The Search Continues

Alrighty. So the house Adam found on Tuesday had accepted an offer that very morning so that wasn’t going to work out in our favor. Fortunately there was another new construction house in the same subdivision. Right across the street in fact. So we made arrangements to take a look at that one Tuesday night. His parents came along again. The house itself is quite nice. There’s just one problem. It’s not finished. As in it’s not done. The company who built it (Creative Custom Homes) went into bankruptcy and out of business. The house is built and I’d say it’s about 95% done. There are just some things left in limbo. There are no gutters or downspouts. Some hardware is missing in a bathroom and on the patio door. The fireplace is still in a cardboard box. It’s dusty and a mess inside. All kinds of miscellaneous odds and ends have been left throughout the house and yard. The yard is really just a big pile of dirt and rocks with some beer cans and a tarp thrown in.

That said, the things that need to be finished up to make the house inhabitable are all pretty basic, minimal labor things that Adam and his dad would have no problem doing. The house is well arranged and has great potential. We went to dinner with his parents after looking at the house. We made a list of all the things we’d have to do before we could move in, assigned each item a cost, and deducted that from the listing price. We wrote up the offer last night and hope to hear from them today. The company’s assets are in receivership so if their attorney has already left town it might take a little longer to get a response. We’re hoping that they’re eager to get rid of as much as they can. I don’t think our offer was low-balling it too much but I don’t think we should pay the going rate (97%+ of list) for a house that’s not done. Our offer came in at about 91% of the listing price (which had been dropped from the original listing price by $9k, so about 88% of the original price.) We’ve asked them to finish up a few things that would be impractical for us to do (final grading, driveway fill) but Adam and his dad will be doing some significant work as well. We’ll also have to take care of grass and landscaping at some point. All we can do is see what they say. We're hoping we can get a great house at a steal of a price!

But for now we wait again.