Between two sellers, four attorneys, a real estate agent, and multiple offers, I had to revise our offer and resubmit it. Mr. PFL even came with to see the condo on Monday to help decide the maximum offer. To confirm: yes, I made an offer for $142,000 last week without Mr. PFL even seeing the place. If that isn’t a sign of trust, I don’t know what is.
All of the offers are open through tomorrow, October 1, at 2:00 p.m. I’ll let you know what happens.
At 3:11 p.m. today, I sent over my very first offer as a licensed real estate agent. A 2-bed, 1-bath condo, with basement, in a 3-unit building was listed earlier this week. It is a “distressed” property in that the two owners have a civil case pending, with lawyers involved, to try to get them both off the title and disburse the equity. The case has been pending since last year and the condo association is trying to foreclose, too, due to unpaid dues and assessments.
I saw the condo yesterday at lunchtime (I love being able to set showings up for myself, at my convenience!). The location is amazing and only about an eight minute walk from our house. There is off-street parking. But the kitchen is incredibly tiny and outdated. There are some holes in the walls. It was kind of cluttered. And I believe these are all of the things that will scare away most buyers.
So, I low-balled the offer, but otherwise made it very attractive. Cash. As-is (no need to worry about fixing anything), subject to inspection (if there is some sort of undisclosed structural issue, we’ll be able to back out), and confirmation that the condo association will approve the unit for use as a rental. The offer will need to be approved by both sellers and their attorneys, so we’ll just have to wait and see.
This could be “the one,” or at least the one for right now.
My primary job, working as a self-employed attorney, comes with a lot of freedom and flexibility. I know we would not be in the position we are if I worked a traditional 9-5. But, as a one-person law firm, I am responsible for everything. Including copying. And being prepared for trial. And returning emails and phone calls. And writing legal documents. And opening mail. And settling cases. Or going to trial if I can’t settle a case. Which is what happened this week. After spending about six hours at the courthouse on Monday trying to settle a divorce case (I didn’t get lunch until 3:30), no settlement was reached, so I spent Tuesday morning organizing, copying and preparing for the trial starting Tuesday afternoon. The trial finished Wednesday afternoon. Throughout the trial, it became obvious why settlement was impossible: we weren’t arguing about the same things. This was so bad that at one point I asked for a sidebar, which does look very much like what is portrayed on TV (unlike virtually everything else in most legal TV shows).
I’ve tried to stay on top of all of my other responsibilities these last few days, but I haven’t been that successful. I haven’t slept very well, either. I can’t wait to NOT do this anymore. I know that I’ll need to replace the intellectual stimulation I get from this work with something else in the future, but I hope I can do so in a much less stressful way.
The housing market in our area is on fire. Every house we’ve been interested in the past few weeks has gone into contract within about 48 hours. The “one that got away” actually went back onto the market, we went to see it (my very first showing), and then it was back in contract almost immediately. Most of the real estate agents will reach out when they get an offer to give us a chance to make one as well; having cash should give us an edge. I think. I hope.