On to the next deal...

or deals... we currently have 3 offers out there because it doesn't seem to pay to do one at a time. We put an offer in on a property (Ferber) 2 months ago and the darn thing still hasn't closed!  After we submitted our offer, for some reason, the bank came back w/an even lower price for the house, so we re-wrote the offer and got a few thousand dollars off! Sweet - we'll take it!  Next, the bank was getting sold, the asset manager who had our file left and they lost the file.  Next thing we know, the price on the MLS dropped $10k -- while we had it under contract!!  Good example of the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing in a large organization.  No problem, we've still got a contract on the property, so well re-write our offer to reflect the discount.  

We've now got a home run deal instead of a single/double hit.  Which, is why after 2 months and we still haven't closed that we will not back out. Had it not been a home run, we would have moved on by now. It is frustrating because I have been off for 4 months and would have liked to have gotten another rehab done, but it now appears that as soon as I go into labor, the bank will finally come back w/the go ahead to close!  Oh, well - what can you do? Currently, the bank has a hold on all pending deals until they figure out which asset management company will be getting the property to handle the disposition. 2 weeks ago, we were told, "any day now!"  I've stopped asking when.

Now, we are making many offers and it will be a race to see which one we can close on.  

London has SOLD!

After 42 days on the market (during Thanksgiving and Xmas), we got an offer on the 2nd showing!  House looked great and we were happy to find a qualified buyer (or so we thought!)  THe buyer needed closing costs paid and down payment assistance. We had marketed the property with closing costs paid for and she had applied for down payment assistance but in the end the assistance fell thru and I thought we were going to lose the buyer, but she was able to borrow the down payment from a family member and we finally closed.  

Lessons learned:

1. Get more showings.  I don't think this property had enough marketing for it or showings.  It worked out, but in the future, I'd like to have a bigger pool of buyers in case 1 falls thru

2: Do a better walk-thru after contractor is done and don't assume everything has been fixed/tested.  The inspection the buyer had found issues that should have been taken care of by the contractor from a quality control perspective.  Doors sticking, outlets not working, smoke detector missing, etc.

3. Not necessary to offer an extra 1% to buyer's agent w/a full price offer in 30 days due to title seasoning requiring you to own property for 90 days before a contract is written.  Stupid rule, but it is what it is.  We had to re-write the contract per this requirement from lender.

4. Although it turned out okay, allowing the potential buyer to move into the property before she closed was not the best idea because it gave them time to find fault w/the property.  Some things are just due to buying an old house and although I was happy to fix any item found w/the inspection prior to them moving in, I did not go back and fix other issues. I told her, "Welcome to home ownership!"

This deal is done though and my wire transfer cleared, so I am very happy!