Complications of Buying a House in 2013

My husband and I are not your average couple. We tend to do things differently than most people we know. My husband is a man of action. I am very grateful for this as I tend to be on the side of inaction. I find it hard to make a decision if there are too many choices (Just wait until you read about us picking out a color palette). Matt and I came to the decision we needed to sell and get into something less costly back in February. We started working on that immediately. We didn’t need to think about it. God had been leading us that way for a while so when he finally talked to me about it, I was so relieved, I immediately agreed.

Then came “The Plan” – We could go the traditional route and sell our house while trying to buy another and take walk through Mordor to get to Mount Doom (LOTR reference) that is our current banking and mortgage system OR we could be creative. We got creative. After much discussion and several phone calls, Matt (My husband) found someone to “Invest” in us. They provide the money in cash for the purchase and in a year we take out a mortgage and give them their investment plus a 12-percent profit. That gives us a year to sell our house and fix up whatever we buy. If after a year our current house is not sold, then we move out and they sell the new one for the profit, less what we put into it.

We found a real estate agent and gave her our specs:

• REO (Most likely)
• House
• 3 Bedrooms
• Decent kitchen (Matt’s judgment call)
• Yard for our dog
• 1700 square feet or more
• Good neighborhood
• Closer to my job (I am currently 63 miles away, yes, that’s one-way)

That’s not very restrictive, and thought we could find something quick. We were so wrong. You would not believe the junk that’s out there. There was a house that had all the duct work, electric lines and plumbing removed forcibly from the drywall, now hole, covered walls. We bid on at least 8 properties. Several we were outbid on. Several were countered by the banks at THE SAME list price. We bid on one that had termites. We rescinded as soon as we found out. We were actually the high bidder on one and were, accidentally passed up by the bank’s asset manager. Everything was selling for list price or more and needed massive work done on top of that.

The beginning of June we had just about given up when Matt went in another direction. What follows is what we actually got.

• REO (Most likely) – SHORT SALE
• House – TOWNHOUSE
• 3 Bedrooms – 2 Bedrooms and a Loft
• Decent kitchen (Matt’s judgment call) - YES
• Yard for our dog – You did see “Townhouse” above, right?
• 1700 square feet or more – 1598 sq. feet
• Good neighborhood - YES
• Closer to my job – YES

We are FINALLY closing this week! We are praying that the bank doesn't do anything crazy. We have heard Short Sale horror stories. Yet this is only the beginning. The next steps: remodel, move in, sell our current house, DOWNSIZE EVERYTHING, except the cat and the dog. It's going to be a wild ride. I can't wait!