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It's official Too Busy and Wifey Dearest are downsizing. We've talked about it a bit for the ast 18 months. It was supposed to happen last year when we bought a house. We were going to move to the smaller place and rent Casa Busy, instead we did a bit of work on the small house and rented it.

Now here we are a year later and I'm going through our house painting rooms, touching up other rooms, painting baseboards (I hate that Sofa King much...), etc.

Yesterday the realtors came over and took pics, this morning it's on the MLS.


We've made an offer on a much smaller place and the waiting game begins.

_________________
Too much week, not enough weekend.

OOPS I did it again
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=17496

Blood Sweat and Beers
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=15216

downsizing? Is that what you tell the wife when you start looking for a house with more garage space and less of the other space?

I am playing, lets improve the neighbor hood, I bought the house next door and it is killing my garage time. I still have the locost, it's driveable still needs to be finished and its siting right next to 2 FFR cobras one that I have owned for 14 years and one that has not had the first screw assembled and now I have a house renovation going on at the other house. I really need a clone!

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"Make it a GREAT day"
Tony Chiles

Prepping the house has been a real time killer for me too. I ran at Roebling Road the first Saturday in November and I haven't touched a car since other than getting stuff together for the trade with Chad this weekend.

With any luck I'll get to play with cars again during Christmas break when I have some vacation scheduled.

_________________
Too much week, not enough weekend.

OOPS I did it again
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=17496

Blood Sweat and Beers
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=15216

If you need somebody to drive that FFR Cobra, I'll be your "clone"!!! (Or your "Huckleberry"...)

JDK

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JD, father of Quinn, Son of a... Build Log
Quinn the Slotus:Ford 302 Powered, Mallock-Inspired, Tube Frame, Hillclimb Special
"Gonzo and friends: Last night must have been quite a night. Camelot moments, mechanical marvels, Rustoleum launches, flying squirrels, fru-fru tea cuppers, V8 envy, Ensure catch cans -- and it wasn't even a full moon." -- SeattleTom

Too...., what a big change!

Linda and I are (have been talking about) planning changing homes. But we can't decide whether smaller house in a subdivision or bigger land with outbuilding is in our future. My hat is off to you if you can decide. Good luck finding a smaller home with larger garage space.

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Chuck.

“Any suspension will work if you don’t let it.” - Colin Chapman

Visit my ongoing MGB Rustoration log: over HERE

Or my Wankel powered Locost log : over HERE

And don't forget my Cushman Truckster resto Locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=17766

Thanks Chuck. This next house isn't our "forever house". We'll be moving again in a few years when I retire. At that point smallish house and big workshop are on the REALLY, REALLY, WANT IT list. Something Wifey Dearest and I have gotten good at over the years is compromise. I've learned to always defer to her in matters of style and taste.

Got a call from our realtor this morning. Offer on the smaller place was accepted and we have our first showing of our house later today.

Here's the new place.


Epoxy floor in the garage

_________________
Too much week, not enough weekend.

OOPS I did it again
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=17496

Blood Sweat and Beers
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=15216

Downsizing update.
I'M SOFA KING TIRED OF THIS HOUSE CRAP!!!!

Today was another total write off / time killer. Wifey Dearest wants the yard to look nice for the open house tomorrow, so mow, rake leaves, blow leaves, rake leaves, blow leaves, and on and on...

This afternoon I'm getting ready to spend an hour or so in the garage doing something, ANYTHING other than more boring crap on the house when I hear... "Can you come here for a minute? The disposal is clogged."
So what's up? Mashed potatoes for dinner and a GIANT bowl of potato peelings into the disposal.

She says "It was draining slow, so I tried ice cubes and it got worse."



An hour later I've had the plumbing out from under the sink, chiseled a 6" wad of frozen shredded potato out of the drain pipes, reinstalled the disposal only to have it puke another wad of potato peel into the pipes making another clog, back out and back together.

Tomorrow we have a showing at 9:30, and an open house from 12-3:30. Another day blown to hell.

Off to Canada next week for work, home late Thursday, so maybe, just maybe I'll get something done next weekend. I need to rejet the carbs on the A Mod and see if I can get it happy at sea level.

_________________
Too much week, not enough weekend.

OOPS I did it again
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=17496

Blood Sweat and Beers
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=15216

Downsizing update 2
The people that came last Sunday morning at 9:30 called as soon as we got home and wanted to come look again, so Boom, we were back out of the house and back they came.
Feedback came in that they liked the house but currently had an offer pending on a short sale about a mile from our place. I crossed them off my thoughts list

The Open house had a couple of folks come through. Wifey Dearest and I went to the movies and left the Realtor to run the show.
No feedback from the folks that looked in the open house.

Monday morning off to Canada for work. I froze my tail off for 4 days and got home late Thursday. Friday into the office to clear up some paperwork and have a few conference calls. Goal wrap up the year and start my Christmas vacation. Off until Tuesday 1/3/17

So I'm thinking play time in the garage today. I get up, have some coffee, and the phone dings. People want to look at the house sometime between 1 and 2.
Can't really do anything big with just a couple of hours, so I work on my wood cutting band saw to convert it to be a metal cutting saw. I special ordered a blade for it and through the miracle of Amazon, the blade had arrived yesterday. I swapped pulleys off my table saw so I could underdrive the wheel and slow the blade enough for cutting metal.

Then off to lunch and do some shopping while the folks looked at the house. We get home, phone dings, they want to come back. We skedaddle so they can come back. Finally get into the garage about 2 pm to play with the A Mod

About 8pm the phone rings and it's our Realtor.
She says there's an offer coming our way.
Turns out it's the couple that looked twice last Sunday morning. They were the ones who looked twice again today.

[b]Wish me luck. I hope they don't come in too much below the asking price.
[/b]

_________________
Too much week, not enough weekend.

OOPS I did it again
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=17496

Blood Sweat and Beers
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=15216

Got a contract on the house. 19 days on the market. Settled on a full price offer with me kicking in a couple thousand toward their closing costs.


Woooooooo Hooooooooooooooooooo

_________________
Too much week, not enough weekend.

OOPS I did it again
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=17496

Blood Sweat and Beers
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=15216

19 days is great. And a couple G's off full price is great too. Hope they qualify and things go well for you up thru closing.

_________________
Chuck.

“Any suspension will work if you don’t let it.” - Colin Chapman

Visit my ongoing MGB Rustoration log: over HERE

Or my Wankel powered Locost log : over HERE

And don't forget my Cushman Truckster resto Locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=17766

Got my fingers crossed Chuck. They're "pre qualified" within the price range. They're going VA loan, so I know that home inspection will be a little more critical than standard inspectors tend to be.

Home inspection sometime right after New Year's, appraisal immediately after that, and a requested closing date of 2/15/17.

Now if the bank would just get back to us on the short sale we're trying to buy all will be right with the world. It's been sitting in underwriting and adjustments department with the lender who holds the large note for 2 weeks.
We've asked for a closing date of 1/12/17 on that one, so just sitting around twiddling my thumbs until they grant full and final approval on our offer.

_________________
Too much week, not enough weekend.

OOPS I did it again
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=17496

Blood Sweat and Beers
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=15216

I'm not trying to rain on your parade, but since I own a mortgage company let me give you some realistic expectations.

Short sales (actually an assisted foreclosure) can take forever to complete, so don't be surprised at whatever happens. I've seen some go on for over 6 months. Actually most of them I've seen have taken months - at least 4.

Don't worry about VA, they aren't really any more critical than other appraisers. Safe, Sound & Sanitary are the guiding rules.

Also I'm sorry to tell you that "PreQualifed" doesn't mean diddly from most lenders. It means they might have checked credit, but they've taken the word of the Borrower for everything else.

We won't do a PQ, we only do PreApprovals which doesn't really mean they are approved, (the law won't let us approve them without a house) it just means we've actually seen all their income, outgo, taxes, etc. and that if nothing changes they should be approved. That must work well because we've only had 1 turndown in 2016. Big banks turn down up to 60% of their applicants and Mortgage Brokers typically turn only down 25%.

The issue is that the Dodd-Frank Act passed back in 2010 made it illegal for any lender to ask to see ANY supporting documentation until actual loan application. This means your Buyers need to know to volunteer the additional information or else the Lender can't really predict realistic outcomes. Also the actual loan application can no longer really be done until after there's an accepted sales contract. See the problem.

Fortunately the Dodd-Frank Act is one of the first items on Trump's agenda. We've skirted the law by posting an informational page on our website and are just praying we're too small for the Feds to come after because penalties range from time in prison to $50,000,000 fines if a lender violates that rule.

http://www.financiersmortgage.com/FINANCIERS/READ_ME_%21.html

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mobilito ergo sum
I drive therefore I am

I can explain it to you,
but I can't understand it for you.

I know short sales can take ages. The one we're working on is supposedly easy according to the listing agent. The primary lender has , in theory, agreed to a price based on a competitive market analysis the listing agency performed. The second lender is looking for $8k against 30k or so owed to them. The second lender has already agreed to no recourse against the borrowers.

The sellers accepted out contract. The second lender has agreed to take his cut from the proceeds. Right now just waiting for the primary to do their thing. They have until close of business 12/29 to respond of I walk. Plenty of other houses in the area.


I'm worried about the buyers. I wonder if they really can get financing. Youngish couple, 2 pretty nice cars, first house, and almost no money saved. Not a good combination.

_________________
Too much week, not enough weekend.

OOPS I did it again
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=17496

Blood Sweat and Beers
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=15216

With VA that's not a problem. What we're seeing a lot of is the young uns get involved with one of the myriad of MLM scam out there and then charge off a large chunk of their income so now they don't qualify. It's so bad we don't give the young ones a number till we can see their tax returns.

It's only a problem with the young and inexperienced.

_________________
mobilito ergo sum
I drive therefore I am

I can explain it to you,
but I can't understand it for you.

Downsizing update.
12/29/16 was the cutoff date for the lender to respond per our contract, after that I can terminate at will. Listing agent said it was in process, they just needed a little more time, so I gave them an extension to close of business 1/6/17 to have final approval and affirm closing date to my agent.
Friday came and went without hearing anything, so at 4pm Friday I had my agent send a letter of termination. Her broker in charge insisted that we need to send in on her form for "Termination and Release" so that she could return our earnest money.

My response was I don't give a happy chit if they sign a release or not; my short sale addendum has the contingency terms spelled out perfectly in one sentence.


The broker tells me "It's more complicated, you just don't understand how contracts work."
It went downhill from there.
So I asked a few questions
Exactly how many Short Sales have you handled? 0
How much training have you had, on the language of a Short Sale Addendum? Mr. Samuels, it's standard policy to request release from a contract. I can't return your earnest money unless the seller or a judge tell me it's allowed.
Have you even read my contract? Your agent is keeping me informed.
Have you even read my contract? No, but...
Please read this.

Mr. Samuels, I'm familiar with our standard offer form. See it says right there that I can't without the seller's approval or a Court.

What about the last part of that sentence; or as agreed upon in this contract.? Mr. Samuels, it's complicated
No, It is EXTREMELY SIMPLE. Notify the Sellers that I AM TERMINATING THE CONTRACT UNDER SSA ARTICLE 1, paragraph two, failure to deliver Lender approval, AND I am demanding refund of my earnest money.

Mr Samuels, it's complicated, you can't just cancel the contract, they have to release you.

I want to make an offer on another house. Mr Samuels, you can't make an offer until they release you from this contract.

DO you know what the word TERMINATE means? Let's say that I choose to TERMINATE our relationship with your Brokerage acting as my Buyer's Agent. TERMINATE is A UNILATERAL DECISION, for example I don't have to ask your permission to FIRE YOU.


ARRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

And the house hunt starts all over again

_________________
Too much week, not enough weekend.

OOPS I did it again
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=17496

Blood Sweat and Beers
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=15216