I don't think I'm cut out for this house-hunting adventure. Okay, maybe I'm just getting ... no, I won't say it, but I admit I was much more enthusiastic about it the last time (when I bought this house 14 years ago). I looked at all kinds of crappy houses then (the only type in my price range), and was terribly excited about all of them.
This time it's not working that way at all. This time I can afford to look at much nicer houses, but we're having a very difficult time finding ones that meet our criteria; when we do there's always some snag; and I don't know what to do about getting rid of my current house and mortgage so I can buy said new house (a problem I didn't have to worry about last time). And the whole process is just angsting me out badly.
That first house we looked at was beautiful, but a little out of our price range, so we had to get over that one. We looked at what I'll call Tod House 2, and really liked it. The more I've thought about it, the more I like it. In fact, so much that I was ready to make an offer on it. It really does fit all of our needs perfectly - including price.
But what to do to get rid of my current mortgage, so that I could move on the other house? Then, serendipitously, through mentioning my dilemma to my boss, he knew someone who was looking for a small, nice but not too expensive house to buy right away - and he could pay cash for it. Problem solved! I started transferring my down payment funds around to get them all into one account, and got my pre-approval letter from the bank - I was ready to go, and knowing we can easily afford Tod House #2, was sure we'd get that house and be in it by Christmas.
That's what I get for counting my chickens before the hen died.
Because then came another dip in the rollercoaster - I found out Tod House #2 is subject to short sale, and the time involved in making an offer just got seriously extended. The lender can take 30 days or more to even respond to our offer; and if they reject it, they don't make a counter-offer - if we want to try again, we just have to start the process all over again.
Fine, but that loses me my potential instant cash buyer - this person can't wait that long to buy a house, he needs something right away, and in his price range and ability to pay cash, will certainly find it elsewhere.
And our agent advised us that a lender would never accept an offer on Tod House 2 if we make it contingent on selling my house first ... if it's a short sale, they just want it done and over with (then how come they delay the process so long?) and won't be agreeable to wait for my house to sell in this not-so-hot market.
So while I'd still love to make an offer on Tod House #2, and since it's definitely in a range we can easily afford, I should have no problem coming up with an offer that would be accepted - if I can't make it contingent on selling my house first, and I don't currently have a ready buyer for my house, I don't see how I can make the offer. I have to get rid of mortgage number one before I can get mortgage number two.
Back to square one.
We found two other houses we wanted to go and look at, but our agent advised us that both houses are also bank owned, and require septic upgrades - something the bank won't pay for, and we can't (we need all our funds for the down payment, and septic upgrades can cost between $12,000 and $20,000).
We found another, really nice house we wanted to look at (city utilities; no septic), but just when we called to get an appointment to see it, an offer had been accepted on it.
It's just one damned thing after another.
I know I don't have quite the right attitude about this, that of a fun adventure ... but it's hard when I so desperately want to move, and move soon, and have the funds and credit to easily buy a new house - but keep hitting roadblocks at every turn. It would have helped if I hadn't waited till things were so dire here, till I felt so desperate to move. I know what kicked it in though ... it got cold, and I suddenly can't spend all my time outside, but instead am cooped up in this tiny house too much. During the summer when I could spend most of my time outdoors it wasn't so bad. Now, the prospect of another 7 months sequestered in this glorified garage makes me feel like I'm going to crack up.
So, it's frustrating. But we'll keep looking. And I do have a contingency plan of sorts. I started last weekend really cleaning this place out. I hauled a truckload of stuff to the dumpster at work, threw away several more large bags of stuff, and packed several boxes. This house just has too much crap in it, and if we're going to move, this cleaning out and packing up process has to be done, anyway - so I figure, if I start now, and can begin to reduce the clutter and clean the place up, maybe it won't be so unbearable to live here while we go through this torturous finding-the-perfect-house-that-we-can-actually-buy process.
In theory, anyway.
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