DH & I would both eventually like to have acreage. Don't know if you remember my old post, but he wants to raise cattle. Blah, blah, blah.
He's surfing thru Craigslist last night, and finds a posting. Big old farmhouse (which I love), acreage on flat land (bonus), barn w/stalls, two smaller homes on the property, one of which already has tenants (we already have 1 rental house, so bonus), and pond.
It's closer to my parents than we are now. Farther away from his, but it's about the same distance between each set of grandparents.
Decent school district. Oh, and less than 2 miles from one of my cousins' family.
And.... drumroll please.... it's a short sale. It would be about the same mortgage payment that we have now. Plus if we got a tenant in each house on the property, we're figuring that would cover about half of the mortgage payment, if not more.
Realtor said the house needs a little TLC, but all cosmetic. It's been empty for about a year, so she said the entire house will need a good cleaning, and maybe some paint & such.
Only downfall (so far) is that it's 30 farther from work for each of us. Which would make DH's commute 90 min. But he only drives it once every 3 days, and he's applying for a job up here. So....
This might be it. We're both actually a little scared. We always casually look, but hadn't planned to move for at least another year.
We'll see. I talked to the realtor, and we're gonna go look at it tonight if DH gets home from work in time. If not, we'll go Sunday afternoon. If we like what we see from the outside, we'll schedule a full tour of the property.
Re: Holy Crap. Might have found our live-in-forever house. (long)
I hope it's what you're hoping for.
But frankly, I have learned never to fall in love with a house until the housing inspector's report comes back. A landfill can be made to look good on paper.
Glad you found something that you guys love but as pp said, don't get too attached. Also, short sales are anything BUT short. (Run away!) Having dealt with one and played the banks games for 3 months when we were house hunting, I will NEVER do it again. It's been nearly a year since we made an offer and that house is still on the market...still marked as PENDING for months (poor sucker after us that they're also yanking around, I presume).
If you head over to the Buying a Home board, you'll find a few successful short sales but the majority don't end well. Now, I hope you have better luck than we did but in all seriousness, make sure you're mentally prepared for the emotional roller coaster that will more than likely ensue before getting involved in this one.
Also, feel free to msg me if you want more details on our awful short sale adventure...
Latest Blog Update: Peanut Butter Cookie with Salted Peanut Caramel
It appears that our experience was unusual, but we purchased a short-sale in 2007 and had no problems at all. We waited about 5 days to hear back from the bank and they accepted our offer, which was $13,000 less than they were listing the property for.
I just wanted you to know that it is possible to purchase a short-sale, although the market has changed significantly since 2007.
Photos courtesy of Jen Rose Photography
Wow talk about raining on your parade.... I'm excited for you guys! I wish you the best of luck in this all working out. SS have a bad rap but it can happen especially if you have patience.
Exciting! I hope you guys like what you see when you go to view it. Good luck with everything!!!
Keep us posted
Will you sell your current house or keep it as a rental?
Can you buy that other house while you still own yours?
This does sound like a dream come true! I hope it works out!