getting warmer

Last night we passed our ‘re-inspection,’ or the inspector coming out and checking off our ‘to-do’ list to get the property closed. At this point, the appraiser will have to complete another walk through, the seller has to complete a septic pump and we need the well water tests to come back positive; once those three items are complete – we close!

To give a little history,  when we found the property, it was definitely in need of some pretty significant repairs, most importantly was the roof and flooring. Since the property is situated on 2acres, financing became more of a struggle than we anticipated. When walking the home, we understood that we would be required to make some repairs to the property, taking the risk that we might not be able to close and thus, lose any of the time/money/materials that were required to build enough equity for the bank to find value in the home. Turns out, that was really only one of two major issues, the second issue was appraising the land-to-home value – the fact that the home is on 2acres in a relatively dense area worked against us in that the value of the land far outweighs the value of the home. To process the loan via conventional financing, we needed to built enough equity into the home to make it of some value.

After four appraisals, one appraiser was able to place a value on the entire property; subject to a checklist of repairs. Within two weeks, we’ve finished the repairs, which have included:

• installing new flooring throughout the home – we used bamboo, slate and PEC/Recycled Pop Bottle  carpet
• repair to front porch / damage to post
• replacement of back porch steps
• new paint throughout the entire home – ceiling, walls and trim
• updated lighting fixtures
• removal of shrubs from exterior
• misc. electrical / plumbing repairs
• repair of holes punched in kitchen walls
• well inspection and water testing
• septic inspection & pumping

This is in addition to the new roof, which luckily was replaced by the seller. Together, all of these items are supposed to bring enough equity into the home to give the actual structure enough value for the bank to finance with conventional financing.

So for now, we wait, again…