, my hubby and I agreed this was THE house. Mid-september, we took the plunge and put an offer of that train wreck of an house that we had fallen in love with. And then waited, and waited, and waited for the bank to make its move. 

Early October, we moved again to another short-term rental. That's when things started to move again. Paperwork, then wait some, more paperwork, more waiting was the name of the game until the week before Christmas. And then just as we started to doubt anything would happen until New Year's, the news finally came in: the short sale has been approved by the bank. We have until the end of January to close.  Some seriously crazy Christmas present for us. There is still many a thing that can go wrong and prevent the sale to conclude, but the short sale red tape phase is over. 

If everything goes well in the next couple of days, we will have a new home at the end of January and move in by the end of march since there are some repairs that will have to be taken care of before the house is habitable. Are we crazy ? Certainly a little bit for embarking again in the fixer-upper boat. But the house is infinitely worth the trouble and the wait: it has all the features both my husband and  desired, the location is great,  we are getting a great bargain on the price and after a bit of TLC, the house will be fantastic.

So 2013 will be a busy year for sure, while we turn our train wreck into a dream boat.

Happy 2013 to all !!

3 comments:

  1. I'm glad you've finally found your dream house.

    Happy New Year!

    ReplyDelete
  2. My hubs and I were just looking at a train wreck of a house and were actually thinking of all the possibilities of what we could do with it. I hope the rest of the process goes smoothly. I am stopping by from the Mingle with us link up and am your newest follower. I would love for you to stop by my blog and follow along.

    ReplyDelete
  3. est ce que tu as la maison?
    j'espere que tout s'est bien passe, bon courage pour les reparations, cela peut etre a la fois interessant et super stressant!

    ReplyDelete

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