Hubby and I have been trying to buy a house since September 2008. When we first started looking, everyone told us, "it's a great time to buy!.... if you can get financing. Good LUCK!" Well, it is a great time to buy, but those people were wrong. Obtaining a mortgage was easy as pie. It's the actual BUYING the house that has been ridiculous!
Let me recap:
House #1: Short sale. Submitted an offer and, three months later, the offer was rejected. Smarmy seller's agent lied through the nose, whenever he actually bothered to return our agent's emails and calls. Apparently there were other offers on the table (though he told us there were not), and the bank chose a different offer.
House #2: Short sale. Submitted an offer and seller's agent was immediately responsive. We went back and forth and agreed upon a price. But wait, then the seller wanted us to agree to not do a home inspection. Uh, DUH! No thanks. Then he said, Ok you can do a home inspection, but we won't sign an offer letter. We have to go straight to contract. Bye-bye.
House #3: Not a short sale (you mean there is a house for sale in this country that is not a short sale or foreclosure???); owners relocated, we must deal with both the sellers AND their relocation company. They verbally agreed to our offer, but it was the relocation company that had to sign the offer. While they took their sweet time signing, another higher offer came in, and the sellers dropped us like a cheap date.
House #4: Short sale. Made an offer at the beginning of January, seller accepted and signed offer. After we got the signed offer, I did some online detective work, and discovered a state website that lists all houses in the Commonwealth that have had a lead inspection and what the results were. Though the listing for the house said "Lead Paint: Unknown" and the sellers signed a disclosure form stating that they had no knowledge of the existence of lead in the home, or knowledge of any tests done, surprise surprise, there was a test done by the current owners a few years ago, and it was positive. In MA, you are not required to test for lead, but if you do, and it comes back positive, you are required to disclose it in any real estate transaction. When we confronted them with this info, they promptly sent us the report of the inspection they had done (damn straight, you better), and luckily it wasn't bad. Most of the lead was around the windows and the windows have all been replaced. But bottom line, we now have to disclose it when we go to sell it (if we can even buy the house!).
Anywho, the lead drama is past... at this point, we are actually still waiting for the seller's bank to approve the sale. We have signed all contracts, so as long as the bank approves, we just have to close. Our contract gives them until tomorrow, or we can back out and get all of our money back.
So, yes, it is a buyer's market, but not one for the sane buyer. Well, we started out sane.
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