4.28.2009

The Counter Offer


After sleepless nights, and crunching numbers, and many discussions, The Mister and I decided to try and see if we could come to a meeting point with the seller. We had nothing and everything to loose. Everyone must have thought we were crazy to try but we had been looking for a long time, and if anyone knew what was out there in our price range and in the areas we liked, it was us. This was the safest neighborhood we had seen, there were excellent schools a few blocks away, and we were already spending a majority of our time in that part of town anyway. It made sense to us.

After our agent spoke to the seller's agent, he asked us to come up with a letter to accompany our counter. We wrote it off and our agent presented it. Even though we loved the house, at the end of the day, we were prepared to loose. If we lost the house, we knew it would be for good reason. We had never been steered wrong before and we knew this would be no exception. We turned in our counter April 1, 2009.

The Estimates

After talking to Rick, and before completely giving up on the house, we decided to get some real world estimates to see what it would cost to take care of all these problems. We didn't have much time left. I found three reputable companies that were willing to come and give us an estimate over the weekend to see what bringing our house up to code would cost.



Saturday we had Carlos from Try Me Electric. This guy was awesome and he reminded The Mister and I of friends from back home in San Antonio. He gave us a complete estimate to redo the entire house. One con from this company is that they charge to come out and give an estimate. We were short on time and most people we called couldn't come on such short notice over the weekend.



Then we had Jim from Schuelke Plumbing come out to do an estimate. He told us we would have to replace the plumbing in the entire house. He gave us an estimate to replace the plumbing and get it up to code.


On Sunday we had Shawn Kyles, one of the parteners from Julian Construction come out to look at our foundation. We called them because they have a great reputation when it comes to foundation work. To the foundation estimate he added the cost of grading the back yard which is the main source causing all of the foundation damage.




We have a lot to think about. Our original offer doesn't make sense after all the work that needs to be done.

The Dreaded Inspection


After calling around for we settled on a company called Prime Home Inspection. A fellow by the name of Prentice Sherman was the gentleman who showed up to do our house inspection. We scheduled a 9:00 a.m. appointment and he was there on time and ready to inspect.

The inspection went well through to the afternoon. He had warned us that it would take a while. Prentice was thorough and very detailed and since this was potentially our first home purchase, we really appreciated that. He gave us an incredible report. If you click on the link, you can see a sample report of what we got after the inspection.

The results weren't great. We had a lot of problems in that house and unfortunately they weren't just cosmetic. Among the many small problems that eventually add up to big problems, there were big things that needed immediate attention.

  • Foundation work had to be done to the back room.
  • The electricity was obsolete and therefore needed to be completely replaced.
  • There were exposed water pipes running next to the electricity which translates to a fire hazard. The plumbing needed to be completely replaced.
  • There was also a termite problem. Fun right?
Our stomachs sunk. The guy I took home from the bar, didn't look so pretty in the morning after all. The Mister and I were about to embark on a lot of heart to heart talks.

The Event



After we signed the papers, we took our niece shopping down Melrose. You know how when catastrophic events happen, people always remember where they were when they heard the
news?

It was March 20, at approximately 5:30 ish p.m. We were inside Fitzsu when the phone rang. It was Rick and he had news. I stepped outside because I didn't want to cry inside the store if we lost the house. He said something like, "So I heard back and, (a few other things and a then a long pause) they accepted your offer." Mascara running down my cheeks, trying to keep it together, I go inside so Rick can tell The Mister himself. The Mister reacts like a coma patient. I panic because The Mister is not reacting like I am. Our niece's eyes darting back and forth in concern not for us, but for the shops that are going to be closing soon.

We are in a frenzy. Do we call people? No not yet, we aren't even in escrow. Ahh screw it, we call the parents because if we loose the house they will know exactly what to say. We don't tell friends because if we loose it, we just don't want to deal.

We get to the bank before it closes. Just in time to move our money around so when we cut the deposit, we don't bounce our check. Everything is in sync. Everything is moving according to plan. We are desperately hoping and praying it continues to be a smooth ride from here on down.