naturegeek

We now have offers on two other houses – one a “mid-century boring” short sale in a regular neighborhood – a perfectly fine little starter home, but not exciting (other than the excitement of owning our own home!) and one that is a run-down foreclosure in need of some major renovation, but on a dead-end street, with a farm at the end of the street on one side, open land in the back with a view of the Sierra (it’s 3 houses down from the first place we made an offer on but didn’t get, and over 100,000 cheaper).

We are really close to getting a yes on the short sale – we should hear from the second mortgage holder next week (the first already accepted our offer).

The run-down mess with a view has countered our offer, but there are all sorts of scary strings attached. The foreclosees are still living in it, and it really is a mess – it smells, is piled up with stuff – so much I don’t think a proper inspection can be done, a tree fell on the roof… but that view…

So decision time is coming.

“Exercise Relieves stress.
Nothing relieves exercise.”

We made an offer on the house we like, and the seller seemed okay with it – it will be a short sale at the price we are offering, but it’s been on the market for a year with no buyers, so I think he’s ready to sell – we offered as high as we felt comfortable, which was still 50K below the asking price. He took the offer to the bank, and now the bank is trying to see if they can re-finance or something for him so he can keep the house.

Which, well, it’s awesome for him if he can. Our disappointment at not getting the house can’t even be compared with his heartbreak from losing it, if he doesn’t really want to sell. So, even though we really want the house, we are also rooting for the owner, because it’s just too sad to see people lose their homes all over the country like is happening. And it’s nice to see a bank try to work with someone – of course, it’s self interest for the bank, too – they would probably rather not lose money on a short sale if they can help it.

We still have a chance – if the loan doesn’t go through and he has to sell, we are first (probably only) in line.

I’m trying hard not to feel like a villain or a circling vulture about this – we didn’t know all this for all the months we’ve been driving by the place with its for sale sign, and watching the price get reduced and reduced until it was finally closer to our reach and we felt we could make an offer. We just want to buy a house at a price we can afford, not force anyone out of theirs. And I know we have nothing to do with that – yet, I still feel somehow that we are taking advantage of someone else’s misfortune.

Hopefully, if we do get the house, what we are actually doing is giving the owner a way out that is not foreclosure or bankruptcy. And in the process, getting a wonderful home that we will love and cherish and appreciate for a long time. And at the same time, avoiding putting ourselves in the same situation he is currently in.

We feel pretty sure the housing market has not yet hit bottom – we think it’s going to continue to decline and we are ready for that if we buy today – for our house to be worth less a year later. We hope that a more normal increase in value will then resume… but maybe we will end up waiting to buy a little longer because of this, and then end up with a much better deal. But I don’t know if we could find a better house – we really like the one we made an offer on!

Sigh. We are cursed with living in “interesting times.”