Monday, October 16, 2017

Seller Drops Price Another $10k

Been busy here the last couple of days helping around the little place we're staying at, and waiting to hear from the seller of the house we have the offer on.

They had until midnight Tuesday to respond, but our agent called us to inform us of their response on Saturday afternoon ( ! ).

They responded by dropping the agreed upon price from $385k to $375k and selling the house "AS-IS".

The $10k price cut will pay for a first-class roofing job with all the little upgrades our in-law recommends, with a little left over, but leaves the tree removal ($2500~$3k) and fence repair ($1500~$2k) up to us.

Oh, and add another $2k for washer and clothes dryer. I'll be buying rebuilt/reconditioned Speed Queen units from a place in Fort Collins that specializes in them. They look new when they're rebuilt, and have some crazy 10-year, anything goes warranty on them. I forget which reader suggested that route, but thank you very much! The little electronics place I worked at in high school built many little boxes and modules for Speed Queen, and just hearing the name brought back many memories.

And we'll need more furnishings, window coverings, and other "woman/wife/girly" stuff to finish it out.

The bad thing about this is that we can't start any of the work until escrow closes and the property is in our name. Both agents and our contractor in-law advised against it, even if we received the current owner's written permission.

And we still haven't decided yet to accept their offer or walk, and start negotiating on the other house we really like.

Both places look like you could squeeze another garage on the property and still meet all the codes, setbacks, and easements, but it would be a "1.5 car" sized garage, and I'm not sure if it's worth it. Both houses have fully-finished, INSULATED garages, but no heater in them. One house can take a 40' tower, and the other a "50 foot" tower with careful placement.

So I doubt if I'll ever get my own garage/shop, one of my reasons for moving here, but I will be able to get a tower and decent antenna, along with a new radio......or two.

SSSSSHHH!! She doesn't know the "or two" part!

I'm still undecided on which house. This has been the first time I've ever put this much thought into buying a house. My first wife and I had two criteria: 1)Where is it?, and 2) How much is it? We wound up with a nice sized house and lot in an "OK" part of town for a great price, but getting that place in order took all the "Sweat Equity" out of me.

I do very high quality work, but I'm SLOOOOOW at doing it. That house took me about two years to get finished, with my first wife constantly on my case about it.

NEVER again......!

So we have "House 1", which I posted some pix of, and "House 2", which I haven't. They're both very nice places, #1 being on the West Central side of town, and the other being out further East, on the 'far side' of I-25.

#1 has 5 bedrooms, 3 full baths, and half-bath just off the laundry room. It's a split-level, built in 1977, and packs 3386sqft of house on a 10,500sqft lot. And it has a beautiful sunroom on the NW side of the house. It's "NW" instead of West because of the way the house sits on the lot. It has a fully-finished basement with a LOT of storage space hidden behind doors. It's "ALL Electric", and will cost us about $100/month more to heat and cool it than #2. It has NO A/C installed, but our in-law tells us it's pretty easy to install "mini-splits" which are basically multiple, small heating/cooling units run from a central compressor/condenser unit.

#2 has 4 bedrooms, 1 full bath, one 3/4 bath, and one 1/2 bath. It's also a split-level, built in 1976, and has 2645sqft on a 14,170 sqft lot. No sunroom, but a refinished deck, a sandbox area for the kids, healthy trees, and a tree swing. It needs basically NOTHING done to it, and the couple that bought it put $35k into carpet, paint, new kitchen skylight, NEW ROOF, and a bunch of other things when they bought it three years ago. We could probably get that house for $385k, as the sellers are anxious to sell it. It also has forced-air gas heating, and central A/C.

I really like both houses. I suspect we'll go with the "#1 House" due to the finished basement, and it being much more "In Town" than the other one.


26 comments:

  1. Keep grinding for what you need. I know that advice is not needed, and y'all are on top of it. But I'm happy to see that you're all heavily along with CALEXIT and the process of settling in.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This is their "last, best, final" offer. I really don't think we can get any other concessions out of them.

      I've grown strangely attached to the "#1 House", something I've never felt about a house before.

      Good omen? All I know is that the first time we pulled up to it, my wife went gaga over the fact the front door was red, something she really loves.

      Delete
  2. Good luck, and agree with LL...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yup.....I think the Spindizzy is about to make her final planetfall.....

      Delete
  3. Speedqueen, that would be me. And if you are in a place that doesn't allow the good clothes detergents, put a 1/8 to 1/4 cup Dawn dishwashing liquid in with your regular detergent to get your clothes really clean (strips out the grease much better than anything else.)

    Be careful of how much you put in, start small, due to water qualities.

    And, as to the house, stay away from the one that makes your shoulders tight and causes you to rethink your decision every second. Go with the one that leaves you, well, if not happy, then light feeling. Even if you have to go toe-to-toe with your wife. You just need to articulate your decision, maybe through a third party (because they never listen to us, do they) but get your message across.

    You don't want to feel cheated and doomed for the next 30 years.

    Good luck, and try to have fun. I know, weird, but house hunting and moving in can be fun, really. Honest.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks for the tip on Dawn. I'll use that when I do "garage clothes", which usually have a significant amount of ground-in dirt and grease.

    The "#1 House" meets those requirements for feeling "light". Open floor plan, TONS of room and space, and after the tree, roof, and fence rework, it should be good-to-good for the next several decades.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hope you get which ever one best meets your needs, and makes you happy. Hard to put a $ amount on happiness.
    Good to know info on the washer/dryer. Mom & dad's washer & drier are about to bite the bullet. Frustrating that appliances are not made to last beyond a short warranty any more.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'll send you the listing of the "#2 House", Brig so you can see the quandry we're in.....

      Delete
    2. Brig, cannot say enough goodness about SpeedQueens. Just finished my 4th load of laundry today (Rottweilers shed really heavy) and the 10 year old washer is chugging along like it was made yesterday. the 5 year old dryer is still putting out blistering heat.

      And I don't even understand the concept of 'light loads' except as a color-matching thing.

      I think they still make them with metal gears, too, no plastics.

      Delete
  6. What is the frequency of snow plows on the East side of I-25?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No idea. It's outside the city limits of FTC, so they'd probably be Larimer County plows....

      Delete
  7. We went with the electro-mechanical Speed Queen set this year. We were SO tired of the very high end, high efficiency front loader. Yeah, it only takes a cup of water to wash a load, but it takes 3 HOURS. And the dryer never got stuff completely dry. Wife finally got tired of that, and with 2 little kids we do a lot of loads. Seems that all the local ladies who can afford whatever they want, end up saying "Screw water efficiency, I want MY TIME used efficiently" and get Speed Queen.

    Funnily, the Speed Queen does have an "Eco Mode" but the directions basically say it's not recommended and is only there because the EPA made them put it there.

    I LOVE the efficiency of a 15 minute wash, that changes the water and actually RINSES the cloths.

    n

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I want a washer/dryer combination that's the equivalent of a D10 Caterpillar.

      No fancy "OLED Displays!!!", or an "Internet Aware!!" machine.

      I just want clean clothes. and reliability......PERIOD!

      Delete
  8. I understand about the "two radios" issue. I get the question every once in a while, "Why do you need more than one radio?".

    I will have to check into the Speed Queen thing down in San Antonio which is within an hour of our new homesite.

    Best of luck on settling the house thing. Since we are now out of our old house and in our temporary lodging (a 1300 sq ft mobile home on our property) life is better. We go Saturday to the builder we will probably go with to look at plans for a particular house. It will be nice to have one built new.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. When I was packing up stuff from the radio room in Long Beach she pretty much went on her "more than one radio" rant.

      I looked at her, with sweat dripping off me everywhere, and calmly said "Some people collect stamps. Some people collect coins. I like interesting radio receivers".

      She kind of 'gets it' in that she knows my FT-847 is for satellites, my K2 is for portable/emergency use, and my TS-950SDX and Flex 5000 are for "shortwave" use, and the 950 doesn't need a PC to be usable. She doesn't "get" my two boat anchor stations, especially since they sat on the shelf, and rarely got used.

      Delete
    2. I am headed the same way on my new station. I have an IC-821 for 2 and 70, a TS-570 that I want to sell and upgrade to a TS-590SG and an IC-7000. Tucked away in storage is the HQ129X that my late father bought around 1949 and I used in my novice station in 1970. It needs restoration but will be the center piece of a "boat anchor" station that I am going to try to get my grandsons interested in.

      I kept my Tech call because it is unique, WD5HHH. I am the captain of dits, 19 in a row. It is a killer on CW. My first goal is to try to set up and work Bouvet Island in January.

      Delete
    3. Cool call! I'm debating changing the "6" in my callsign to a "0", as the call is not taken.

      I never had the boat anchors (Drake '4B' series twins, Hallicrafters SX-117/HT-44 pair) fully set up because I lacked the room. I just kind of threw the shack together with Ikea "furniture", and stacked stuff up. Kinda messy and very inefficient.

      Our "fence guy" is a Master Carpenter, and will be looking at the one paneled room with all the bookcases to build some operating desks on one side of the room, and a workbench on the other side. I've seen his "finish work", and he's extremely good. He went to school at CSU and got a degree in Mechanical Engineering, but stayed here because they only places he could get a job were the East Coast or the West Coast, and we didn't want to leave the area.

      I'm the only serious "Tech Head" in this whole group of people, and they think it's really cool I have all this radio stuff....

      Delete
  9. Beat #1 down another $500.00. Tell them that is your last, best off, so Help You God. They will take it. Then take the wife out for a night on the town.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The fence estimate came in at significantly less than we expected. It needs new posts as they weren't set in the ground properly, and they rotted off at the base. The panels are still serviceable and can be reused.

      We're not going to beat them over the head for another $500.

      Delete
  10. Pick the one best for you and good luck!
    I would take the one farther out, but that's me. You need to make your wife happy.
    God bless.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'd prefer the one further out, too, but she wants to be closer to town.

      She's still a city gal, Linda!

      Delete
    2. BIL married one of those, too. That is why he lives in Wake Forest, NC...

      Delete
  11. This may sound odd, but I'd love to see a post on your speed queens once you get them installed and going.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'll try and remember to do that.

      The blog will probably turn into a "Our New House" for a while!

      Delete
  12. Compared to the Long Beach/Los Angeles Metro area, she considers this place to be very rural.

    She's still amazed that you can drive ten minutes from our new place, and see deer, cows, horses, etc.

    Where were staying now is even MORE rural, even to me. We're about 8 miles out of town, and surrounded by farm land and ranches. We walk the dog in the morning and go by an Alpaca farm ( ! ), and the Alpacas come over to the fence to greet us. We walk the other way, and go by the Grange Building that was built in the late 1800's.

    I've always been big on local history, and I'm just lovin' it out here!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That would be wonderful, yes. Wasn't there something called the Grange cookbook? They are highly sought after, I do believe.

      Sounds wonderful, for sure. :)

      Delete

Keep it civil, please....

Annnnd.....We Got Zip.....

 Total snow was about 6~8", but half o0f it melted as soon as it hit, and we never had more than 3" on the ground at any one time....