Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Buying the Brooklyn Bridge

Now, I'm no control freak by any means. I'm pretty damn go-with-the-flowy. But the process of selling our house is driving even me crazy. Though we accepted our first offer after the house was on the market for just a week, that by no means indicates a smoothness to the proceedings.

I spoke this afternoon to our real estate agent, who informed me that our buyer is having trouble finding financing. As is the case with many home seekers looking in our starter price range, he needs 100% financing. On the heels of recent news in the national media outlets about mortgage lenders going belly up because of so many people defaulting on such loans, it's become more and more difficult to procure them. This buyer has a tiger of a mortgage broker working on his behalf, but it's still extremely uncertain.

Combine that with the fact that the buyer has only been at his current job for two weeks, and it becomes even less likely that a loan will come through. And so, we are in limbo. I guess you always are when you're selling your house, but now it's that much more obvious.

Our agent suggested that we not put in an offer on the house we're currently considering until at least next week, when we have a better idea if our own sale is going to go through or not. Frustrating, much? Yes, I think so.

It all comes down to the importance of not getting my hopes up. I wish this was a concept that didn't have to get reinforced every day. Luckily, there aren't any external factors forcing us to move quickly. The Partner's commute to his new job is perfectly doable. We know our house will sell eventually, even if it doesn't go to the first bidders. There are more houses going on the market each day for us to look at, and more buyers coming out with the spring thaw to melt into ours.

Like so many other big picture things, it's the complete and total not knowing that gets to me.

8 comments:

S said...

Oh so frustrating! There is a randomness to the process of selling and buying a house that is hard to swallow when paired with the huge financial commitment that it represents. Sorry... Hope his financing comes through.

Chicky Chicky Baby said...

Very, very frustrating. The uncertain housing market is what's keeping us from even looking to see what's out there.

Oh, and I, uh, kinda tagged you for a meme. But it's a good one. Really.

Girlplustwo said...

a wise woman once told me that we can only ever open one door at a time...it's been the hardest and sweetest thing to accept in my life.

it will work out as it should (don't kick me)

ps. your question has been answered over my way.

Amy said...

New job? Did I miss something?

Redneck Mommy said...

Good luck to you Binky. I can feel your frustration.

That's it, that's all I got for ya today. My brain has stopped working. Sorry about that.

Mom101 said...

Oh man I can sympathize. We accepted our first offer after more than 3 months (after firing one realtor, and various other pitfalls along the way) and that fell through too. It's so painful I don't even write about it. It will just be me whining.

Hang in there...

Anonymous said...

It's difficult, stressful and completely exhausting to sell a house. The only consolation you get is knowing that the buyer is going through just as much.

Sending good thoughts (prayers) your way. And maybe chocolate.

Mrs. Swizzle said...

I totally understand the not knowing. We've been in the process of adopting for the past 2 years. The last year and a half has been a whole lot of not knowing when we'll finally get our child. There have been several times in my life when I've just wanted to be over and done with something, no matter what.

That not knowing can be a real bugger.