Friday, October 26, 2007

where's the suggestion box?

The employer frequently elicits employee ideas for additional revenue streams. I have decided on one that beats my previous "Nominal fees for helping minors purchase alcohol" stream.
  1. Form Hannah Montana tribute band, 'Amanda Bandana'
  2. Prey on gullible parents thinking they're purchasing Hannah Montana tickets.
  3. Profit
However, brief googling suggests 'Amanda Bandana' is already taken for a teen's myspace/livejournal/etc.

This is as disappointing a googling as when I found that 'Hell Toupee' was already taken. Back to the lame-cover-band-name drawing board.

Monday, October 22, 2007

under contract!

Lots of interest on the house -- typically 5-10 viewings a week, for the 5-6 weeks we'd been listed. No offers till about 1.5 weeks ago when we got two in one day: one good offer, one low offer.

The 'good offer' went south fast. They had acted very flaky, so we were disappointed but not surprised.
  • Our agent is told (on Wednesday): "We'll send you an offer today!"
  • No offer. Our agent calls them and is told: "Oh, they're putting an offer in on a different house"
  • 24 hours later, we get their offer. They've only offered $500 earnest money, ask for %3 in closing costs, and don't have show any money down for the loan.
  • We decide to counter-offer, asking for $1000 in earnest money, and say we'll cover $5000 in closing costs rather than %3. Send the counter-offer Friday morning.
  • Saturday: We hear from their agent, "I'll be talking to my clients this afternoon"
  • Sunday: No word
  • Monday: No word... Our agent calls, and is told "I'll be talking to my clients this afternoon"
  • Monday evening: Their agent says the deal is off. Leaves some nonsensical message for our agent saying we should have just accepted the offer and we could have closed in 3 days. I don't know why he thought he could get the inspection, appraisal, and loan stuff all worked out in that time.
In the meantime, we'd also counter-offered the other offer. And did the counter-offer thing every day last week. The buyers appeared solid financially, and were motivated to buy in our neighborhood -- their cousins had just bought up the street from some desperate sellers (they had been on the market 6 months). That house also probably screwed everyone in the subdivision on appraisals (they'd listed in May for $280 and gradually dropped to $250, accepting a $237 offer). It was nearly identical to our house -- 100 sq feet more, but hideous inside. Despite the hideousness, it was clear from the start that our buyers really, really didn't want to spend more than their cousins.

After talking them up $7k from their initial offer, we ended up accepting quite a bit less than the asking price. However, with the current market, and the fact that we'd already found our new house and were under contract on it, we decided that we couldn't wait for the perfect offer. At the price we accepted we wouldn't have any worries with appraisal and it gives us enough profit to put 20% down on the new house with a bit left over.

Our agent's co-workers are amazed she got us under contract in ~5 weeks. Some of it was us being priced right, in the right location, and our hard work keeping the house clean. But a huge part of it was how hard she worked. Lots of marketing, including at least one open house a week. She was awesome, and very funny. Best of all, unlike a lot of horror stories we'd heard about realtors, she was always available. Any time we had questions, she was very quick to respond to phone calls or e-mails.

If you're selling (or buying) or planning to, I have no reservations recommending her. Shauna Thomas at the Sugarhouse Keller Williams (599-9126). Shauna also hooked us up with a mortgage broker: Rain Wallace at Citywide Home Loans. We didn't have as much one-on-one time with Rain, but she was great -- quick to answer phone/email questions, patiently showed us our options, and helped us lock in a loan with a great rate.