Close? Or Walk Away?
Here’s what I’m mulling. I promise to think my decision through myself and not rely entirely on this forum. So don’t freak out. That said, I’m genuinely interested in Brownstoner opinions. We signed a contract to buy a brownstone back in June. The sellers have been jerking us around for the last four months, but…
Here’s what I’m mulling. I promise to think my decision through myself and not rely entirely on this forum. So don’t freak out. That said, I’m genuinely interested in Brownstoner opinions.
We signed a contract to buy a brownstone back in June. The sellers have been jerking us around for the last four months, but they’re getting ready to actually set a closing date. (There is a longer story, but the short one is that they discovered they can’t afford to close so we had to set up a short sale. Which takes time.)
Given the state of the economy right this second, we’re having serious second thoughts.
If we want our escrow back we can have it, so we don’t loose much by walking away. What we loose is the time it takes to start over.
Inspecting, negotiating, all that.
We’d be dependent on renters to make our mortgage work, which is a strike against going forward in this economy. Or a strike for it, since apparently everyone will have to rent now?
It is a nice place. We’re kind of happy with the price. Assuming we can find tenants we can make it work.
So seriously, would you close today or wait for the market to tank?
For what it is worth, since you all (some of you anyhow) were such a lovely little support network … we got our deposit back.
They actually tried to fight us on it, even though they actually have so many liens (okay, one plus the mortgage) on the house that they couldn’t have afforded to close even if they wanted to. I still think that the lien (mechanics lien for nearly six figures) is a fiction that was invented to try to squeeze some extra money from someone (us, the bank that is foreclosing on them, a rock — not sure who), but the lien exists nonetheless.
So we asked for our money back finally, they said “no” and sent us a time is of the essence letter. We sent our own letter, they scheduled a closing but wouldn’t return calls from our title insurance company.
And then, this weekend, they just handed us a check.
I have no idea what I just learned, but I am seriously glad it is over and ready to start looking again and hoping for a bit more market tankage.
Sorry, I did not intend to be dismissive. I really meant to convey my surprise that this has gone on so long. Whether you bail or close depends upon how much you want this house and the position you will be in if you have to start again. One factor is how much financing you need for whatever you buy and what the recent turmoil in the credit market may mean for your ability to borrow for another house down the road. Another issue, which I second with Biff, is whether there is enough reason to think, based on how shady sellers have been plus the problems you have found in the house, that there will be many more problems behind the walls. Will you have enough left over to deal with that? On the other hand, if you love it and aren’t planning to move for a while, I would not get too wrapped up in market timing. This is your life, not just an investment.
We’re talking about G Train (but on the park) Bed Stuy, not A Train Stuyvesant Heights and Bread Stuy Bed Stuy. So I think we’re safer with our $1250 estimates than dreaming of $1700, though that’d be sweet.
And, slopefam, I thought we were taking your advice! Our version of “not screwing around” was to just dig in our heels and say we aren’t leaving or letting you out of this contract. That was a lot easier than actually suing them for specific performance. We have been looking for better deals but haven’t really come upon any yet.
Bed Stuy is commanding higher rents than ever. We have rented our (renovated) floor-thrus for $1500 for a few years now. Neighbors are more recently seeing $1600-$1700. Despite the chaos, the retail in Bed Stuy is now strating to catch up to the residential demand of the last few years(see Peaches, Olivino, upcoming wine bar, Butternut, etc.). Im not so sure demand demand wont increase in the better areas of Bed Stuy, at least relative to other communities.
I would Buy the home unless you are looking to sell in the next yr or 2. The rent will make up any loss of value and i believe that loss will be no more than 10 to 15%. Don’t listen to these people the Bailout package is coming on Friday and guess what folks it bails out bad mortgages.
Threaten to walk unless they reduce the house price by 15%.
Hello new home owner in Bedstuy here = bought back in July. If you are concerned about the rental market – don’t worry it is doable. I just rented my 3rd floor apartment recently for $1400 (finished renovations) and my 4th floor about two months ago for $1200. I put the posting on craigslist and had about 4+ responses in less than a day. There will always be a rental market in or near Manhattan and yes I do depend on the rental income to pay my mortgage. Lastly the right renters for your home are looking for a community situation and if the landlord lives in the home, even better. I love living here. Yes times are tough but I am here for the long haul
Biff–I agree. All invited is cool. Thanks for organizing.
1842–right on. Thanks. I was trying to make my estimates conservative so that there were no rude surprises.