I said to Pete last night, "this place seems to be too good to be true...maybe it's haunted or something, the mother died, and maybe that's why they can't sell the place, because she's still there wreaking havoc on potential buyers or something...or maybe there's an Indian burial ground under the house or something..."
We discussed our plan of action with juggling all the details of:
1. Telling the boys we are not going to buy this house we are currently renting from them.
2. Helping them fix it up, repainting walls if they want us to, getting the lawn landscaped, staging rooms and helping them to SHOW the house to potential buyers until we leave.
3. Going to Michigan to pack and load up my mom's stuff to bring her back to PA with us in November (Pete has the whole week off of Thanksgiving, so we're planning to go then).
4. Clearing out the rest of our garage so we can park our cars in there this winter.
5. Clearing out our cluttered basement, getting organized, and starting to pack our stuff.
Now....Pete just called me a minute ago to update me on the process...apparently, there seems to be a bit of a snafu. The home is not only owned by one daughter, but by THREE SIBLINGS TOTAL, so all THREE have to agree to the offer we're making. They inherited the home from their parents, and are all part of the decision making regarding selling it. Our real estate guy says it's still going forward as a positive option right now, and he's making THEIR real estate guy an advocate for US too, "you'll get your full commission right NOW, so let's sell this to them and make them agree to it..." which is a good thing, but will it WORK??
Convincing one daughter is one thing, but will all THREE have to contribute and agree to the whole idea of taking a note for over $200K so we can buy it from them now? Will all THREE be responsible for that note, (and Pete also explained to me the difference between a note and a mortgage, we're basically just cutting out the bank involvement, and dealing straight with the owners instead). They write us a note stating that they "give us" the remainder of the amount the house is selling for, after WE give THEM our down payment, and then we just "pay them back" for that amount, little by little, until we are able to take out a mortgage on our own.
I don't know if this is going to work. Now I feel a bit deflated. The motivation is there for all people involved---the house has sat there unsold for one full year, which is why they decided to lower the price from $350K to $290K and changed real estate companies. It has only been listed this time for two weeks. But, to avoid another nasty winter of paying all the bills for the place and keeping it maintained, they might just say yes to the sale. The motivation for the siblings who own the property is that they will get money from us NOW and will be done with the whole situation, but will continue to get money from us the whole time we live there, until we can finance the rest in two years, and then they'll get a large lump sum of cash again.
So, IF they ALL agree to this idea of ours, we'll get a contract written up and have them sign it. IF, however they (and I expect at least ONE of them to), DISAGREE or want to "tweak" things, then we're either out of luck completely, OR negotiations can go on for a bit longer than we expected before a final decision is made. They can just say no, or express an opinion of just waiting a little longer to see if someone ELSE might come along who can just buy it outright. They could string us along for months, waiting for another buyer to walk in and slap down the full amount. They could decide to take it OFF the market through winter, and re-list it in spring to get a better price and instant gratification. Who knows.
Pete says the real estate guys are definitely motivated to talk them into doing this with us, and they are trying to get them all to sympathize with our parental situation, since they've all had to deal with it themselves, and they are telling Pete and I to reserve our enthusiasm about going to the house on Friday to measure the rooms and stuff until we know more from them regarding what they want to do. He did add that it's a good time for us to go look at it again, and get a better feel for the place, and that so far, they have responded positively to our ideas, and will hopefully convince their siblings to do the same.
It's a crap shoot. I'm a nervous wreck again. More fingers in the pie does NOT make me happy. Any ONE of those fingers could ruin this whole thing for us. I just die inside when I think that might happen. I hope to GOD that does NOT happen. But, I will keep everyone posted as the process unfolds. Please cross every finger and toe and keep them crossed until further notice.
Love, Becky
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