So, money’s tight…at least, that’s what the media and the prospective presidential candidates are striving to convince us of.
Many folks, including us, are tightening our belts a bit and doing our best to cut down. The news is downright scary. The stock market is down a bunch. Folks…GOOD folks, are getting laid off. 401 K’s are suffering. Prices are going up. Credit is tightening up. The dust-bowl is threatening. Bird flu is coming. Some are headed west in an old Hudson Super six truck…oh, wait…
BOOM! Up goes the DOW.
Maybe it’s not all that bad yet.
Scary stuff.
What to do?
My solution? I just drove around 250 miles round trip to give somebody $500 to see if they want to let me give them a whole bunch more money.
Yeah, I didn’t do what I was supposed to do…namely cower in fear and hope for a better tomorrow.
Heh, well, I never could color inside the lines anyway. I also know that better tomorrows come to those who dream of them…and actively pursue them.
Make no mistake…there are risks. Some of us that passionately pursue those better tomorrows sometimes fall…flat on our faces. Fast and hard. Splat. It sucks.
We know no other way.
Bottom line is I still have a job, and I’ve have kept my credit in okay shape. Cars? Trucks? Houses? With the proper down payment, it’s an excellent time to buy. Prices here in Texas for real estate are unlikely to creep much lower. Your market may vary. California? East coast? That real estate was never worth what folks were paying for it, and that’s really where the big crash in prices is and may continue.
For us? We found our retirement home. Prices have dropped. We can afford it.
So, we did it. We offered today. Now, it’s just a matter of an acceptance, a minor altercation with the bank (along the lines of, “Yo, dudes! Time to cut the check for the loan you promised you’d make.”)
And of course, (deep breath) all the other paperwork and survey and inspection and underwriting closing agents and insurance and titles and miscellaneous nonsense wrapped up in a standard real estate transaction (breathe again).
With any luck, we’ll have us a genuine certified money-pit by this time next month!
Lord I’m buying us a bunch of work. The sheer size of the thing alone is intimidating.
I’m not even sure quite where to start.
Perhaps at the beginning…
The house...
edit:
As of Tuesday morning, offer made, verbal counter-offers have gone back and forth, and we now have a verbal agreement. Now all we need is an updated contract and to get the bank started on the underwriting process.
CUAgain,
Daniel Meyer
