Well, it seems like medical day today: I'm off to the Sleep Clinic this afternoon to see whether they'll treat me (i.e. give me one of those overpressure masks). Not at all sure that I will be able to sleep in it, but it's got to be worth trying - and of course I should have done this years ago, really.
Otherwise my bruises and scratches are gradually healing up - some of them are sunset spectaculars now, and a couple only showed on Sunday, and are still coming up - on my wrist and the side of my stomach, and on one foot. So I guess I'll be wearing them for a few days yet, to show off to the real estate agents :)
Martin, most steadfast of friends, advised me to seek compensation from the property owner (in this case, a bank, as it's a foreclosed property), and I suspect he's right that I should do so, but ... ahh .. this is still a property I'm interested in making a bid on, and I don't want to queer the pitch for that: if they've had to pay me, even a trivial sum, it may make them harder-nosed about negotiating on the final price and conditions.
In fact, I should discuss this with the agent and get them to raise it with the Bank, if we offer, to try and use it as a lever - gratitude isn't quite the word, it's more, well ... heh, blackmail (how appropriate, looking at my bruises). Well, that's a bit harsh, but it might be a useful additional lever - and probably much easier for the property manager to adjust the price, than to have to explain a claim for compensation.
We are still having headaches about financing tho - the mortgage seems quite straightforward, but if we buy somewhere needing repairs, we'll need additional (unsecured) credit, and that seems to be unavailable to me at the moment: at least, I've contacted a couple of banks and the credit union, and none of them are interested. I don't think that this is about me (I've checked my credit rating which is fine), so I guess they are just being tight and super-cautious after last years spectacular financial disasters, and the subprime mortgage fiasco.
Oh well, we'll keep looking for ways around that - perhaps arrange for a higher purchase price, with a 'redecoration allowance' stipulated as part of the price, as we've seen on a couple of TV shows. Failing that, we'll just have to buy a finished house - that wouldn't exactly break my heart, but Cat would be massively disappointed, she really wants projects to improve a house and set her own design seal on it - she probably should have been an architect or a master builder, when I think on it. And, of course, financially you can make a lot more in appreciation, on a house you get fixed up yourself.
Still, there are some lovely finished houses we've seen, still dirt-cheap, even by Little Rock standards - the foreclosures are hitting, and some neighbourhoods are being quite crippled by them it looks like: every block has 3 or 4 for-sale signs out in some areas. We shall see.
2 comments:
Do banks etc do renovation loans there? Perhaps you should discuss with your mortgage broker which lenders (if any) would be open to a renovation loan on top of the purchase loan.
Renovation loans generally require ability to service in addition to main loan (ie your earning must be sufficient) and are paid out progressively as you perform the extra work (spend the money).
With the credit crunch last year & the subsequent over-reaction by lenders, renovation loans have completely disappeared from the market - except for federal 203k loans which carry onerous conditions and were strongly dis-recommended by the 2 brokers we talked to (they can arrange for us if we insist, so it's not a matter of their self-interest).
So, we're limited to houses where we can finance the essential repairs from our savings, then in 12 months - after getting the $8k tax rebate for first-time home owners - doing some more then.
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