Bad timing
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wrote on 9 Sept 2022, 17:03 last edited by
My plan is to work somewhere expensive, and retire somewhere cheap. The pension's based on my salary.
What's possibly more likely to happen is that I can't face going through another move.
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wrote on 10 Sept 2022, 04:15 last edited by Horace 9 Oct 2022, 04:16
Well it ended up being a 10% cut. I got a pay cut but emotionally it's like a raise, because they presented it to me as management having gone to bat for me and softening the by-the-books 20% cut. Not too significant a cut considering the state income tax going from 10% to 0. Now, if I manage a sufficient taxable investment income, the move to TX will be a net positive.
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My plan is to work somewhere expensive, and retire somewhere cheap. The pension's based on my salary.
What's possibly more likely to happen is that I can't face going through another move.
wrote on 10 Sept 2022, 09:55 last edited by@Doctor-Phibes said in Bad timing:
My plan is to work somewhere expensive, and retire somewhere cheap. The pension's based on my salary.
What's possibly more likely to happen is that I can't face going through another move.
Well, you get to this point, and the idea of moving somewhere glamorous loses a bit of luster. It becomes about who you are near rather than where you are.
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wrote on 10 Sept 2022, 22:50 last edited by
Down to the wire now, with a choice between two homes. The one we have a contract for, and one from a different builder, in the same neighborhood, but without a water view. Just a privacy fence. But that one is more beautiful, and has a better floor plan. I like the one we have the current contract for, while my wife likes the other one. We're going to talk to the first salesperson tomorrow with a number in mind, a significant reduction from the contracted number we currently have. If we can't make a deal, we'll walk next door to the other builder's sales person, and buy the other one, which is already priced well and with nice incentives.
It will be interesting to see the first salesperson attempt to close us tomorrow. She refuses to give a final number to our agent, until she sees all of us in person. Who knows what tricks she has up her sleeve?
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Down to the wire now, with a choice between two homes. The one we have a contract for, and one from a different builder, in the same neighborhood, but without a water view. Just a privacy fence. But that one is more beautiful, and has a better floor plan. I like the one we have the current contract for, while my wife likes the other one. We're going to talk to the first salesperson tomorrow with a number in mind, a significant reduction from the contracted number we currently have. If we can't make a deal, we'll walk next door to the other builder's sales person, and buy the other one, which is already priced well and with nice incentives.
It will be interesting to see the first salesperson attempt to close us tomorrow. She refuses to give a final number to our agent, until she sees all of us in person. Who knows what tricks she has up her sleeve?
wrote on 10 Sept 2022, 22:58 last edited by@Horace said in Bad timing:
She refuses to give a final number to our agent, until she sees all of us in person. Who knows what tricks she has up her sleeve?
Sounds as bad as used car salesmen.
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Down to the wire now, with a choice between two homes. The one we have a contract for, and one from a different builder, in the same neighborhood, but without a water view. Just a privacy fence. But that one is more beautiful, and has a better floor plan. I like the one we have the current contract for, while my wife likes the other one. We're going to talk to the first salesperson tomorrow with a number in mind, a significant reduction from the contracted number we currently have. If we can't make a deal, we'll walk next door to the other builder's sales person, and buy the other one, which is already priced well and with nice incentives.
It will be interesting to see the first salesperson attempt to close us tomorrow. She refuses to give a final number to our agent, until she sees all of us in person. Who knows what tricks she has up her sleeve?
wrote on 10 Sept 2022, 23:27 last edited by@Horace said in Bad timing:
she sees all of us in person.
Stay on your toes.
Those agents are really tricky.
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@Horace said in Bad timing:
she sees all of us in person.
Stay on your toes.
Those agents are really tricky.
wrote on 11 Sept 2022, 00:02 last edited by@Copper said in Bad timing:
@Horace said in Bad timing:
she sees all of us in person.
Stay on your toes.
Those agents are really tricky.
I think math will be involved. She has different incentives than most selling agents, since builders agents get commission from the financing, if you use their preferred lender. It won’t be a simple price negotiation. She will offer some complicated financing options which, in some hand wavy way, will be exactly like getting a lower price.
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wrote on 11 Sept 2022, 01:09 last edited by
You know those people living out of a shopping cart under the Santa Monica Pier?
Every one of them trusted a real estate agent.
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wrote on 11 Sept 2022, 02:48 last edited by
Hey Horace, my x SIL is selling her place out in the Woodlands. A cool mil, but a nice place.
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Hey Horace, my x SIL is selling her place out in the Woodlands. A cool mil, but a nice place.
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Hey Horace, my x SIL is selling her place out in the Woodlands. A cool mil, but a nice place.
wrote on 11 Sept 2022, 12:42 last edited by@Mik said in Bad timing:
Hey Horace, my x SIL is selling her place out in the Woodlands. A cool mil, but a nice place.
Nice place, but more than we want to spend.
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wrote on 11 Sept 2022, 12:43 last edited by Horace 9 Nov 2022, 13:03
We had settled in a compromise yesterday but upon reflection it’s not going to work to get the place I like, even at a great price. I think we will end up with the better compromise of paying more for the place I like less.
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@Mik said in Bad timing:
Hey Horace, my x SIL is selling her place out in the Woodlands. A cool mil, but a nice place.
Nice place, but more than we want to spend.
wrote on 11 Sept 2022, 12:54 last edited by@Horace said in Bad timing:
@Mik said in Bad timing:
Hey Horace, my x SIL is selling her place out in the Woodlands. A cool mil, but a nice place.
Nice place, but more than we want to spend.
Thought so. I cannot believe she got that house a few short years after declaring bankruptcy. I love her, but she's a CFO that cannot manage her own debt. She's run up six figure credit card debt several times.
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wrote on 12 Sept 2022, 00:23 last edited by
Looks like we will move forward with the place we originally contracted for. It’s a compromise for the other half of the decision making team. I will be reminded of that, on occasion. We ended up with a 9% discount from the original list price, which matches with the discount we accepted on our own property sale, as compared to its peak value earlier in the year.
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Looks like we will move forward with the place we originally contracted for. It’s a compromise for the other half of the decision making team. I will be reminded of that, on occasion. We ended up with a 9% discount from the original list price, which matches with the discount we accepted on our own property sale, as compared to its peak value earlier in the year.
wrote on 12 Sept 2022, 00:36 last edited by@Horace there's a kind of relief in knowing that the deal is done. It's probably akin to
taking a huge shit after a large meala big sigh after strenuous exercise.Congratulations, and keep us posted on how progress progresses.
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@Horace there's a kind of relief in knowing that the deal is done. It's probably akin to
taking a huge shit after a large meala big sigh after strenuous exercise.Congratulations, and keep us posted on how progress progresses.
wrote on 12 Sept 2022, 01:26 last edited by@George-K said in Bad timing:
@Horace there's a kind of relief in knowing that the deal is done. It's probably akin to
taking a huge shit after a large meala big sigh after strenuous exercise.Congratulations, and keep us posted on how progress progresses.
Yeah it’s nice. Just wish we were both super excited about it. But she feels as if she sacrificed a lot, because the other one was her dream home. Sigh. We did save the cost of a very nice car or a house full of furniture, but that is small comfort.
The negotiation was painful. Our original offer was ‘unreasonable and unfair’ according to the sales professional. I guess that’s one way to negotiate. I suppose in a sense it worked since we raised the offer by 3%, and said take it or leave it, but there were more positive ways to have arrived at that final offer.
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wrote on 12 Sept 2022, 02:26 last edited by
You need not maintain the facade of humanity in these things. It is simply a matter of keeping your financial resources from those who wish to take them.
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@George-K said in Bad timing:
@Horace there's a kind of relief in knowing that the deal is done. It's probably akin to
taking a huge shit after a large meala big sigh after strenuous exercise.Congratulations, and keep us posted on how progress progresses.
Yeah it’s nice. Just wish we were both super excited about it. But she feels as if she sacrificed a lot, because the other one was her dream home. Sigh. We did save the cost of a very nice car or a house full of furniture, but that is small comfort.
The negotiation was painful. Our original offer was ‘unreasonable and unfair’ according to the sales professional. I guess that’s one way to negotiate. I suppose in a sense it worked since we raised the offer by 3%, and said take it or leave it, but there were more positive ways to have arrived at that final offer.
wrote on 12 Sept 2022, 02:41 last edited by@Horace said in Bad timing:
The negotiation was painful. Our original offer was ‘unreasonable and unfair’ according to the sales professional. I guess that’s one way to negotiate. I suppose in a sense it worked since we raised the offer by 3%, and said take it or leave it, but there were more positive ways to have arrived at that final offer.
That's just the language they use. I remember when we bought our house in Canada, and we offered $5K less than the asking price, and they came back with 'that's not an offer, that's an insult' - our real estate guy said 'I don't know why they're using that tone...' - we used the same guy when we sold the house a few years later, and when we received a slightly low offer than asking he said 'That's not an offer, it's an insult!', and I LOL'd.
House sales are weird - the money involved is so much more than anything else we buy, it's so easy to wake up at 3am sweating....or so I've heard.
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wrote on 27 Sept 2022, 13:46 last edited by
After all the rending of flesh over our insolence at negotiating a lower price than we contracted for in June, the appraisal finally came in last night at 1% lower than the price we lowered to. Now the salesperson will try to convince her lender, who she has a business relationship with, to adjust the appraisal. One thing is for sure, I will not be anteing up the money to cover the lower valuation. This puts the Thursday close into doubt too.
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wrote on 27 Sept 2022, 17:49 last edited by Horace
Now the salesperson for the builder has to convince the appraiser to write a new report which supports the value we are buying at. If she can’t convince the appraiser that he sucks at his job and she is way better, then the builder will probably come down in price. That would be nice. Or maybe they will force a choice on me to pay the difference or cancel the contract, while they keep our earnest money. They could do that but probably will not, as a company that cares about its reputation.