Wakal Posted March 24, 2007 Share Posted March 24, 2007 More properly Liota's rant than mine, since she is doing the legwork in San Antonio whilst I lounge about in my Embassy-furnished apartment in Ankara, but... What is wrong with people who are (nominally) trying to sell houses? So far, we have had a offer accepted (verbally) and then refused (verbally) a week later after the owner's idiot daughter (who didn't stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night, but did work at an escrow office for a few months and thus is a housing expert) "reviewed" the proposal, had a house pulled off the market as we were making the offer, tried to view a house but never got a response from the seller's realtor, had a house pulled off the market when my realtor tried to set up a viewing, had a rather nice house turn out to have active termites (as it "actively crawling all over the floor"), and have just generally been annoyed to death by the whole process (gasp, gasp, yes, Virginia, there is a run-on sentence ). I put this in the "Doesn't fit" catigory to encourage response, so please feel free to add your own stories to the thread to (if not make me feel better) at least make us laugh BTW, anyone have (or know of) a house for sale within an hour or so of San Antonio? Alex Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nik Habicht Posted March 24, 2007 Share Posted March 24, 2007 Hmmm, December 2005, we put our house in Trenton under contract, and had our offer accepted for our current house in Levittown. Closings were supposed to happed on 1/12/06. As the movers had about 7/8 of our stuff on the truck on January 11, 2006, we got a call that the closing on the house we were selling, might not happen on the 12th..... The movers pulled our mattresses off --- a really good move! We lived in an empty house with two mattresses, two folding chairs, a $29 Ikea Table, some cushions, a computer, a phone, a dryer, and about 5 days worth of clothes for each of us ----- for 28 days. We bought a frying pan, a pot, a spatula and a spoon, and ate off plastic/styro plates etc. Hauled our laundry to the laundromat every few days to wash, then hauled it home to stuff in the dryer. After 28 days, both sales were kaputt, and the furniture came home. The movers made the suggestion to put the bulk of our stuff in the basement --- a real good idea, since the house was going back on the market. We used the last couple of days before the furniture came home to paint the entire inside of the house. We had looked at 6-7 homes, before putting that initial offer in --- after our house in Trenton went back on the market, I looked at more than 130 homes in about 6 weeks. Eventually our house in Trenton sold, and the house we were originally going to buy was still on the market --- and remarkably the sellers were not only willing to talk to us, but reinstituted the same deal that we had four months earlier...... Closing date number 2 came ----- and went without closings...... Finally, ten days later, everything happened! I was actually late to the first closing --- sale --- because I had to wait with the movers until they had the last piece of furniture on the sidewalk..... Hard to believe that was only ten months ago..... We did a lot of driving around neighborhoods at odd hours --- in the evenings when everyone was home, late at night, early in the morning. It's good to have a feel for the routine of the area..... Need I mention home and termite inspections? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viggen Posted March 24, 2007 Share Posted March 24, 2007 Don't hurry on buying a house in the US right now or anythime soon. The real estate market is taking a major nose dive and there is no reason not to put yourself into the best position possible. Don't hurry - it is a BUYERS MARKET, a BIGTIME BUYERS MARKET. As for verbal offers, they mean nothing. Don't bother making them. As to real estate agents, shop around - a lot are bailiing from the industry. Among the folks left over there are going to be a few good ones. Interview those folks to find a good one who will work with you and let them got to work for you. Let them do their job and you be loyal to them. If they are unscuccessful, find another one. Be patient and you'r going to get a nice place at a much better price than you would if you just charge ahead. Better to rent a place for a while then to pay 10-20% too much on a house. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shred Posted March 24, 2007 Share Posted March 24, 2007 CenTx is a local realtor. Put up with our protracted house search too Plus he knows where all the ranges in San Antonio are. Definately recommended. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlamoShooter Posted March 25, 2007 Share Posted March 25, 2007 (edited) CenTx is a local realtor. Put up with our protracted house search too Plus he knows where all the ranges in San Antonio are. Definately recommended. +1 on Cen tx I remodel homes in San Antonio parts of town can be full of Fruits Like Alamo Hights area. = 78209 zip ! Whatch out for the bad soil areas = the house levelors are overloaded with work fixing cracked slabs from soil movment. send me a PM if I can be of help Jamie Oh I should add that ...I only do work for people that have a reference = I screen my clients. Edited March 25, 2007 by AlamoShooter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Front Man Posted March 25, 2007 Share Posted March 25, 2007 Hmmm, December 2005, we put our house in Trenton under contract, and had our offer accepted for our current house in Levittown. Closings were supposed to happed on 1/12/06. As the movers had about 7/8 of our stuff on the truck on January 11, 2006, we got a call that the closing on the house we were selling, might not happen on the 12th.....The movers pulled our mattresses off --- a really good move! We lived in an empty house with two mattresses, two folding chairs, a $29 Ikea Table, some cushions, a computer, a phone, a dryer, and about 5 days worth of clothes for each of us ----- for 28 days. We bought a frying pan, a pot, a spatula and a spoon, and ate off plastic/styro plates etc. Hauled our laundry to the laundromat every few days to wash, then hauled it home to stuff in the dryer. After 28 days, both sales were kaputt, and the furniture came home. The movers made the suggestion to put the bulk of our stuff in the basement --- a real good idea, since the house was going back on the market. We used the last couple of days before the furniture came home to paint the entire inside of the house. We had looked at 6-7 homes, before putting that initial offer in --- after our house in Trenton went back on the market, I looked at more than 130 homes in about 6 weeks. Eventually our house in Trenton sold, and the house we were originally going to buy was still on the market --- and remarkably the sellers were not only willing to talk to us, but reinstituted the same deal that we had four months earlier...... Closing date number 2 came ----- and went without closings...... Finally, ten days later, everything happened! I was actually late to the first closing --- sale --- because I had to wait with the movers until they had the last piece of furniture on the sidewalk..... Hard to believe that was only ten months ago..... We did a lot of driving around neighborhoods at odd hours --- in the evenings when everyone was home, late at night, early in the morning. It's good to have a feel for the routine of the area..... Need I mention home and termite inspections? And for goodness, sake get a new survey! FM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chills1994 Posted March 25, 2007 Share Posted March 25, 2007 Alamo shooter wrote: = the house levelors are overloaded with work fixing cracked slabs from soil movment.send me a PM if I can be of help Oh, so that's why I have seen them do post tensioning of concrete slabs in Texas. It's kind of a bandaid fix for crappy soil conditions. I get it now. Me, I just like basements way too much, to ever buy/live in slab house. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlamoShooter Posted March 25, 2007 Share Posted March 25, 2007 walked past on tonight down the street - Nice- near the Air port in side the loop send me a PM, if you want the # jamie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmccrock Posted March 26, 2007 Share Posted March 26, 2007 So the Wakals are moving to SA? Hmm. If you get a little more north/northeast, I can hook you up with a GREAT realtor for Bastrop County. In Houston, 1979, I bought my first house. Interest rates were going up, not like now, I mean UP!!! Signed contract in September, closed in December, rate went from 8.5 to 11.5%. Yes, those were the days. I was young. Looking back, the mortgager was intentionally dragging its feet. It would have been better to walk away. The contract included escapes for financing and I could have gotten out with no loss. The years in that house, I found out first hand the National Flood Insurance Program is a great insurance value. Twice. When I sold in 1985, selling price was the same. That's what we like, none of those pesky capital gains taxes. Oh, the guy I sold it to "assumed" the FHA mortgage. Then he made no payments and walked away. The buyer was an "investor" and an agent so he got the buyer's half of the real estate commission. According to my agent, he did that on several houses before the local realtors wised up. The sheriff was informed; but the guy skipped town. Even though I sold the house, I was still liable for the "assumed" mortgage. Long story short, nothing happened to me. Foundation trouble? Our current home just outside beautiful downtown Red Rock has significant foundation problems, which we knew about before buying. We were tired of looking, and tired of living in that RV, and the rest of the place is great. The real estate market is not dropping everywhere, so know your local market...... Lee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markm Posted March 26, 2007 Share Posted March 26, 2007 Wanna move to party town USA ??? ( New Orleans) got one for sale........ loooong commute though.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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