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UPDATE: A proposal from the "buyer," who is also our lawn-care guy and was going to be our general handyman before all this came up. He also works a day job. Apparently, he's been eyeing our house while mowing and likes it. He was also perhaps the only one, for a while, who was aware that the large side lot actually goes with the house despite the confusing ad since, you know, he mows it all together.
He proposes that he perform work for us to earn the down payment; his realtor tells him this would be perfectly legal. Of course, that's a lot of odd jobs (I assume it has to fly?), but your impression of this? Again, to qualify for an FHA loan. He could actually fix everything he would otherwise ask us to fix.
My impression is that you seem to be a couple geese short a gaggle.
No homeowner in their right mind would come near this hot mess of a situation.
A homeowner desperate to get on with her own life in a small town with 720 houses (not including FSBO) sitting stagnant on the market might consider just about anything after nearly a year. But not anything illegal.
We've come down $40k from what our first of three realtors considered fair market value nearly ten months ago. I don't have exact numbers, but since several employers folded and the major employer cut benefits, houses - especially estate sales in formerly desirable suburbs that are beginning to "go down" - are now sitting on the market for months or years, with new ones being added almost daily. Usually sitting empty, BTW, which I don't want to happen in our case, since I happen to know a little about about insurance (apparently these other sellers and/or realtors don't or don't care; forclosures).
In other words, there are plenty of houses on the market to choose from that AREN'T on a shared driveway with problem neighbors.
Just trying to have some market perspective on your situation.
The only market activity that matters is what has happened in the last 3 months, maybe 6 months if there is little to no activity. However, it sounds like you have activity mostly negative.
Selling a home is not a passive event. Engage your agent and find out the numbers; Comparable Sales over last 3/6 months, DOM for those sales and the same for the total market (total sales, median list and sales price, DOM).
Not sure what your comment means about sitting empty, but are you really implying that the Realtors don't care about a dead or stagnant market? I'm sure most of them are very concerned about it and rather be closing deals. But without buyers, it wont happen.
So I guess that brings us to figuring out at what price your home should sell for with it's problems that diminish it's desirability. Then, would you be willing to sell for that price? You agree that you could sell your home for a price of $10,000 correct? Should or would you is a different question.
It sounds to me that your home is not priced for the market with the issues it has or you would have activity. The more important question then becomes should or would you sell at that price? If I were your fourth agent to list this home I would make it simple for you, lets get the home appraised and list it for that price. If you don't like the price you need to accept that is the value of your home and remove it from the market & hold on to it until market conditions change.
The market doesn't care about your shared driveway or neighbor problems. They don't want it at the price where they will take the problem on. You have to price according for that.... same with your motivation, set a price that matches your motivation (this is why you need the DOM #'s). This is not a pride thing its business. Make your decisions based on facts and get the facts from your agent. You may not like what you hear but your not happy now anyway.
We've gotten tons of showings since dropping the price this last time, and everyone seems to feel it's priced right for the market. People come to see it and/or drive by, but then see the problem house ten feet away and, whether it "should" bother them or not, apparently it does (I'm talking "call city codes" bad). Flippers don't want it because they'd face the same issue trying to sell next door to that as we are now, only after putting more money into it. Yes, we could give it away; everything sells for a price.
Obviously we'd like the best price we could get, but anyone's welcome to bring an offer. Am I the only buyer in the world who's ever "lowballed" a property? Because I've done that several times; the asking price is never written in stone -- especially after ten months of sitting for sale in a glutted local market.
Of course, someone BROUGHT an offer and we countered it, so... Won't do THAT again...
By "houses sitting empty," I mean just that; the owners have moved out and left the property vacant.
Why are you insulting agents? They can't control if a buyer can get financing. Buyer has to source the money which is why you can't give them the money. Lenders don't the risk of lending to someone that is a default risk and if they can't manage the DP they are high risk. Likewise the counter is irrelevant. If they can't afford it they can't afford it. Nobody forced you to counter either, that was your choice.
You say you're motivated but your price and actions say otherwise.
I think you're an ignorant jerk and feel bad for your agent. Keep playing your blame game though. You deserve every bit of karma that comes your way.
I have to admit, I'm curious as to why you even countered -- seems like a great offer straight up.
Can I assume, from your previous threads, that the neighbors next door would not be an issue for your lawn guy?
One option may be a "lease to own" -- the agent can build a contract where the buyer pays x in rent, and a certain proportion of the rent goes against a downpayment. Lenders will check the rental amount against the local rental rates, and the amount being set aside should be a little more than "current rental rates", to assure that a true downpayment has been accumulated. (A question your agent should drill a lender on, for sure, before writing the contract). At the end of a period (six months, a year), the buyer has a documented downpayment that can be used in a loan application. It can be a win-win -- buyer has a place to live and is building equity, seller is getting some income from the property and has assurance of a probable sale.
This, of course, is assuming that the contract that was received came with a pre-qualification letter from a lender? If not, then I would be extremely hesitant about accepting a contract without one.
I'm curious why we countered, too. I was slapping myself the minute I got home! We were just so caught up in the thrill of having a contract, I guess? And (sorry BR) followed the realtor's lead and advice, ill-advisedly.
So now...
Our realtor confirms that it would be legal to hire him to do work for us to earn the down payment. I'm unsure if he has to have the money now -- before qualifying for the FHA loan and in order to qualify for it -- or just at closing three months from now. However, my sibling is unwilling to hire/pay him out of the shared "household" account, what's left of it, so this would be entirely on me, which isn't very appealing. I could theoretically hire him to paint my other house (the only big-ticket item I can come up with), but is he a house-painter? No. Who eats the cost of paying $3k for a bad paint job? Only me.
He clearly knows what's next door (he's done work on our place) and isn't unduly concerned.
At any rate, they have a NEW contract signed (for the lower price and all closing costs) and want us to sign tonight. Sibling thinks we're just being taken for a ride here. I have to wonder how six gainfully employed adults cannot come up with $3k between them in three months. If nothing else, the parents should be able to get a personal loan.
Require pre-approval letter before signing (tonight) or just let it go?
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