Thread: First time homebuyer

[QUOTE=lowrd03vr6;56086]My girlfriend and I are currently in the process of purchasing a new home in a neighboring town. We are really excited about getting a new house, but the buying process is really taking a toll on us and I have a few questions and I hope someone may be able to send us in the right direction.

First off, the house we are working on buying is a townhouse that was built in 2005. The people that lived there before us could not pay their bills, so the house went into foreclosure. A builder went in and bought the house a very low price and completely remodeled the entire house and upgraded the floors, appliances, and counter tops. When we walked into this house, we knew that this was the one we wanted. After looking at the house a few times, we decided to put in an offer.

After much negotiation, we finally came to an agreeable price with the seller. The negotiation of the price was a huge hassle. It took several days for the selling real estate agent to get back to us with counter offers and such, so just that process took several weeks, which should have only taken a day or two at most. Once we came to an agreeable price, everything seemed great, and everything started flowing smoothly. We went ahead and wrote a contract on the house and sent it over to the selling agent. After two weeks and several unanswered phone calls we still did not have the contract back from the selling agent. After the two weeks, we finally got the contract back, but what is funny about it is, the contract was signed by the seller two days after we sent the contract over, the agent just neglected to send it back for two weeks.

After we got the contract back we did the inspection and there were a few very minor flaws and the seller agreed to fix all of the problems. We also ordered our appraisal so that we can make sure the house appraises for the selling price. With the loan we are using, if the house does not appraise for the selling price, we are not eligible to buy the house. Well, the appraisal came back early on Thursday morning (4/16) and the appraisal came back at $10k below the selling price. When my realtor called the selling agent and told him about the appraisal, he said that he was going to go to the seller immediately to get a reply as to if he will sell at the lower price or not. My realtor says he called the selling agent several times each day this past weekend to get an answer out of him, but he has not answered his phone or returned any calls. So now we are just kind of stuck waiting.

This typically would not be an issue, but we currently live in an apartment, and we have to be our of the apartment on 4/30 because that is when our lease is up. Since the selling price is going to change, if the seller accepts, all of the paper work for the closing will have to be redone, and we are coming down to the wire as to if we will be able to close before the 30th or not.

[COLOR=blue][FONT=Garamond]So with all of that being said, here is my question. My realtor says he is calling the selling agent every 4 hours trying to get an answer, but has not been able to. Now I don

OR, it could be the seller signed the contract and then did not send it back to the listing agent.

It could be the listing agent is calling the seller repeatedly but the seller is not returning the listing agents calls.

It doesn't matter whose fault it is.

Your problem is your lease is running out and you need a place to live. Your best move right now would be to try to get your lease extended to a month to month. If this is not possible then start looking for another place to live.

At this stage of the process, you don't even have a place to buy if the seller doesn't come down in price.

I would investigate the price the builder paid and ball park his selling costs and remodel costs. It could give you some general idea if he is even capable of selling at the appraised value.
I would also keep your lender in the loop and discuss the details of this transaction with them. I think there was a provision in FHA about flipping and having to wait a minimum period of time between property transfers. I ran into this about a year ago.

Sounds like your taking the Bull by the horns, keep doing it.
Best of luck to you!

... Okay not a RE agent, but I needed to interject...

Originally Posted by lowrd03vr6

So with all of that being said, here is my question. My realtor says he is calling the selling agent every 4 hours trying to get an answer, but has not been able to. Now I don’t know if he is calling that much or not, but I do know from dealing with the selling agent in the past, he takes his sweet time and has no sense of urgency. I do have contact information for the actual seller himself, so would it be unethical if I were to contact the seller directly to see what he is planning on doing as far as making a decision?

Hasn't ANYONE heard of deadlines? Time is of the Essence? I would have thought that deadlines would have expired long before this deal came to completion, therefore the contract DEAD... Seeing that it took WEEKS to get contracts signed and delivered. my gawd, I have my contracts expire only hours after I submit it, maybe up to a day, but that is all. The seller knows if they will accept or they won't... Too many properties to work with to get stuck on one.

But I see that you "fell in love" with the property. Bad Idea (well in MY perspective) since that will cause you to pay more and to put up with more crap than if you would "walk" to the next property. Personally, I would have walked away long ago.

I would let the landlord know that you need to extend the lease, make it a M-2-M. If you have been good tenants, they should not have an issue with the extension, if not, well... You made your mess, now time to live in it. Look for another place... Like I said before, too many places out there, and so many of them are being GIVEN away!

I don't know what to say other than what I just had.

Good luck?