Ok, so everyone keeps asking what the status is, and I kinda need to vent and get this all on "paper" so here goes.
Two and a half weeks ago we fell in love with a house. It was listed at $130,000, and was a short sale. Basically a short sale is kind of the last stop before foreclosure for the owners. Typically these can take months to get approval, and even then that selling price may not get approved by the bank. However, our house was listed as preapproved for this price, which cuts out the months of waiting. We put in our bid for the asking price just to get it all done. We hoped to have a response within a few days but it's been 2 and a half weeks and we just heard something today.
Unfortunately it wasn't exactly what we wanted to hear. Basically the bank had received an offer months and months ago of $135,900, so they came back saying this is what they wanted. Basically our option now is to accept that offer. Once we do the bank will do an appraisal. No matter what the appraisal is, the highest the price will be is $135,900, but there's the chance it will appraise for less, in which case that would be the price. So the options are either buck up and pay $135,900 or possibly less.
We're in a tough spot right now basically just because we're so pissed off! It's not so much the price because if the house had already been listed at that we would have bid anyway. It's more about, 'like what the hell else are we gonna be told that isn't true'? I mean, if the house isn't really going to be sold for $130,000 then it shouldn't be listed at $130,000. And we kind of feel like 'screw you, keep your house, there's plenty more, and probably for less.'
So that's that. We're both kind of going back and forth between different thoughts. Of course the screw you is at the forefront of my head right now but running right beneath that I'm trying to look at this through 'the secret' point of view. The universe (God, whoever you want it to be) is doing this for a reason...maybe the house will be appraised at a lower price, maybe it won't but it's buying us time for some reason, maybe we'll find something we like better... I don't know.
I told Ivan we really don't have anything to lose by offering the $135,900. There's the chance that it will be appraised for less, and even if it's not, we can still decide we don't want the house. So it's worth doing just to see if we get it for less I think. If we could just get our pride and stubbornness out of the way.
As for other houses, yeah there are plenty of other houses for sale, even cheaper ones, and even in better condition. But you can't change the location--this house backs up to empty land so you feel like you have space (although that could change down the road), it's in a neighborhood we know and like, and we have friends very close by. So those are all the upsides of this house. I dunno. But anyway, that's where it stands and I'll be posting when I know something!
