It was good while it lasted

Edited: The back-up offer was rescinded today.

I am so tired of the rollercoaster. 

*comments off

In just 48 hours! Shortly after I hit the publish button on my last post, I had a text from the realtor. I initially assumed that it would relate to the viewing we had scheduled for the afternoon. But, it wasn't....we had a back-up offer!

The realtor sent over the paperwork for me to review. It was a low'ish offer, which I knew I would counter since the orginal offer was higher. I'm certain the potential buyers were testing the water to determine what the other offer might have been. The sticky part was the possession date; Oct. 5th! That's a mere 3 1/2 weeks away!!

We met the realtor shortly thereafter at the house (more on that later), and he and I agreed, I'd counter at an amount slightly higher than the original offer with a possession date of Oct. 24th. 

There was some back and forth later in the afternoon, as the buyers were willing to pay slightly less than the counter, but the Oct. 5 date was a must so they can take advantage of a locked in mortgage rate. After some discussion, it was agreed they will take possession on the 5th and I will lease the property until the 24th. The nominal rent I will pay is worth the peace of mind of knowing, I'm going to have the time needed to pack up for the move.

Should the first buyers manage to come up with the funding, we could be moving by the 16th. Either way, it's time to get some boxes, and start the packing process.

Onto the property we viewed. I'll refer to it as the Stinky house. And when I say stinky, I truly mean odoriferous. Entering the front door, one is almost overwhelmed by the sickly odor of sweaty, dirty socks. It is worst in the living room, but prevalent through the bedrooms, bathroom, and kitchen/dining room area too. We headed down to the basement first, as we wanted to ensure it is a solid basement. While we could only see one portion of the concrete wall, it looked good. There were no doors that swung out/in when opened. All good signs. There is a couple of areas, one with a couch, one with a dining table (poker table perhaps), a room that likely was used as a bedroom at some point, and a renovated small bathroom ensuite. There is work to be done down there; removing the panelling on the walls, insulating and adding drywall could be done over time. 

Upstairs, the u-shaped kitchen is dated but functional, the dining area opens out through sliding patio doors to a small deck, two of the three bedrooms are a reasonable size, and the third would make a good office space for C. The biggest issue is the odor, which can be resolved by removing all the furniture, carpets and flooring, window treatments, and repainting the entire main floor. 

Out back are two decks, the smaller deck and a lower deck currently holding a metal gazebo form. The lower deck truly needs to be removed, it's in rough shape but the smaller deck simply needs to be sanded and either stained or painted. There is a large garage (20 x 33 ft) that will easily hold both vehicles with lots of room for storage too. The yard needs some work, especially back beside the garage but for now, a lawn mower would keep the weeds down. 

It's a project house for certain, and I wasn't sure what my son would think as he's been more prone to lean towards houses that are more finished. BUT, he loved it! We went home and talked about it, and he decided to put in an offer. After some discussion we decided on a price with a possession date of Oct. 10. That would give us either a week or two before we'd have to be out of this house, depending on the successful buyer. The offer was open until 6 p.m. on Sunday.

About 2 p.m. Sunday, he got a text from the agent, that another offer had been received. The seller's agent had asked if we wanted to change the offer at all. Again, after a brief discussion, C revised his offer to a few thousand dollars below asking. Then we sat and waited...and waited...and waited until the 6 p.m. deadline, when the realtor called to say that he didn't get it. We have to assume the other buyer gave them the full asking price or above. It was disheartening to say the least, but we'll regroup and start looking at other properties. In fact, we've got another viewing set up for this evening. Time is of the essence.

Wish us luck!