Bidding Adieu

We placed a bid on the Auburn house, but it, and the two that came in from others, was rejected. We placed a higher bid. It was rejected and we were told it was way below the other two bids. So, on to the other houses we were interested in.

As mentioned before, there were four places we liked. One was under contract even as we were contemplating the one we got outbid on. Another had its price go up and then it got rented out. So that leaves us with one.

The photo above shows the back of our new hope. It is in good enough shape to move right into, though we would prefer to replace the living room's shag carpet first, if only because it's in such sorry shape. We're going to take a second look at it tomorrow.

An interesting bit about these two houses is that the one in Auburn was built the year I was born and this one, in Augusta, was built the year Carrie was born.

Inspector Gadget

Expect Inspection Introspection

Another shot of the same room, but the dining part of it. The kitchen is just to the left and the back yard is just beyond the window.

So, the inspector report shows mold is not a problem. It also showed the problems we knew about, a couple of which are worse than we thought. For instance, not only does the roof need to be redone, it needs to be redone before winter (we'd hoped to put it off a year), the vents are leaking, and the rafters need extra support. The other possibly big problem we didn't spot is that the new furnace system not only isn't hooked up to the whole house, but it couldn't be started.

There are a lot of relatively minor things that, if it wasn't such a well built house to start with, would certainly have made us leery of purchase. But the inspector, as well as the contractor we had in earlier, both thought very highly of the structure. We'd looked at some houses that needed less work, but were not really worth the extra effort to fix up. We think this one is.

The bank just recently dropped the asking price which got more people interested in it. There are some who are already talking with the bank about buying it. We didn't have all our price quotes for repairs in yet, but we put together what we had with our bid for the house. We need to hope that it is high enough and our ability to close quickly (because we don't have to sell a house to raise the money and have already done an inspection so won't have an inspector escape clause) will be enough to get the house.

Waiting For A Go

Our real estate agent gives us hope that we might actually be able to get this place. She says the agent for the bank is keen to get rid of it, and has tried to convince the bank previously to let it go cheaply. He encourages us to get a detailed list of repairs to put with our bid to help the case. We have been pricing out some things like replacing the carpeted basement floor, but the first big thing to do is get the house inspected so we can get a detailed list of what's wrong. If there's mold, we stop and walk away. If not, we start contacting all the contractors about written estimates. Wednesday is the inspection.

Pictures this time are of the upstairs living room.

House of Blues

We heard that a previous offer of more than our maximum on the house we want had been turned down. We're going to talk to our real estate agent about strategies, including moving on to another possible house. We still might try for this one, depending partly on how long ago that bid was put in. If we do try, we're going to need to put together a detailed list of all the repairs and replacements the property needs, with estimated costs, to put in with our super low bid. Will it be more work and cost than the slim chance it will get us the house warrants? We'll see what the agent thinks.

The room pictured here is the family room in the walkout basement. The previous owners took the wood stove that was on the brick base when they left.

Is There A House Doctor In?

Our realtor finally got info on house repairs from the contractor who had gone to look at the property we are thinking about. The answers are a little vague on a couple of things, but overall, if the bank will accept a pretty low bid, we would buy it and sink about as much into fixing the house as we are putting as a down payment.

Hunted Houses

click on the pics to enlarge them quick

After many weekends of looking at houses, mostly found by searching many weeknights on the internet, we have found some we like enough to maybe buy. The pictures above are of our top choice. It is also the one that needs the most work. It is bank owned, and while it was unoccupied, some pipes burst. The refinished walk-out basement had water in it. The flooring from the basement will have to be taken out and replaced. And some water soaked up into the drywall, so the lower part of that will have to be replaced. The light fixtures and wood stove the previous owners took with them when they bailed out will also have to be replaced. But, it is bank owned in a glutted market, so we are hopeful that we can put in a low bid that would allow us to use a big chunk of the money we got from the sale of our old house for the repairs and yet end up with a lower monthly mortgage payment than if we spent the same money totally on the down payment of a move-in ready house.

Second choice is a for sale by owner home that has a mother-in-law apartment over the garage. That apartment is the only bit of fixing up that is needed and if we bought the house, we were thinking we'd convert it into the master bedroom suite. It needs better floor covering, some work on the stair railings, and a solution to how bright it would be on moonlit nights shining in through the skylights. But certainly not as much as the first house.

Third choice is an absolutely beautiful place that suffers from being a little further away from amenities that the others, and from a very steep unpaved driveway that my little car would not be able to climb in the winter. We would have to talk the price down enough to allow us to buy at least one 4-wheel drive vehicle and the asking price is already over our budget.

Fourth choice only needs to have rugs in the living room and basement family room replaced. We might want to get a little bit more customization done, but the rugs would make it ready to move in if we wanted.