Yay!
You couldn't ask for a better inspection on a 100-year-old house! There were a few little things that had to be fixed, all minor, and one major "must do now" thing. The fire escape step treads are completely not secure and are one good-sized person away from breaking and getting me a nice lawsuit. It's an easy fix though - a few dollars for proper metal brackets, a drill, some screws, and an afternoon of fun.
Oh, and of course the furnace. Yikes! It's 28 years old! But we knew about that.
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Inspection & Financing
Inspection today. I'm nervous. I really want this to go well now that we've come so far.
Talked to my broker yesterday. The financing is not approved yet, but should be early next week - it's month end and super busy so it takes a few days. The lender is fine, we're just waiting for CMHC (Canada Mortgage and Housing) to approve since they underwrite 20% of a 95% mortgage. Regardless, she figures my rates will be in a range from 0.5 to 0.35 less than prime if we go variable, or around 5.8% fixed. This is very good.
AGH! So nervous about the inspection! My mom is coming, I think she wants to see the house. ;)
Talked to my broker yesterday. The financing is not approved yet, but should be early next week - it's month end and super busy so it takes a few days. The lender is fine, we're just waiting for CMHC (Canada Mortgage and Housing) to approve since they underwrite 20% of a 95% mortgage. Regardless, she figures my rates will be in a range from 0.5 to 0.35 less than prime if we go variable, or around 5.8% fixed. This is very good.
AGH! So nervous about the inspection! My mom is coming, I think she wants to see the house. ;)
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Monday, August 25, 2008
GARHBLARGH
I hate waiting. I'm not good at it.
Anyway, we put an offer in on the Sanford house yesterday! I really hope we get it. Here's the listing:
168 Sanford Ave South
It has two good tenants, but both are paying pretty low rent for their places. The 3-bedroom on the ground floor is vacant and needs a coat of paint on every wall. The furnace is about a billion years old, but the roof is brand new. There's a storage shed in the backyard! The basement is completely unfinished but has the plumbing for a bathroom and kitchen and is a future project. The fire escape/second entrance is beautiful.
Today, with these rents, it just about breaks even. But with the increased rents once current tenants leave, and with the basement reno'd, it will be a serious money-maker. And it is incredibly well cared-for.
Their agent says that they're excited to sell. We put in a ridiculously low offer yesterday to see what they would do - you never know! So we offered $170K. Haha. Apparently they were pretty disappointed in that price - the story is that they wanted to list fo $209K but their agent talked them into $199K to get lots of lookers and a fast sale. They counter-offered with $196K. After much deliberation we decided to just throw our top number on the table - any higher than $190K and we don't want it. Which is totally true. But by then it was late evening and they'd gone out. They have until tonight at 6pm to accept or reject the offer, so we shall see. I think they'd be making a mistake not to accept it - it is not a seller's market right now for investment property - stuff is sitting for months.
Mind you, it is a good house, so they will probably get more offers if they throw ours away, but we shall see. I think $190K is a strong offer only 4 days after you listed a place for sale for $199K. Here's hoping!
Anyway, we put an offer in on the Sanford house yesterday! I really hope we get it. Here's the listing:
168 Sanford Ave South
It has two good tenants, but both are paying pretty low rent for their places. The 3-bedroom on the ground floor is vacant and needs a coat of paint on every wall. The furnace is about a billion years old, but the roof is brand new. There's a storage shed in the backyard! The basement is completely unfinished but has the plumbing for a bathroom and kitchen and is a future project. The fire escape/second entrance is beautiful.
Today, with these rents, it just about breaks even. But with the increased rents once current tenants leave, and with the basement reno'd, it will be a serious money-maker. And it is incredibly well cared-for.
Their agent says that they're excited to sell. We put in a ridiculously low offer yesterday to see what they would do - you never know! So we offered $170K. Haha. Apparently they were pretty disappointed in that price - the story is that they wanted to list fo $209K but their agent talked them into $199K to get lots of lookers and a fast sale. They counter-offered with $196K. After much deliberation we decided to just throw our top number on the table - any higher than $190K and we don't want it. Which is totally true. But by then it was late evening and they'd gone out. They have until tonight at 6pm to accept or reject the offer, so we shall see. I think they'd be making a mistake not to accept it - it is not a seller's market right now for investment property - stuff is sitting for months.
Mind you, it is a good house, so they will probably get more offers if they throw ours away, but we shall see. I think $190K is a strong offer only 4 days after you listed a place for sale for $199K. Here's hoping!
And on it goes
Apparently, the sellers were really "busy" today - both work shifts or something like that so they wanted to extend the offer. Whatever. They have three showings booked for today and one of them was a second viewing. They're trying to stall so that they can get a bidding war going!
But anyway - I'm not in a rush, they're the ones that are sitting on a pile of money, so we wrote back our final offer and gave them until tomorrow at 10pm to decide. The best part is that we received their written counteroffer - $196,900. That, my friends, is $197K, not $196K. Good luck with that. This is a rental building in Hamilton we're talking about - not exactly the hottest market on the planet. There are a fixed number of investors in this city.
We signed it back at $189,900, just to be equally jerky as them. They have until tomorrow at 10pm and I'm not going any higher. It's take it or leave it time.
But anyway - I'm not in a rush, they're the ones that are sitting on a pile of money, so we wrote back our final offer and gave them until tomorrow at 10pm to decide. The best part is that we received their written counteroffer - $196,900. That, my friends, is $197K, not $196K. Good luck with that. This is a rental building in Hamilton we're talking about - not exactly the hottest market on the planet. There are a fixed number of investors in this city.
We signed it back at $189,900, just to be equally jerky as them. They have until tomorrow at 10pm and I'm not going any higher. It's take it or leave it time.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Tenant called this morning bitching about the grass being long. Damnit man, it's been raining for 60 days straight it seems! OK, it hasn't rained the last few days but I've been fixing walls and windows after all the friggin rain. Worst part is - I was going over there tonight anyway. Sigh.
Also going to see a house tonight that is a definite strong possibility. Here's hoping.
Also going to see a house tonight that is a definite strong possibility. Here's hoping.
Friday, August 15, 2008
Water everywhere!
Things are crazy. I have a leak in my basement, a leak in my roof, and my basement kids have water seeping into their closet. Sigh. It has to stop raining soon so that I can fix all this crap!
Going to look at two decent prospects tonight. I don't have high hopes for either one, really. We shall see.
Going to look at two decent prospects tonight. I don't have high hopes for either one, really. We shall see.
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