frustrated...trying to buy home.

[dancingbear]

we have been renting a place since jan. the 'homeowners' told us they want to sell it six months ago. so we get in inspected and appraised. are arranging inspection of septic etc they say "we are thinking $xxxx for the place" During this time we see two houses we like but dont put offers in cause we like our rented house more.

then out of nowhere they change their minds. they do this buy a crappy email...after we had them over for two really nice dinners to discuss this.

then they change their minds again.

so we are six months post initial discussions, hours of talking etc. hours of us debating what we can afford. so then we put on offer in via our realtor (who thought we were WAY overpaying) of 95% of their asking price.

anyhow they tell our realtor they "were very clear that the asking price was non-negotiable"

F***! IF that is the case why not say its non-negotiable or, its our bottom line, or whatever,,,..just be clear.

really frustrated that we put in a really fair offer, and they are trying to squeeze us for not just over market value but WAY over. Also of course if we knew this six months ago-the non-negotiable thing, we could of bougght a different home we really liked for over 100, 000 less!!!!

on a side note we share the house with them...they said verbally 'we will be there (in the basement, seperate entrance) for about one week a month, the rest of the time we will be in mexico. they have been here the last three months sraight. when i questioned them on this...he said well i specifically drew up your lease to state it would be a shared place". maybe??but thats not what you told me..........

the only reason we dont walk...is its on a lake and althought the house is crap, the lake is pretty.

Edited September 16, 2009 by Guest

[bONES]

my advice...walk away

I went through a similar situation back in 2005 while living at a friends place. Actually it was his grandfathers house that was left to my friends parents when grandpa passed away. They wanted me to buy it and told me I had 5 years to live there, save up a substantial down payment and then it would be mine. The reality is, people change their minds. Within a year they decided to sell it and listed it at a price they knew I could not afford.

The light at the end of the tunnel was that it changed my focus. I now own a great piece of recreational property up north and have my dream place (converted warehouse live/work loft) here in Toronto. I couldn't be happier to be honest.

Things happen for a reason.

my 2 cents

[Ms.Huxtable]

I have to agree with Starhead on this. Take all of this as a sign and walk away. The place you're suppose to buy is waiting for you elsewhere.

[Freak By Night]

fire solves all!

[peipunk]

I'll share a similar story, my wife and I were looking for a property to invest in, and to maybe have a place to move to if we wanted some city life. We had a deal for 2 properties from the same person, and signed an offer after a verbal agreement. At the last minute, the owner realized that the penalties for breaking his horrible mortgage were huge and put his price up $30k! We walked away and promptly found a property that was a LOT better deal and closed it within 2 weeks.

We are sooooo much happier that that happened!

Edited September 16, 2009 by Guest

[dancingbear]

this is what is making it difficult...

farm3.static.flickr.com/2656/3926123607_ede6edcb33_m.jpg

Edited September 16, 2009 by Guest

[Schwa.]

Reminds me of the pond in that Chevy Chase movie in the crazy town....Funny Farm?

[bradm]

Reminds me of the pond in that Chevy Chase movie in the crazy town....Funny Farm?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funny_Farm_(film)

Aloha,

Brad

[skelter]

As a realtor, I'd politely tell them to go fuck themselves

However, it's not so easy from the buyer's perspective when you love the house. But, you don't want to be house poor, and you don't want to pay more than it's worth, so to echo the other comments (the non-Chevy Chase related ones), you should walk away.

[dancingbear]

maybe i should play 'walk away' as that seems to be the consensus....ps. the outside is fabulous, the house itself is a tad worse than meh.

[bradm]

maybe i should play 'walk away' as that seems to be the consensus

Keep an eye on the place, though. The price might come down.

Aloha,

Brad

[SaggyBalls]

THAT's what is keeping you there?

You can find a way nicer view, dude - even if you buy an investment home for a year or 3 and unload it while saving up money to buy/build again.

nice but not worth your headache, as much as you're impressed thus far.

[jonyak]

walk away.

don't pay more than the house is worth, because in the end you will lose money.

these people are just being greedy, and they might lower the price once the house sits on the market for a while with no hits.

[larry_llama]

don't fall in love with a house before the deal is closed.

unfortunately that means walking away from the rental place you already love.

the owners are taking you for a ride because they know you are an extremely motivated buyer.

don't fund their retirement because of that pond.

[phishtaper]

have they actually listed the house? the market will tell them what the property is worth TO A BUYER. the seller can think it is worth whatever they want to think, but its only worth as much as someone is willing to pay for it. it sounds like you made them a fair offer and they are not being terribly realistic.

if price is the only issue, i would just wait and let them come to their senses (or sell it to someone willing to pay too much). you cannot become emotional about a house purchase. that's when you lose control. and listen to your realtor, they would presumably know what the place is worth.

btw, was the inspection done by a professional firm? if so, my understanding is that the sellers would have to disclose the results to any other prospective buyer and assuming there were issues discovered, they cannot hide these. (I could be wrong about this. skelter? what's the rule with disclosure of inspection?) price is often re-negotiated on the basis of inspection findings (if inspection was a condition of the purchase).

[secondtube]

if you have the money, buy somewhere else.

there are thousands of homes on the market.

[MoMack]

Its only money.

If the place makes you happy buy it. You're not buying an investment propery or making an investement, you're buying the piece of mind / relaxation that comes with that pond.

All the advice above makes sense from a financial perspective - but who says thats what its about?

This place has a pond AND a hot tub right?

In Toronto places appreciated on average 9% this past year (I think thats what I read last). So you overpay 5% - you make up for that in one year's appreciation compared to what you'd get by renting (not taking into account how you'd spend the money otherwise).

I mean, don't overpay to the point that if you lost your job and had to liquidate you'd lose so much money you'd want to hang yourself.

I'm just saying if it makes you happy, it can't be that bad. (wait, where do I know that from?)

And you can still reason with them a little and try and work them down.

Would suck to end up seeing someone else buy it for what you thought was too much and then figure out that you can't do better and end up living in a condo or something, something pondless.

On second thought - screw it - just go on tour.

[skelter]

btw, was the inspection done by a professional firm? if so, my understanding is that the sellers would have to disclose the results to any other prospective buyer and assuming there were issues discovered, they cannot hide these. (I could be wrong about this. skelter? what's the rule with disclosure of inspection?) price is often re-negotiated on the basis of inspection findings (if inspection was a condition of the purchase).

Disclosure is absolutely fundamental in real estate. However, if the sellers paid for their own home inspection, technically they can do whatever they want with the results. They save themselves a tremendous amount of hassle and potential lawsuits if they are upfront with any problems they don't plan on fixing.

That said, every buyer should pay for their own home inspection. Around here it's $350. There's even a lot of realtors that will pay for it as an incentive or as a gift to the buyer, but I won't do it. It's the buyer's house, the buyer should have the inspector on their own payroll so they know there's no interference from other parties ...