The Weight of Money

So, our house buying adventure isn’t going smoothly any more. I find it rather amusing since earlier this week I’d told the partner that I don’t want the house — more on that in a bit. However, they sellers have been majorly dragging feet on the amended contract that includes the details that we’re going to do repairs prior to purchase so we can get the house. We’ve been pestering them and getting no where. Yesterday, our agent finally gets theirs and is told that they have had interest from another buyer. The house has been on the market as available this whole time — argh! So basically, our agent is pretty certain that they are just stringing us along hoping something better will show up. However, closing is only two weeks away since the extended closing date is in the amended contract that hasn’t been signed and there is no way we can meet it since no repairs have been done. This really pisses me off, but–

Like I said, earlier this week I really wanted to walk away from the house. As I think more and more about all the repairs needed now and learn more and more about repairs and restoration and renovation of old houses, I’m certain that this is going to be a much bigger headache that I originally planned. Yes — now is certainly a bit late to think this, but that is irrelevant. I would not walk out on our contract just because I changed my mind — that is wrong. But, if we were given an out, like the one that has presented itself, I would want to take it.

No, I wouldn’t hate it if we got the house — I do like the house a lot and have gotten very committed to the house. But, when I consider the negative impact it will have on our budget, the fact that we’ll have almost no equity in the house for several years due to the creative mortgaging needed to get it (35-year fixed rate, first 5 years interest), and the expenses bound to show up once we are living in the house and see things that must be fixed and how one things always leads to another in old houses.

Also, this is not a dream house for us. In fact, it is just a place holder for needing to move again in a few years. I’ve had lots of dreams of fixing the place up to how we would like it — but what is the point when it still won’t be what we need? Plus, we won’t really have the money to fix it up any more than to just be able to live in it. Then, when it comes time to sell it, it’ll still have all the limitations it does now and probably be just as hard for us to sell as it has been for the current owners.

So, I’m trying to sell the partner on just renting for another year somewhere — finding an affordable place in this area is almost impossible — would give us enough time to get all our ducks in a row to buy a house that we really want. I know that I can build a savings plan and a budget that will get us out of all credit card debt and build up house savings within 1.5 years. I don’t think the partner believes this, but since I saw myself save over $5,000 in less than six months I know that I can make it happen. Plus, in a year or so, I’ll have a job too and that will add a lot of help in being able to buy something we want to live in for a while.

So, I’m annoyed about the house things but I am hoping that the people bow out and we can either start looking at other houses — a possibility if the price/space is right — or get on with finding a place to rent for a while.

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 25th, 2006 at 12:22 pm and is filed under housing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.