And, this time it's final. The closing was last Monday. I did lose, however, I didn't owe anything at closing and for that I'm extremely grateful. Basically, within three days of re-listing the house, we had two offers. This was a bizarre experience. Offers were coming in above asking with the request that we pay closing costs. However, these were first time buyers, going FHA, trying to get the $8,000 credit. Apparently, closing costs or very little closing costs, can't be rolled into the loan if you want the credit. The house appraised below what they offered. No big surprise to me, it appraised where I thought it would. So, offer became the appraisal value. But, the first buyer (the one that backed out) still wanted me to pay basically all of their closing costs. Ummm... no. The second buyer wanted EVERYTHING, including the payment of the HOA dues (not the HOA transfer fee but the dues). I wasn't that desperate. Turns out when we said no and told them what we would do, his agent agreed. Seems she always asks for everything. Umm... big turn-off especially when the other offer was serious from the get go. They truly only wanted the refrigerator and a portion of their closing costs paid. That was it. Their offer was $1, 000 above the appraisal and FHA didn't buy that. So, it came down. My awesome real estate agent and friend, said then $1,000 less on the closing costs and they said okay.
There was a hairy moment or two with the inspection, but it was basically stupid stuff. I'm sorry, if the light bulb is burned out, replace it. This wasn't the buyer, but the inspector. Apparently, they couldn't be there during the inspection, which was news to me. I thought you could. At any rate, all was well. I had re-turned on the electricity and water, but not the gas, so I had to do that to finish it off. Big pain, but I'd want to make sure the gas worked too.
Then the papers got to me the Friday afternoon before closing. I noticed something amiss with the closing statement so I went through it with friend and real estate agent Friday night (I was right), then took it to the credit union for notarizing where needed, then stuck it in FedEx for overnight and prayed it got there before the 9:00 am closing. It must have, because by Monday afternoon I was no longer a home owner. Big Sigh.
I then had to make sure all utilities were disconnected, call my fabulous yard guy (we did pass on his info to the buyers) to discontinue the service, and cancel the insurance policy. I still have final bills for those left to pay, but then I'm done. I can now manage just one household.
We did it just in time. Three more foreclosures have occured in the neighborhood, which brings the value down further. More rentals. Friend says he's glad I'm out of there. This time I trusted my little voice to sell and while I didn't make money, it was the definitely the right thing to do.
