Well Damn

Double dog damn. It's been a couple of weeks since I last posted. We were all set to close March 21st. We had the inspections done, the owner had done the repairs the we asked him to do, insurance was settled, all we had to do was have the mortgage company we were going to use send an appraiser out to the house.

The long and the short is that the appraisal came in at $40,000 less than our offer and $80,000 less that the original asking price last June. The sellers realtor tried to get the appraiser to increase the value based on research she had done, but with the market in Florida like it is, the banks are wary and the appraisers have gotten a lot more honest. I remember a time when you could tell them what you wanted to borrow and they would make sure the house appraised at that value. No more.

So, the buyer came back and wanted to pay for their own appraisal. Kitten and I agreed that shopping for an appraisal sounded like a bad money decision, so we are gonna let this house go. I really like the house, but not enough to screw up my finances for the next ten years. Mostly I'm disappointed because I was ready to move to Florida.

We are going to go back down in a few weeks and look some more. I think we at least have a better idea of property value down there now and hopefully won't waste several hundred dollars on inspections and such.

I miss Florida and I never even got to move down there.