Latest Installment of the House Saga

Buyer sends Seller the appraisal info from Lender that says house is not worth as much as they're asking because there is some major dry-rot damage to deal with. Lender will not fund loan. Seller sits on this info for 5 days. On Friday...

Seller: OK. We'll lower the price to the appraised value. All other conditions remain the same.
Buyer: That's great. [aside: 'all other conditions' means that they are still giving us some cash back and dealing with the sewer]. Isn't this good new, Lender?
Lender: Well, actually, this doesn't solve the problem for us. We can't lend on a house that has a deficiency mentioned in the appraisal until that deficiency has been remedied.
Buyer [thinking to themselves]: WTF?! Remember, the Seller and the Buyer are the same flippin' company! [aloud to lender]: Okay, well here are a few things to think about. 1. We just talked to another lender and they have a lower rate. 2. We are planning to repair the dry-rot right away and we have the cash for that. We would be happy to put it in a special account so you could see that the repairs are done. 3. The close-o-escrow deadline is the 24th, so time is of the essence.
Lender: That's all good information. Let me run it by my boss.
Buyer: It's 4:00. Just wondering how things are going.
Buyer: It's 4:30. Just wondering if you've made any progress. Even if you haven't, could you please call us before you leave the office? Thanks.
...
still waiting...
I'm guessing he was out of the office before 4 on Friday. Hmmm. So far, there is very little to recommend these people, and if any of you readers want to know who they are, email me. I'm happy to share.
Maybe they'll come through on Monday and we'll sign then and close on Xmas Eve, but somehow that is seeming less and less likely.

Home-buying saga update

Seller (financial institution to whom ownership has reverted after foreclosure): Buy this house for X dollars.
Potential buyer (us): We like it. In fact, we'll offer you X+3, assuming nothing untoward shows up in the inspection reports, and assuming we can get funding.
Seller: Great. We accept your offer.

Buyer: Ooh, well now. We just spent a pile of money to have various experts inspect the house. They found quite a lot of work that needs to be done. Our revised offer is X-35 and we'd like you to pay for some of the repairs.
Seller: We're willing to come down to X-10 and we'll give you y dollars for repairs. That's our last offer. Take it or leave it.
Buyer: Okay, we'll take it. Now we'll just finalize the loan, which we are getting from your very own institution. That should make it easy.

Lender: We'll need to get the house appraised.
Buyer: Really? Even though you're the ones selling it?
Lender: Well, the asset side and the loan side are different.
Buyer: Right.

Lender: Uh, the appraisal came back at X-29. We can't approve the loan as is.
Buyer: WTF?!
***
I've left out some important sub-plot involving requests to extend deadlines, a power struggle over a power of attorney, a search for an English-speaking doctor in Germany willing to sign a letter stating someone's sanity, miscommunication about said letter, a search for home insurance, intervening and upcoming holidays, full-time teaching, the end of the semester and the consequent work due, and a trip overseas by a key member of the cast.

Tomorrow brings home my honey, and earlier in the day hopefully also an answer about what the seller is willing to do about the fact that their own damn company's hired appraiser says the house is not worth as much as they are asking for it.

Keep your fingers crossed for us!

A Saturday Morning in Richmond

Here are the lovely beds where I helped spread mulch this morning. It's along the Richmond Greenway, a bike a pedestrian path built along an old unused railroad right of way.

I took my bike up on BART to the Richmond station. For the return, I rode 5 miles to the El Cerrito Plaza BART station. I rode the Greenway trail to its eastern end, followed bike routes on surface roads to the Ohlone Trail just below the Del Norte station and followed the Ohlone Trail, which runs along the BART tracks, to the Plaza station. It was a pleasant ride, though if my front tire had had more air I might have ridden faster and with less effort!

Although none of my students showed up, it was really nice to get out there and help with the gardens. I especially enjoyed getting into the back of the pickup and pitchforking the mulch out. It was great to do physical work that didn't involve much thinking--a good contrast to my usual daily concerns.

I'm feeling happy and tired right now. I'm sure I'll have some sore muscles and will sleep well tonight!

"Make indeed you are getting all of the home insurance overlooks you deserve."

"In nowadays's quickly-paced world it's more important than ever to make an intelligent judgment about your Home cover requests. That's why the guys at limitless Home cover Quotes we'll give you the newest options to make indeed your investment will be cosseted. They strive to inindeed that you will avert money by stodgy out a Home cover citation form. The treat is very regular, plug out a fleeting form that only takes about four summary. They will then associate three principal insurance agencies in your neighborhood, they will associate you with a citation that will avert you tons of money!"

So, I'm shopping for home insurance and decide to see if I can find any useful tips in how to choose or what to think about when making this big decision. The first article I came across, from which the quote above is taken, appeared to have been written in another language and translated by machine or by a 1st-year student of English with a small dictionary and thesaurus. I especially liked "...that will avert you tons of money!"

Yes, this means we are closer to the reality of being home-owners. It looks like we will sign papers Wednesday morning and the "loan will fund" on Friday, which will mean at that point that it is our house and we can begin the process of hiring people to help make it habitable. (It's not that bad, but there are things we want/need to do before moving in, such as having the sewer repaired so that we are no longer inadvertently fertilizing the ground along the side of the house!)

Doesn't look like we'll be home for the holidays, but maybe by my birthday.