Bad timing
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Buyer and seller have signed the documents now. All that's left is for the loan to fund, and for the buyer to wire her money. Closing scheduled for Friday, which is 18 days after we accepted the offer. We will be on the road at the time.
We got some surprise news from our new home's builder. They had been telling us we are looking at a November completion and closing date, but suddenly they will be done in three weeks, with a close set for five weeks from now. That's not great for us. The market is going down, and will continue to go down. More time would have played to our favor. We suspect we would take an immediate 10% depreciation hit if we were to close at the price we agreed to in June. That's several multiples of our earnest money. We will be looking at alternative properties when we get to TX, and it would be optimal if we find one we really like. But if we don't, it looks like we'll sacrifice this current deal and rent in Houston till we find a place. We believe it will be an increasingly buyer's market going into 2023. It already is way more of a buyer's market than it was earlier in the year and all of 2021. It will sting to lose our earnest money on this current place, and we really like it, so that will sting as well. But I can't be buying a property at 10% more than market value.
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@Horace said in Bad timing:
Buyer and seller have signed the documents now. All that's left is for the loan to fund, and for the buyer to wire her money. Closing scheduled for Friday, which is 18 days after we accepted the offer. We will be on the road at the time.
But I can't be buying a property at 10% more than market value.
Can’t you make it up in volume?
Seriously though good call. You know the builder rushed everything too, for the same reason. Who knows what corners were cut.
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In fairness, the November date was pushed back from the original date which was in fact September/October. They pushed it back to November because electricity had not been run to the neighborhood yet, and that was out of their hands. Apparently they power company hooked it up last week. So the home is back on the original schedule. But I think it’s a good point that whatever they are doing now, will be done in a hurry.
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@Horace As clearly I am your consigliere, you know my thoughts. I value the house/location more than the financial impact, unless it really impacts your wallet. That being said, I can't recall but are you taking a mortgage and (if so) do you already have a rate locked in? I'd be curious what a rate now would look like if you found an alternate (and even better) property.
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@89th said in Bad timing:
@Horace As clearly I am your consigliere, you know my thoughts. I value the house/location more than the financial impact, unless it really impacts your wallet. That being said, I can't recall but are you taking a mortgage and (if so) do you already have a rate locked in? I'd be curious what a rate now would look like if you found an alternate (and even better) property.
I still haven't settled on any plan. With a mortgage, I'd go into it assuming I could refinance at a better rate within three years. So the interest rate isn't a huge concern.
As for the home, while we like this one, it's a home in a master planned community. That means lots and lots of comparables. There are only so many waterfront locations in these places, and it would be a risk to give this one up, but eventually we'd find another that I believe we'd like as much. But it's a risk definitely.
I suspect the builder will negotiate even if our only leverage is to force them to keep our earnest money and try to sell it to someone else in this declining market. I've been following the builder's website and they have six properties available in that neighborhood, literally a block away from our homesite. Those houses will be completed at about the same time ours will, and they have not gone under contract in the past six weeks. There is no market at their list prices. When they are complete, the builder is going to be very motivated to get rid of them. I know they are hoping against hope that I go forward with this deal. Which I won't. I do feel bad about not telling our sales rep that right now, but our buying agent wants to look at other properties first. I know that would give us even better leverage.
Education is extremely important.
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What I like most about the current place is the sight lines out the back. This feeling of space and distance to your neighbors is rare in these communities. It's not only that we have water in back, it's the shape of the pond that gives us so much distance. Most homes in these communities are just packed together, with privacy fences around the back yard. Ours would let us see more than a football field distance before the next house. The first image is where we have a contract for. The next image is a typical best case scenario for a water view, with a similar length arrow for comparison. I know these communities aren't to everybody's taste, but I like the first location a lot.
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Yeah that is a good view for that type of community, pretty rare I'm sure. I was pretty big on views from our home as well... moving into the suburbs you never know what you'll have, and we lucked out. The original owners in 2005 planted a ton of trees which are now quite large and green. By far the most private/green backyard in the entire neighborhood.
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@89th said in Bad timing:
Yeah that is a good view for that type of community, pretty rare I'm sure. I was pretty big on views from our home as well... moving into the suburbs you never know what you'll have, and we lucked out. The original owners in 2005 planted a ton of trees which are now quite large and green. By far the most private/green backyard in the entire neighborhood.
Sounds great. The colors must be beautiful, too.
Education is extremely important.
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@Horace Yeah we have 3 maples that become blazing orange for most of October, which is pretty cool. Then again, we also have 5 months of barren trees, only saved by a few tall evergreens. You'd get the water view (and water that doesn't freeze) for 12 months of the year.
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So, the house we were supposed to move into in 3 weeks time isn't hooked up to the sewer after all, as the listing said.
Worse, it's a 5-bedroom house with a septic system suitable for 4 bedrooms, and the bank don't like that at all, to the point where they may not give a mortgage. We're having the system tested, but in the words of George Lucas I've got a bad feeling about this. Our current house already failed its Title 5, so we're having to pay for 1 new septic. I sure as hell can't afford to pay for two.
Ours went on the market yesterday. I was worried about having two houses - now it looks like we might not have any....
Proud supporter of Plan 2525. Everything you think, do and say will be in the pill you took today.
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@Doctor-Phibes said in Bad timing:
So, the house we were supposed to move into in 3 weeks time isn't hooked up to the sewer after all, as the listing said.
Worse, it's a 5-bedroom house with a septic system suitable for 4 bedrooms, and the bank don't like that at all, to the point where they may not give a mortgage. We're having the system tested, but in the words of George Lucas I've got a bad feeling about this. Our current house already failed its Title 5, so we're having to pay for 1 new septic. I sure as hell can't afford to pay for two.
Ours went on the market yesterday. I was worried about having two houses - now it looks like we might not have any....
Ugh. Sorry to hear that.
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@Doctor-Phibes Wow, I presumed the septic system (whether 4 or 5 bedrooms) is mainly based on the expected volume and frequency to empty it. What does testing it mean? And yes, I know that question is prime meat for a good joke.
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@LuFins-Dad said in Bad timing:
@Doctor-Phibes said in Bad timing:
So, the house we were supposed to move into in 3 weeks time isn't hooked up to the sewer after all, as the listing said.
Worse, it's a 5-bedroom house with a septic system suitable for 4 bedrooms, and the bank don't like that at all, to the point where they may not give a mortgage. We're having the system tested, but in the words of George Lucas I've got a bad feeling about this. Our current house already failed its Title 5, so we're having to pay for 1 new septic. I sure as hell can't afford to pay for two.
Ours went on the market yesterday. I was worried about having two houses - now it looks like we might not have any....
Ugh. Sorry to hear that.
Buying a house seems so much more stressful when you already own one - in the past I've always been a first-time buyer - three times in total....
Proud supporter of Plan 2525. Everything you think, do and say will be in the pill you took today.
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@Doctor-Phibes oh, man, that's terrible.
It's good that you're not buying a potential disaster, but the thought of having to redo your septic is terrible. OTOH, with it being defective, it probably makes your place unsellable.
I've sold 3 houses - none of the experiences
werewas remotely pleasant. -
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My sale closed yesterday and I’m homeless now. In AZ on the way to TX. 19 more hours. We slept in the car, through an exciting thunderstorm with 60 mph winds. Knocked the power out of this whole highway rest stop area. But it’s calm now and the power is restored. It’s going to be very hot this week here in AZ, up to 110. But Houston will be better, only 85.
