Housing Blues.....Need Advice

Oh and we think we know what they did with the money. We think they opened up a music studio. They are jazz musicians.

Google is great.
 
Very smart. It is now that you have to either get compensated for repairs you will have to make, or eat the cost. You're doing well, keep it up.
 
LadyT said:
My lawyer's an idiot. He said to me, "all home sales are 'as-is'" Oh really? Then why is there a distinction if every home is that way. It was funny because a few weeks ago when we got something back from their attorney's there was a type of sale they included that when my boyfriend looked up said was not a good one. When he asked my lawyer about it, he goes, "noooo, that's the best kind, they're all like that.........." I chalked it up to him getting bad info on the net, but I think he was right and my lawyer was wrong.

So basically this is what's going on. Yesterday I got a message saying that the bank wanted $20K more than what we offered, naturally we were like, "no....deals off" Two hours later I get call saying the bank will do the deal at our original price of $372, but they want to do it as an "As-Is". The slimy agent knows what we said about as-is and the price we said we'd do an as-is at. We just lowered our price by $11 if they want to do an as-is. If they don't we've decided to walk.
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(It looks like I was right about them treating the house as an ATM.)

Your boyfriend is on target. MOST houses are sold subject to negotiation about the terms - price, repairs to be made or compensated for, move dates. (Did the attorney mean that most short sales are "As-is" perhaps?)

Good luck!
 
no, my boyfriend said that most short sales were as-is. The lawyer said that all sales were. He's full of it. That seems to be his approach to everything we do: "most so-and-so's are like this".

Anyway, we'll see what they counter with. I told my boyfriend that if they don't take it at this price, I'm out.
 
I'm so sorry, LadyT, that you're having to go through this! Sounds like your lawyer just wants to collect his fee and isn't really representing your interests at all. Trog's right. It looks to me as if the only ones acting in good faith are you and your boyfriend.
 
LadyT said:
no, my boyfriend said that most short sales were as-is. The lawyer said that all sales were. He's full of it. That seems to be his approach to everything we do: "most so-and-so's are like this".

Anyway, we'll see what they counter with. I told my boyfriend that if they don't take it at this price, I'm out.
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Boyfriend is right, most short sales are As-is. The seller can't afford to make the mortgage, so how are they going to get anything fixed? HUD sales are all "As-is."

Lawyer is wrong, most "normal" sales (and most sales proceed in the normal fashion) are not as-is.

Good for you on sticking to your guns.
Did you put a deadline on the offer?

I agree with Thorn - seems that you and Boyfriend are the ones dealing in good faith, the rest seem 'sketchy.'
 
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Thanks guys.
I just talked to the lawyer. He says he thinks they are going to reject it at face value. He said that we're basically changing the sale price.

I'm like, isn't that what they tried to do yesterday?

He didn't understand the logic. I just told him if we're doing it as is get inspections, but short of anything major, we'll take the house. We'll see.
 
LadyT said:
Thanks guys.
I just talked to the lawyer. He says he thinks they are going to reject it at face value. He said that we're basically changing the sale price.

I'm like, isn't that what they tried to do yesterday?

He didn't understand the logic. I just told him if we're doing it as is get inspections, but short of anything major, we'll take the house. We'll see.
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You can write in a contingency in the purchase and sales agreement that the deal is conditional upon your review of the inspector's report. This has to be an engineer's report and inspection, not an appraisal. (You need the kind where the guy actually goes in the attic, crawls in the crawls space, tests the electrical outlets, etc.) **I'm not trying to speak down to you here, just reminding you in case you already know. This is important, possibly more important than the price**

P.S. your lawyer is an idiot - (like that's news to you).
 
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Troglodyte27 said:
You can write in a contingency in the purchase and sales agreement that the deal is conditional upon your review of the inspector's report. This has to be an engineer's report and inspection, not an appraisal. (You need the kind where the guy actually goes in the attic, crawls in the crawls space, tests the electrical outlets, etc.) **I'm not trying to speak down to you here, just reminding you in case you already know. This is important, possibly more important than the price**

P.S. your lawyer is an idiot - (like that's news to you).
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That makes sense and I think that's what we'll end up doing if it goes through.

BTW, I talked to the person in my office who needs to sell her townhome.......no prospects. I think they are on round 4 for an open house.
 
two things you need to do:

DEFINITELY write the offer continget on the condition report/engineers inpsection, and pay the few hundred for a GOOD inspector.

DEFINITELY dump your lawyer and find a good real estate lawyer. this guy sounds like he's worhtless.

DO NOT BUY THE HOUSE WITHOUT AN ENGINEERS INSPECTION!!!!!!!!!! AND ALSO WRIT EH CONTINGENCY ON OBTAINING THE FINANCING; then you have two ways out if you have to.

IMPORTANT: just becasue the engineer doesn't find anything wrong, doesn't mean youhave to buy the place. You DO NOT have to give up the info in the report, and the engineer can not give itg to anyone without your apporveal (make sure that is in the contract with the engineer).

tha way, all you have to do if things go wrongs is invoke your contingency saying that the deal is not acceptable to you citing the report, but not giving any detail.

same with the finanacing; if you want out, then decline the financing deal saying the terms are not acceptable to you. you always need a way out since you never know what they will try to pull, especially if they are way over their heads in debt (big money problems).
 
LadyT said:
That makes sense and I think that's what we'll end up doing if it goes through.

BTW, I talked to the person in my office who needs to sell her townhome.......no prospects. I think they are on round 4 for an open house.
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Is it a 2/1?
 
LadyT, your mom is jipping you. It's a shame that some people would go to such extent to make a dollar to pratically steal from their own family. She feels that since you are her daughter that you will naturally feel an obligation to use her as your loan officer, and normal human behaviour would have her try and help you as much as possible, but sometimes profit is more important to someone who has not thought out the consequences, and she feels she has an upper hand and can charge more to you. It is best not to be attached to your mother to much when it comes to business, I feel it may hurt you.
 
Latest updates:

The entire thing just fell through (thank god actually). Seems my brilliant lawyer just discovered that As-is means, "as-is".
 
LadyT said:
Latest updates:

The entire thing just fell through (thank god actually). Seems my brilliant lawyer just discovered that As-is means, "as-is".
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If you think that's a good thing, then it is. :)
Try again, and keep bidding low!

And don't use that same guy again (like I need to tell you that!) Seriously, witht the number of ARM bombs that are going to explode, you should be able to find a really good bargain.

Are you entrepreneurial? Then consider buying a pre-foreclosure with equity in it. Live in it two years, sell, roll the equity.
 
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Troglodyte27 said:
If you think that's a good thing, then it is. :)
Try again, and keep bidding low!

And don't use that same guy again (like I need to tell you that!) Seriously, witht the number of ARM bombs that are going to explode, you should be able to find a really good bargain.

Are you entrepreneurial? Then consider buying a pre-foreclosure with equity in it. Live in it two years, sell, roll the equity.
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I'm not handy so if it would need significant work, I would be absolutely useless. But I'm definitely not using that lawyer again. That's for sure. I'd have been better off on my own to tell you the truth. I couldn't believe the idiot was trying to tell me, "every house that gets sold is "as-is" ". All I could do is roll my eyes when he said that.
 
I'm sorry you had to go through all that nonsense but you're well out of this one. Guess you've learned a lot about how the housing market works in your area, if nothing else.

Hopefully, the next house you choose will be the right one with no shenanigans.
 
Thanks Thorn. We've definitely learned a lot from this experience. That's for sure.
 
LadyT said:
I'm not handy so if it would need significant work, I would be absolutely useless. But I'm definitely not using that lawyer again. That's for sure. I'd have been better off on my own to tell you the truth. I couldn't believe the idiot was trying to tell me, "every house that gets sold is "as-is" ". All I could do is roll my eyes when he said that.
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I'm not talking about sweat equity. Find a distressed property - financial distress, not physical distress.

With the exploding ARMs, some folks need to sell to avoid foreclosure because the payment jumped. Typical scenario, they were supposed to use the initial ARM period to get their credit rehabiliated, but they didn't. They are getting behind and still have bad credit so they can't get a re-fi. But they know that a foreclosure will completely destroy what's left of their credit, and will be a stain for many years to come. They are looking to sell the house for what they owe, and can't come out of pocket for closing costs. SO if you can locate some of these deals, offer what they owe plus closing and some goodwill (at least enough to cover first, last and security on a small apartment), you can get a house for well below market and help someone get back above water.

Rarer than hen's teeth, right? Nooope! Not if you open your mind and look around. Only in crack neighborhoods, right? Nooope!

Live in it for two years so you can take the IRS capital gains exclusion.

The key to these deals is speed. You need to be able to get to a closing table fast.

Go to your local Real Estate Investor's Association and network. People will give you lots of GOOD, practical advice (oh course, make sure the person you're are listening to actually has done deals like these). They might even hook you up with a deal.
 
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