The Home Ownership Thread

[jcman311]

Hmmmm, not a bad take. So a little more info, while I was prep sanding doors the call came in from my RE agent with the bad news. by the time I took a break and called her back the buyers had apologized and other agent says they really want this house, somehow she thinks we should really stick with them.

I asked and it was all verbal, they never sent the written request for release.

Earnest money is pretty low. Meanwhile I was unsure if the verbal was enough to allow me to formalize the breach of contract, or worth the potential headache. Will check w an atty for advice on that point.

Worst case I can kick them out this week if they ask for anything based on inspections.

Edit: I guess that is not worst case... worst case is we get close to close and they bail. Sigh...

I'm calling this. These buyers will find a way to back out. One can nudge inspections in any general direction and then stuff has to be disclosed. They will find anything they can to try and get a discount based on "condition"/inspection. "Oh the roof is at the end of its life" or "Hmm, the electrical needs an upgrade" or "The insulation isn't up to code". Whatever they can find they will in order to back out.

 

[brokencycle]

I don't know about other states, but in Minnesota it didn't matter. If you have a contingency on inspection, they can back out for no reason anyway.

In North Carolina, the seller keeps the earnest no matter what

 

[double00]

edit: drawings go boom

thanks for comments !

 

[brokencycle]

couple quickie axos for the master bath reno

View attachment 1675604 View attachment 1675605
thoughts welcome , will prob self destruct this message soon tho

Its tight obviously, but having lived with a tight master bathroom it is certainly better than no master bath by a country mile. Why have the door open in to the bathroom vs out? In this situation, you have to close the door to reach the shelves behind you. Additionally, it will make it feel even smaller if you're in there to just use the sink and the door is right up against your back.

 

[PhilKenSebben]

Its tight obviously, but having lived with a tight master bathroom it is certainly better than no master bath by a country mile. Why have the door open in to the bathroom vs out? In this situation, you have to close the door to reach the shelves behind you. Additionally, it will make it feel even smaller if you're in there to just use the sink and the door is right up against your back.

Along this question, what about a pocket door to improve spacing?

 

[Van Veen]

Its tight obviously, but having lived with a tight master bathroom it is certainly better than no master bath by a country mile. Why have the door open in to the bathroom vs out? In this situation, you have to close the door to reach the shelves behind you. Additionally, it will make it feel even smaller if you're in there to just use the sink and the door is right up against your back.

In is the standard for bathroom doors. Lots of reasons. Most convincing one to me is that the open door takes up space in the empty bathroom rather than in the bedroom or hallway. With an out swing door you generally have to leave it closed. imo that's much more of a concern if the bathroom opens to a hallway than with an ensuite. With an ensuite, it's a matter of what is behind the door on the bedroom side, assuming you might want to keep the door fully open at times.

I like pocket doors, though.

 

[NorCal]

Hmmmm, not a bad take. So a little more info, while I was prep sanding doors the call came in from my RE agent with the bad news. by the time I took a break and called her back the buyers had apologized and other agent says they really want this house, somehow she thinks we should really stick with them.

I asked and it was all verbal, they never sent the written request for release.

Earnest money is pretty low. Meanwhile I was unsure if the verbal was enough to allow me to formalize the breach of contract, or worth the potential headache. Will check w an atty for advice on that point.

Worst case I can kick them out this week if they ask for anything based on inspections.

Edit: I guess that is not worst case... worst case is we get close to close and they bail. Sigh...

You can only keep earnest money if they breach contract. Since they are still in the inspection period, they can back out as a result of said inspections. And inspections are not limited to the results of a professional inspector. They could decide they don't like the school district, the amount of road noise, pretty much anything. Once they release their inspection contingencies, you have a lot more options to keep earnest money.

Also, your agent is making a mistake. You should absolutely be aggressively shopping for backup offers. In fact, she should be letting her network of agents know that this is a shaky escrow and asking for other agents to keep showing.

I would check with the local MLS and see if they indeed have a rule about showing properties that are in escrow/taking backup offers. If they don't and she was BSing you, call her broker and have them take over the deal. If the broker pulls ****, call the DRE to report both agent and brokerage, and tell the broker you want out of your contract.

If there were other interested parties they should absolutely be contacted.

 

[greekgeek]

I'm calling this. These buyers will find a way to back out. One can nudge inspections in any general direction and then stuff has to be disclosed. They will find anything they can to try and get a discount based on "condition"/inspection. "Oh the roof is at the end of its life" or "Hmm, the electrical needs an upgrade" or "The insulation isn't up to code". Whatever they can find they will in order to back out.

The thought had occurred that this could be the case, I even mentioned it to my agent. She seems convinced otherwise, and obviously wants to get paid. We will know soon.

I don't know about other states, but in Minnesota it didn't matter. If you have a contingency on inspection, they can back out for no reason anyway.

In North Carolina, the seller keeps the earnest no matter what

They can back out for any reason re inspections, and retain their (sorta) earnest money.

 

[greekgeek]

You can only keep earnest money if they breach contract. Since they are still in the inspection period, they can back out as a result of said inspections. And inspections are not limited to the results of a professional inspector. They could decide they don't like the school district, the amount of road noise, pretty much anything. Once they release their inspection contingencies, you have a lot more options to keep earnest money.

Also, your agent is making a mistake. You should absolutely be aggressively shopping for backup offers. In fact, she should be letting her network of agents know that this is a shaky escrow and asking for other agents to keep showing.

I would check with the local MLS and see if they indeed have a rule about showing properties that are in escrow/taking backup offers. If they don't and she was BSing you, call her broker and have them take over the deal. If the broker pulls ****, call the DRE to report both agent and brokerage, and tell the broker you want out of your contract.

If there were other interested parties they should absolutely be contacted.

Thanks for your reply and advice. I did call her out on the rules and asked for a copy, needless to say they have not materialized so pretty safe bet its not in the written rules. Also said she checked w her manager/broker who supposedly confirmed.

I know she reached out to a few people after the initial flake out, but all signals are she thinks this deal will go to close so I doubt she is doing anything to pull in backups.

I'll give her a ring tomorrow.

 

[Piobaire]

When does the earnest money go hard?

 

[Van Veen]

In North Carolina, the seller keeps the earnest no matter what

Technically there's a due diligence deposit, and earnest money.

The DD is paid directly to the sellers. The only way the buyer gets that money back is if the seller breaches the contract. Earnest money is put in escrow. There's a negotiated due diligence period where the buyer can back out for any reason and get back the earnest money. Once that runs out, seller keeps it.

According to my realtor, in the past it was more normal for earnest money to be more than DD. Since the pandemic, that's flipped. Even when we started putting in offers last fall, we generally did 2x more DD than earnest money.

I've heard of people putting their whole down payment into DD. I guess that's the NC equivalent of waiving the inspection contingency. The only actual contingency in NC is sale of current home. Everything else falls under due diligence (appraisal, inspections, survey, title, etc.).

Really, really glad I bought when I did. This was in the NYT this weekend:

Is the Seller’s Market Over? (Published 2021)

Slowing sales, a decline in over-asking contract prices, and fewer bidding wars in many areas are among recent shifts.

www.nytimes.com

 

[jbarwick]

On our old small bathroom, we switched the door from into the bathroom to into the room. Wasn’t a big deal and didn’t seem out of place or anything.

 

[PhilKenSebben]

When does the earnest money go hard?

It isn't even worth making jokes when they are this well set up. it is like shooting fish in a barrel

 

[Van Veen]

hey @Marc Voorhees at least we knew what we were getting into buying old houses and didn't buy something like this

Reddit - Dive into anything

www.reddit.com

"every house is a fixer-upper"

 

[Piobaire]

Damn, can you imagine the things wrong you can't see from a visual inspection?