Inspection Time

After what happened last time, we were too nervous to seriously look at houses until the inspection on our place was over; however, that being said, on our way out of town for an overnight trip that weekend, we did decide to stop at an open house down the street.  It was kind of nice to be out looking at houses again since we hadn't looked at any since the offer fell through in December.  We had a nice mini trip and came home to the siding contractor fixing a section of siding that needed it just in time for the inspection later that day. Minutes before the inspection the stove stopped working--talk about timing, but the inspector fixed it, he thinks something got tripped when they were banging new siding into that exterior wall where the stove is located.  I called my realtor and begged her not to let the sale fall through over an oven--I'll buy a new oven if needed, I promised!  Turned out to be a non-issue.  After the inspection, my realtor called me and explained a couple of concerns with our home.  She and I were both upset the original person who offered on our place had not told us this back in November after his inspection because I could have fixed everything back in November.  The biggest concern involved some seals being broken in some windows--I thought I just did a bad job cleaning them, but it turned out they needed some glass to be replaced and there was potentially mold in one spot in the crawlspace.  I freaked about that thinking it was going to cost tens of thousands of dollars to fix (thank you internet).  There were also some suggested electrical upgrades.  So I started reaching out to mold mitigation companies, contacted my electrician, and contacted someone about the windows.  Long story not so long, the mold spot was small (thank you God!) and it was going to cost $800-$1000 to fix depending who I used.  The electric was going to be around $500-$700.  The windows were the most expensive at over $1000, but all was still doable--and after thinking I was going to have to spend THOUSANDS and THOUSANDS of dollars on mold, none of that seemed bad anymore.  I started making plans to fix things (good thing I had a few days off) when my realtor called and said the buyer was pulling his offer because of all the needed repairs.  She suggested we take the home off the market for 30 days, fix everything, get the kitchen repainted, and put the home back on the market in 30 days.  I was devastated, but I knew we couldn't sell a home with mold and it was going to be a couple of weeks before everyone could come out and fix everything.  She emailed me a form to sign.  I didn't have the heart to call my husband at work and ruin his day so I didn't sign the form right away.  I figured we could do it after work.  A little while later my realtor called again and said the other buyer--remember we had two offers--increased their offer and was interested in making a new offer.  I told her that was great, but no one was going to want to buy a house with mold in it--that being said, remember I had all ready started contacting people about mold and the estimate was not as bad as I feared.  Even my realtor was shocked.  She thought if we told them I was all ready working on the mold and glass and had things in writing, they might actually consider it. I gave her permission to share my copy of the inspection report and my estimates.  And the waiting began...

The House Saga Continues

I'm baack, well, until I slack off again ha ha.  Due to covid-19, there is no travel for me this summer. I'm so sad about this; obviously, I understand, but I was supposed to go to Finland and Sweden for two weeks, :-(  So instead I will use this time to update you on the house situation instead of blogging about fun trips. As I stated last year/time, our home went back on the market the Saturday before Christmas along with an Open House that weekend. We had a showing Christmas Eve, but then we didn't have any other showings for over a week.  I was off from work until January 2nd and it was on January 2nd and 3rd that my phone started blowing up with texts about showings.  I hoped something good would happen and while we'd have a bunch in a row and then nothing, a couple of people expressd some interest and asked about more info, but we went through the entire month of January with no offers and some positive and negative feedback from those who viewed the home.  The calendar switched to February and still nothing, but there was another Open House and some more people showed interest, requested more information and some even asked to see the house a second (and one a third) time.  We rearranged some furniture and had some more painting done and arranged to have some siding repaired/replaced.  One frustrating thing was that even in snowstorms people wanted to come see the place.  Our plow guys in the association are good, but they have over 200 driveways to plow so it takes awhile so not only did I have to drive in the snow (which I don't like to do) since you can't be home during showings, but I also had to shovel--now before you call me a lazy fool, the reason I'm complaning about shoveling is because my HOA dues pay for plowing so basically I'm paying for someone to plow, but I have to do it so the place looks good for potential buyers--and if any of them made an offer I wouldn't complain, but no one who came out in those snowstorms offered on the place.    #firstworldproblems, right?  I suppose it was good exercise though.  Fast forward 50 showings (yes, really) and it's the end of February and two offers come in (with interest from a third, but nothing materialized).  I went out for drinks/apps with some co-workers after work that day and came home that evening and had to review two offers and pick the best one.  I was shocked to have gone from nothing for months to two at once.  Things were starting to look up (or so I thought...)  We accepted what seemed to be the best offer after a bit of countering all was signed and it was time to get ready for the inspection..