Tuesday, February 08, 2011

What are they thinking? - house selling woes

Hey folks.  Did you miss me?  Sorry for neglecting you so badly.  I was seriously considering giving this blog up entirely...but sigh, alas I cannot.

Darly and I had a great time doing CYT Cinderella, so much so that I've already committed to doing the next play Fiddler on the Roof...I even get to go to the production meeting. :D  Now I just have to be a good girl and just listen.  Pray for me on that one!

can I just say that I'm not a fan of whatever they're using on blogger here for posting.  the formatting while I type is driving me up the wall!

First a PSA here... a reverse mortgage is NOT what you think it is...or at least it isn't what I thought it is.  I thought that the reverse mortgage is the bank buying your house, paying you the equity and then when you die or move the house is theirs.  That's how they advertise it.  So when MIL got a reverse mortgage I was relieved that we wouldn't have to worry about selling her house. 

WRONG!!!!

What a reverse mortgage REALLY is is just another loan.  Yeah they finance the house for the entire amount that it is worth and give you the equity, but you still "own" the house and you still have to sell the thing.  UGH!

So MIL has been in heaven for a year now and the house is still "ours"  ugh.  It seems that no matter what price we set the house at that buyers want the kitchen and basement to be redone and finished.  Even when we had the price set at a ridiculously low price these folks wanted the kitchen redone.  We just don't understand why a buyer would want to have someone else pick out the kitchen when they can do it themselves.  But apparently that's what it is going to take to get this house sold. 

Now Dh is interviewing kitchen counter top installers to get prices for a brand new kitchen counter.  I DON'T EVEN HAVE MY KITCHEN REDONE!!!!!!!!!!!  But we are paying to redo MIL's kitchen...so that we can sell it.  This so totally stinks!  Now my kitchen has to wait until her house sells because all our saved up money is going to fix her house for someone else!

I'm also hating getting comments when people look at the house about how the house doesn't work for them.  They complain about things that the MLS clearly states...things their realtor should either be pointing out to the buyer or just not bothering to take them to if it won't work.  Like the house has a REALLY small yard.  I used to call it a postage stamp sized yard.  The MLS also clearly states that the house has stained glass windows, the pictures for the listing show the windows with the stained glass...yet these people still come through the house and complain that the house has stained glass.  I'm like DUH!  ugh!  I knew that this house was going to be hard to sell and I'm tired of this house.

Reasons I wouldn't buy MIL's house...
small yard - there's maybe 15 feet from the back door to the fence
on a road with heavy traffic - there's a high school down the street.  honestly when my inlaws bought the house they had no way of knowing this as the school wasn't built yet.
tiny master bedroom closet - no idea what the architect was thinking there
crazy neighbors - the one side has two bachelors who collect and park junk cars in front of the house, the other the woman is just crazy - but most folks won't find that out until it's too late.

So wish us luck folks as we really do need to sell this house.  DH is meeting with counter top folks this week and hopefully we can get that done quickly and sell!

 

3 comments:

  1. Yeah, Reverse Mortgages definitely aren't for everyone. They're really best for people with no family, no money, etc. That way, the house can support the individual into the "rest of their life," and in the end, the bank ends up with it. Not quite working that way for you unfortunately.

    It's about time you post!

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  2. Oh Renee, that's tough. Banks. Sheesh. Can't trust anything out of their mouths! Just a bunch of swindlers, but oh dear, don't get me started on a rant. I reckon you have to at least sell it for enough to pay back the reverse mortgage. Bummer. I hope you can get the upgrades done quickly and inexpensively.

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  3. I knew you couldn't leave us forever!

    I don't get tiny closets. Never heard anyone complain about too much closet space. Although I guess in olden times houses didn't even have closets.

    Hard to think of a Seinfeld reference for this one. The reverse mortgage just reminded me of several Jerry/Kramer conversations.

    "You don't even know what a write-off is, do you?"
    "No. But they do. And they're the ones writing it off."

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