Under contract

This weekend the seller officially signed our offer and we are under contract to buy the fixer-upper.  It was quite an ordeal though because the seller seems to be quite crazy and his real estate agent can’t seem to rein him in.  At one point he refused to sign the contract because he thought he was going to be put in jail.  ???!??!?!?  Thankfully he finally signed everything on Saturday, but I worry what lies ahead in this house-buying process with him…..

We agreed to buy the house as-is because we know that there is a lot of work to do, but after we signed he suddenly told us that the oven and the dryer don’t work.  We knew that the cook top didn’t work, but now we are going to have to buy four new appliances within days of moving in (according to my mom you always buy a washer and dryer as a set).  He also wanted to put into the contract that some of the lighting fixtures may not work.  I’m not sure how this guy has been living in this house without workable appliances- maybe he just microwaves all of his food and hangs stuff to dry? 

Now we move on to the attorney review period (which I don’t quite understand but is IL-specific).  I’m hoping that this goes a bit smoother than the actual signing of the contract.  CP and my dad are going to the inspection this afternoon which I HOPE HOPE HOPE goes well.  We know that there are going to be lots of things on the inspection list, but I hope they don’t find evidence of mold or termites.  Those are two things that would most likely make us walk away from the house.

Meanwhile we have the appraisal for our house today and our realtor emailed me this morning saying that she looked at comps and our purchase price should be fine.  Our house needs to appraise for the purchase price because the buyers are using an FHA loan and are not putting a ton of money down.  I’m hoping our realtor is right!

Enjoy your Fourth of July!  Sadly I think that I am spending the day with the dogs because all of my friends are out of town.  I only have tomorrow off so it’s not worth it to drive down to the Cape for a day AND figure out what to do with the dogs.  Oh well.  Only 10 days until I see CP!