When last we met in part 7 of the “I Bought a House” series (You can read parts part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4 , part 5, part 6 and part 7 using these links), I had gotten an offer on my investment house in April, but after a few weeks and lack of financing for the buyer, it fell through.
Since then there had been several showings, and action had been picking up a little bit, but there was no serious interest in the property.
Then in late June I got word from my realtor, Sherrill, that there was another offer on the house.
Sweet!
An Offer on the House (and a Problem)
They were offering $72,000. I felt that was a bit too low for such a fine piece of real estate, so I countered with an offer of $75,000, which would allow me to make what I thought would be a good profit after all expenses.
A few days later they accepted the $75,000 price tag as long as I paid $2,800 closing costs and Flood Insurance for 1 year.
Whoa, hold on. We knew the house was not in a flood plain. We had checked that out before I bought the house months ago. However, the buyer’s realtor insisted that it was. So after some research and phone calls, Sherrill proved to her that it wasn’t, saving me a lot of money.
We had a deal!
More Home Repairs
The next step was for them to hire an inspector and have the place checked out for problems. There ended up being a few minor concerns and they made a list of things they wanted done to finish the deal:
- Fix a small torn shingle on the roof.
- Fix 2 doors that were sticking.
- Add caulking around 1 window.
- Fix a couple of small holes in the siding.
- Install a bathroom vent.
- Clean mold growth under the house where a previous leak had been.
Uh Oh, The House Had Termites
I got those issues taken care of in relatively short order, but there was one more issue. The inspector had found evidence that there had been termites present at some time in the past. There was no damage to the house and no live bugs present, but there was a piece of scrap wood from a previous renovation that had been eaten.
The buyer was concerned, and requested that I clear all scrap wood from under the house and have it treated for termites, even though we had a clean termite letter from 9 months before.
I sensed that refusing to do it could be a deal breaker, so we agreed to cough up $405 for the treatment and a report.
Now all the details are done, and everything needed to satisfy the buyer has been met. Now I just have to make sure we get to the closing date in 2 weeks with no problems or drama.
As that 2 week span ticks away I make sure to check on the house every 2-3 days because we’ve had several storms roll through recently and I wanted to make sure the house doesn’t fall victim to any wind damage or falling branches.
Everything is cool.
The House Sold !
The closing date was supposed to be on a Friday afternoon, but the mortgage lender didn’t get all of the paperwork to the title company on time, so no closing on Friday. They said they would have everything together by Monday and we could get the deal done then.
As I write this, it’s now Tuesday afternoon 2:30 and still no paperwork. I’m starting to wonder if something is going wrong.
Wait, just got a text… the paperwork has arrived and we should be closing this evening, Lord willing and the creek don’t rise.
Tuesday at 6:30 pm- I make it to the title office after a long day’s work and get all the papers signed. Everything is now finished on my end of the deal. The buyers will do their part tomorrow morning and I should have a nice check waiting on me tomorrow afternoon!
Wednesday 8:30 am- Just got word that the buyer signed the papers and I have a check waiting on me. Yay! The deal is done and I am now a successful real estate investor, meaning I actually made a profit on my first house!
My next post in this mythic tale should be my last. I’ll detail how much I made in the deal, the lessons learned, whether or not the effort was worth it, and if I will ever do this again.
Until next week…
