The purchase of our very-ugly-but-had-potential- fixerB fell through. We are so sad!

But the truth is, sale fails happen to us Realtors (and our hubbies) too! While I think we did an over the top job of doing everything we could to help the sellers, at the end of the day, it just wasn’t enough. So bye-bye to my Pinterest board with 200 pins for ranch rennos. Good-bye to dreaming of tile floor that looks like hardwoods (so cool).B Ciao to all the possibilities that come with bumping up and vaulting the ceiling, Ikea closet organizers, master bath shower tile detail. For now.
I’ve been wanting to write a series on how I go about buying a home for a long time and now with us licking our recent buyer wounds….it’s a good time to start.
Risk.B One of the biggest differences between Realtors and many buyers is how much risk someone is willing to take to have reward down the road. Especially in a very tough sellers market with very little inventory and a lot of ugly.B What is your home buying risk grid? How willing are you to try with the risk of losing out? Or with the risk of winning?B Here are a few Q’s that pertain to our situation–I’ll give you our answers and how we handled each one next week in Part 2.

Risk: How willing are you over all to live in a house that might not be up to everyone elses standards for 2-3 years while you work on it? How driven are you by culture’s exterior white wash that we are what you see of us i.e. the car we drive, the clothes we wear, the house we live in? How willing are you to not worry about that external pressure?
Risk: Are you willing to risk losing it by offering well below list price because of it’s condition? What is your ‘pain point’ as I call it…
Risk: Are you willing to buy the ugly house in the great neighborhood?
Risk: How patient are you? Are you willing to wait for the right house even if it means living in limbo right now?B And are you living life while you wait or are you putting everything on hold ‘until we get the house’? This is hard for me, I so want to be settled NOW.B Are you willing to risk interest rates rising or are you driven by saving $40/month and pushing it on a house that really isn’t the right one?
Risk: If the seller provides a home inspection and multiple items are called out, are you willing to take on those repairs over time?
Risk: Which of these items scare you or would prevent you from moving forward? Rotted sub-floor in master bathroom. Broken sewer line requiring $7800 to replace. Rotted roof & rafter beams due to an internal gutter that was never maintained to the tune of $22,500. Needs external siding, new windows, gutted bathrooms, gutted kitchen.B Chimney needs repair. And more.B What is your ‘fix it’ line in the sand?
Risk:B If the appraiser called out the roof and the sellers are unwilling to budge on fixing it, even they don’t pay a dime and it’s handled out of escrow, how much of your own money would you put down on a roof that is going on a house you don’t own?

Of course there are lots of ‘ifs, ands or buts’ in there….but I’m curious what you are willing to do to get a deal in a tough sellers market and how flexible you are with being uncomfortable in the short term for potential pay off in the long run. Next week I’ll fill you in our decisions and what broke the deal for us.
Warmest cheers!