Another Housing Update

So, my landlord, who put the house we're currently occupying on the market, must have a VERY low opinion of my intelligence (and that of my wife).

We offered to buy the house from him for $105,000. He listed at $119,900 and house needs quite a bit of work. On top of the cosmetic updating and kitchen work, the city came out last week to inspect and found lot of violations that will cost somewhere around, according to their estimates, $3,500 to repair (some electrical, some structural in the garage, and few other minor things). We stipulated in our offer he would need to make all the repairs or put up the money for us to make the repairs, but that WE would NOT incur those costs. Further, we asked for him to pay closing costs and points (aka prepaids) up to $5,000. Finally, we stipulated he would credit the $1,170 security deposit (OUR money) toward the price of the house. He net (before paying the realtors which is his own problem and screw-up based on how badly he managed this house and which is WHY he listed so low) would have been $96,500.

Well, he counter-offered, which is why I made the comment above about how low his opinion must be of my intelligence (as well as my wife's). His offer was to sell us the house at $115,000 and pay $2,500 closing and points. Further, he decided our $1,170 security deposit should go toward $3,500 in repairs of violations instead of crediting toward price of house. Mind you, he is basically saying he'll credit OUR money toward HIS obligations. Nice, huh? Based on this offer, his net would $112,500 as he is ONLY giving us the $2,500 back in closing costs and points and doesn't want to pay for repairs.

So, we counter-counter-offered: We offered $109,000, he pays up to $4,000 in closing and points. The $1,170 security deposit is NOT negotiable as it is OUR money and the violations are NOT ours nor did we cause them. They have been here from the start and he NEEDS to repair them. HE pays the FULL $3,500 (or puts the money in escrow) for repair of violations. He returns our $1,170 to us as a certified check once we close, thus taking the $1,170 COMPLETELY out of the picture and taking away his fantasy that he won't have to give us back OUR OWN MONEY. His net, based on this offer, is $101,500.

Now, we're waiting to hear back...

This is COMPLETELY a buyer's market, by the way. There are five other houses for sale on MY block, six on the next block, and four or five on the next block after that. And that's just a these three blocks. Our final offer will be, eventually, a maximum of $115,000, but he MUST pay up to $4,000 closing and points and he MUST pay for the repairs of the violations and he MUST give us back our $1,170 security deposit. For him, at best, he will get a net of $107,500. We'll see what he counter-counter-counter offers us, but eventually, he's going to HAVE to agree to these final terms, a best-case scenario for him, worst case for us, and we still come away with a FANTASTIC bargain.

But I just can't believe his complete and utter chutzpah and disregard for our intelligence with that COMPLETELY ridiculous offer.

In truth, he's lucky I didn't show MY low opinion of HIS intelligence by offering about $85,000 for the house, asking he consider the over $25,000 in rent we've paid him over the last two years (nearly) as credit toward the cost of the house...

Although, that WOULD have been cool... Especially if he had ACCEPTED!! But, I KNOW he's not THAT stupid. I just wish he'd show me the same courtesy.