Please keep every appendage crossed for us!

(This should have been posted on June 15 but it’s been crazy so I forgot about it.)

We have had a few showings lately (for sale and rental) so had our fingers crossed that SOMETHING would work out. Part of us wished we’d get a good rental so maybe the house prices would go back up in a few years and we could sell for a profit (or at least without having to have a short sale) but then part of us wished we’d just sell the damn thing so we could cut our losses and stop being stressed about it all the time.

So imagine our surprise when…we got an offer! For sale! HOLY CRAP. Of course, we had imagined we’d be excited about ANY sale offer, but honestly, we were a little gobsmacked with the offer—it was for $7,000 BELOW listing, which was already a pretty rock-bottom price. Plus they wanted almost $6,000 in closing costs, an $1,100 stainless refrigerator, and occupancy with pets prior to closing at a low daily rate plus no deposits of any kind…

My first instinct (after the ball of stress immediately appeared in my stomach) was UMMMM, NO. Did they really think they could get all that because they know we’re desperate to sell? There’s no way I’m giving them most of what they asked for. But after talking with Roger and discussing things, we ended up only countering with a few minor changes (a small price increase, a decent rental rate and deposit, and a cleaning addendum). We were kind of screwed with the refrigerator issue because they wanted prior possession—and since they’d technically be renting, we needed to have a fridge in the house. We also wanted to take up our fridge and we’d need one in the meantime… AND worst case, if this deal falls through and we end up having to rent it, we’d need a fridge. So there’s more money down the toilet for this damn house. We figure we’ve put in about $10-11,000 in the past three years (shed, deck, stainless appliances, wood floor), not counting all the other minor upgrades we’ve done since we bought it. Just to make ZERO of it back since the housing market is in the toilet (when all is said and done, we’re technically set to lose about $37,000 on it—though with the short sale hopefully none of that will actually have to come out of pocket). But, as Roger said, it was stuff we needed to have done to even get people interested (pretty much every comment on the showings were about the floor and deck).

So now we wait to see if our mortgage company accepts the short sale offer.

Fingers crossed. Toes crossed. Arms crossed. And anything else crossed would be appreciated…

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