For all of you guys who are homeowners or newly owned

[AUChase]

The good thing about the first house falling through is all the knowledge my wife and I gained about buying a home. We came into the process essentially being guided by our friend/real estate agent and now we know exactly what's going on. If we ever buy a home and then decide to sell it now I'll know what the process is like from the buyers point of view.

I really don't know why people selling homes won't shell out a little bit of money and have their home appraised so they know where they can list it at within reason.

We still haven't heard back from the seller about signing their end to put us back under contract so we can get an inspection. I know she's an older lady who just had back surgery and lives alone so I'm a little iffy about whether or not some repairs that may need to be done to pass VA appraisal can be done.

We didn't see too much when going through the house other than the tile in the bathrooms having a crack in them. We were going to replace it anyways, but the real estate agent said they may consider it a health and safety concern if they are having a bad day. There are two VA appraisers in our area and one of them is a notorious a-hole and luckily we didn't get him the first time.

[Fresh Tendrils]

We had something happen with our refridgerator yesterday/last night.

I opened up the freezer and water was leaking from everywhere as everything was in the process of melting. Opened up the fridge side and it was warm in there. Suffice to say we transferred everything to our chest freezer downstairs and thankfully had enough room in our beer fridge to get all of the perishables into that (sans beer of course).

When I got up this morning I checked and everything seemed to be back to normal. Freezer is ice cold and the fridge is cool with all the condiments/dressings cool to the touch.

Unfortunately, we couldn't get a hold of our local appliance repair man today due to the weather, but I was just wondering if anybody had any experiences like this?

[KG]

Note to self

“Get a beer fridge”

But yeah, the fridge at my old condo had some issues with the condenser and water line which caused it to shut off. I can’t remember the exact specifics but it wasn’t more than $250 to fix which was a lot cheaper than buying a new fridge.


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[mgoblue]

Quote: Originally Posted by Fresh Tendrils

We had something happen with our refridgerator yesterday/last night. I opened up the freezer and water was leaking from everywhere as everything was in the process of melting. Opened up the fridge side and it was warm in there. Suffice to say we transferred everything to our chest freezer downstairs and thankfully had enough room in our beer fridge to get all of the perishables into that (sans beer of course). When I got up this morning I checked and everything seemed to be back to normal. Freezer is ice cold and the fridge is cool with all the condiments/dressings cool to the touch. Unfortunately, we couldn't get a hold of our local appliance repair man today due to the weather, but I was just wondering if anybody had any experiences like this?

I had my fairly new fridge/freezer stop working randomly. Had an appliance guy come and he turned cooling off and on using the buttons on the screen (I was stupid to not try that) and it got it working. Apparently it just glitched on the board or something. I haven't had it happen since. Sucked to pay like 60 bucks to have a guy do that lol

[Fresh Tendrils]

Unfortunately we don't have a control panel on the front (other than the ice/water dispenser). The tech is supposed to come out Friday and he has our model/serial number so hopefully he can bring whatever part is needed and fix it that day.

It's been running fine since Sunday. The freezer is frozen and what's left in the fridge is cool to the touch so who knows.

As long as we don't have to buy a whole new fridge. I wasn't expecting that sticker shock Sunday night.

We've had some issues the past couple of months so I'm hoping it doesn't pile on too much.

[mgoblue]

Quote: Originally Posted by Fresh Tendrils

Unfortunately we don't have a control panel on the front (other than the ice/water dispenser). The tech is supposed to come out Friday and he has our model/serial number so hopefully he can bring whatever part is needed and fix it that day. It's been running fine since Sunday. The freezer is frozen and what's left in the fridge is cool to the touch so who knows. As long as we don't have to buy a whole new fridge. I wasn't expecting that sticker shock Sunday night. We've had some issues the past couple of months so I'm hoping it doesn't pile on too much.

Yeah, I'd keep an eye on it if it's good and just pay attention so if it died again you wouldn't lose stuff.

Our fridge has buttons above the ice/water, but I get how a lot don't...not sure if there's a way to turn on/off cooling otherwise, but yours is working so I'd just call it good and pay attention. Having them check isn't bad either, but not sure what they can do either (doubt they take apart the fridge).

[AUChase]

Long read:

We finally got our appraisal back for the house and it came in $3,000 less than what we had a contract for with the seller so we submitted the max it was appraised and our previous deal to bring half the cost of some repairs to the table at closing. There was some minor roof damage and they wanted to put plastic down, do some waterproofing, etc. and we agreed to pay half of it.

Then the appraisal went well other than they wanted to put a downspout on one of the gutters, replace a section of gutter, and brace the back deck a little better. I told the lady I would come to the house and do it all for her since I know she doesn't have the means to do it and would have to hire someone.

So she counter offered and now wants an additional $3000 in closing + the $1200 we offered to pay to her to help with repairs and I told my wife it's not a good deal. It's really not our fault that the house appraised for less and I didn't tell her to list a house that needed repairs to meet the requirements of most home loan programs. The VA is especially strict and they also require an additional $2000 at closing from the buyer or seller for a "VA funding fee" and I appreciate her being willing to cover it all originally so I told my wife to tell our agent that the best we are going to do is the appraisal amount + $2500 and she can get that either in cash at closing or we can cover it towards closing ourselves... whatever she wants.

I don't know if she's going to accept that or not, but this is where we ran into issues with the last house. It appraised for $10,000 less than the guy wanted and the deal fell apart because we wouldn't come out of pocket for the difference and we were all ready agreeing to pay most of the closing cost. We want the house, but there's a few things I know:

She still owes $95,000 on the house so she's trying to get out from under it.
No one had looked at the house and it was listed for months.
We were the first and only offer ever made on it.
She's been really willing to meet us so we made that effort in return.

Now we're just at a difference of opinion and money and it's either she takes it and it's great or we will move on again I guess. What sucks is we're out an inspection fee and VA appraisal fee from the first house all ready and this would make two. With all of our vehicles having over 200k miles on them, kids hobbies, some remodeling we would need to do, etc. we just don't want to dip too far into savings to make up the difference. $3000 is $3000 lol.

[pietasterp]

With regard to the above, you're doing the right thing. There are basically 2 strategies you can take, which are basically play hardball since you 100% know you're in the driver's seat here and have the seller over a barrel, or else figure you're close enough and just accept whatever to close the deal (figuring your time/energy is worth something as well).

It seems like you've been negotiating in good faith and have given/taken appropriately, so at this point, since you're pretty much in the driver's seat, it sounds like you've reached your limit of compromise. As it sounds like you are willing to walk away if this doesn't go through, that's the best time to just say "here's our final offer, take it or leave it". I know paying for inspections and peripheral expenses around potential home buying is annoying, but at the end of the day it's a small price to pay to avoid a bigger (more expensive) mistake. So it's money well spent, even if it doesn't end up in a home purchase.