Latestarter's ramblings/musings/gripes and grumbles.

[Baymule]

Wow! What a crazy real estate market! It sure works to your advantage, happy for you and happy for the buyer. You please be careful on your way here and back. I don't know if you will have time to do anything beyond race around looking at properties, but I sent you a PM. I am so excited for you! If you are away from the site for the whole time you are gone because of no internet, then you need a SMART phone!! Make it an Apple I-Phone!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

 

[Ferguson K]

It's amazing how fast this all went for you! Safe travels, friend!

 

[misfitmorgan]

Awesome congrats Latestarter!! Good luck on the hunt for a new house

 

[OneFineAcre]

Good luck finding a place.
It looks like you have a couple of good candidates.

 

[misfitmorgan]

Pick the one that is NOT doing a FHA loan. They are murder, take forever to get the paper work done and their general purpose is to drag it out forever and make everyone miserable. It took THREE MONTHS from contract to closing on the house. And it can take longer! Tell your real estate sales person that you want your money and you want to move NOW.

This is the story of my journey.

http://www.theeasygarden.com/threads/we-won-the-bid-bought-the-farm.15593/

http://www.theeasygarden.com/threads/call-1-800-com-plain.15782/

http://www.theeasygarden.com/threads/signed-papers-on-house-today.16053/

http://www.theeasygarden.com/threads/mobile-home-goddess.16253/

@Baymule
Ok i just got done reading the whole saga and now i am sad.....you never showed pictures of what it looks like finished

im dying to know how the floors came out

 

[babsbag]

I get excited just thinking about this journey and it isn't even mine. So glad the offers came through like they did and praying that the appraisal will go ok too. Have fun and see the sites.

 

[Bruce]

Whoopy! Latestarter is coming to Texas! We'll try very hard to be patient and let you get settled in and fencing up and then tempt you with goaties!

Huh? You are supposed to go HELP him put up the fencing then "accidentally" leave a few goats behind when you depart Oh, and if you can't think of a housewarming gift, I think a 300' roll of no climb fence would be greatly appreciated. Don't forget the T-posts and clips. That would be like giving the camera with no film (happened to my wife one Christmas when she was a kid) and my Dad was INfamous for giving my cousins toys that needed batteries (not included by the manufacturer or him).

That's too funny! I would think it would be more along the lines of... "Oh, maybe while you're here, could you lend a hand with.....?" We could all round robin to help each other improve their property Small amount of work rewarded by a BBQ dinner or something along those lines...

Right, old fashioned barn raising!

You know, I built two chicken mansions... http://www.backyardchickens.com/g/a/6699406/the-hen-hacienda-s/
seriously, they are almost to house construction standards and made two enclosures in each because

So when I get to my new place, we'll see how much work needs to be done to get it "ready for use", then see if I still want to go that route or just get "some goats" and have fun with it. Not worry about producing/supplying FFA and 4H kids, or showing or any of that. Just have a bunch of goats and leave it at that. We'll see. I'm pretty sure I also mentioned that I'd like to get some meat sheep as well, and some hogs, and who knows what all else...
....
My biggest tummy acid producer at the moment is the upcoming appraisal... There are ZERO comps for this place... I mean zero. And the fact that I only paid 162K for it in late 2013, would indicate a 57% value increase over 2.5 years. If the buyer is going with a VA or FHA loan, it will be very difficult to "work with" the appraiser to justify the sales price where the offers are written. Even having multiple offers at this price... the appraisers don't care if there are no other comps to justify it.

What you paid for it 2.5 years ago has nothing to do with what it is worth now. I bought my first house over 30 years ago for ~$50K. Sold it 5 years later for about ~$100K. Of course the house I bought for $100K would have sold 5 years earlier for $50K as well. The market can be "stupid".

And if the house needs serious work, you can put a cot in one of the stalls, the dogs can decide which of the other stalls they each want. That barn looks nicer that a lot of homes.

Thank you @Devonviolet it is/was @goatgurl I was thinking of! Bay, I had actually thought of doing just that with a horse stall. Another gent from VT, @Bruce has done that with a stall in his barn. Since I don't do/have horses that would give them a pretty huge indoor run area as well, though the thought of the barn center isle getting covered in poop isn't all that attractive...

Not quite Joe I thought I was doing deep litter back before I was educated on it. I'm just doing deep bedding on horse mats over 1/2" hardware cloth (to make sure no "cute" little ermines can get in) over dirt. I just rake through it each morning and because it is a horse stall, there is a TON of ventilation on 3 sides (pre-existing 2x4 welded wire and 1/2" hardware cloth). And because it is an ANCIENT barn, no shortage of air moving through it.

Having the barn alley "indoor run" is a huge bonus. No effort to create it and WAY bigger than what they would get if I DID have to create a run. I don't really notice the poop on the run floor. It is dirt, it has shavings and an ever increasing accumulation of pistachio shells (wife has some every day). Just kick some dirt or shavings on a poop if you see one.

....

He will represent me and handle all paperwork/contracts/closing /inspections/etc. on the FSBO for 1.5% of sales price, to which I agreed. He would technically be entitled to a full commission should I buy the above property since it's been less than 90 days and I contacted them through him. But he said perhaps he can work something out for less to give them room to come down a bit more as I'd be looking at 150-155 and they don't want to come down from like 169 (or maybe it was 165.9K when they ended the listing, can't recall).

I guess the places I'll be looking at are going to be closer to where @Devonviolet and her DH lives. Like an hour or so away... And I guess @Baymule lives a further hour or so south of them...

....

Great deal on the REA. Sounds like a reasonable person. Cut the commission to be commensurate with the amount of work needed.

I'm surprised @Devonviolet and @Baymule are not requiring you to find a place between them

....

After they left, my REA informed me that while I was walking them around, the very first folks who offered, submitted a new offer at $275K SOLD!
I'm really glad that she got the place Super nice young lady with a horse needing a place they could call their own. Dad has her and the horse at his place right now and the neighbors are NOT happy about it. They will pay up to $2500 above appraised value up to offer price. Closing on/about 9/22. Possession 48 hours after close. My REA will Email what I need to sign shortly and thereafter, I'll be on the road.

Headed to TX! Be there tomorrow afternoon. So I'll be away from the site till later in the week. Hope to bring back great news!

And you were worried you wouldn't get the asking price! Congratulations Joe, that "extra" $35K will be real helpful fixing up the "new" house. Frankly I'm floored by his $165K asking price. Sure wouldn't find that much land with a really nice and big barn and a house in any condition for that here.

 

[Baymule]

We met @Devonviolet and her wonderful husband in Sulphur Springs at Bodacious BBQ this evening. Our special friend @Latestarter met us there as well. My husband and I were tired from butchering 11 roosters today, and he was in a semi comatose state when Devonviolet called with the particulars of all of us meeting up. But he wanted to meet Latestarter, so he got ready and off we went. Latestarter had driven all night, walked property all day in our blistering Texas heat and we were tired, but we didn't hold a candle to his level of exhaustion! Bless his heart, his eyes were so red, it looked like somebody stabbed him in them. He did say that after we ate, he was going back to his hotel and get caught up on his sleep before he drove back. just in case anybody was worried about him driving back to Colorado.....


It took all of a nano-second for all of us to be jabbering away. Nobody clubbed anybody over the head shouting "Shut up so I can talk!" but we came close. We had a great time, ate some good bar-be-cue and talked a LOT. Devonviolet told me I looked different. I replied, "I am wearing make up, you usually see me when my make up is dirt."

As we were leaving, I yelled PICTURE! We gotta have a PICTURE! I handed my phone to a young lady and she obliged me by taking pictures.

Left to right, Devonviolet, her sweet husband, Latestarter, my long-suffering husband who indulges my special brand of crazy, and me. Are we a good looking bunch or what?

 

[Baymule]

@Baymule
Ok i just got done reading the whole saga and now i am sad.....you never showed pictures of what it looks like finished

im dying to know how the floors came out

I recently snapped a couple of shots of our 18 month old grand daughter playing with our dogs, which of course is much cuter than the floor! Oh, and Latestarter said I was more than welcome to come do his floors. and