Housing Update

Tonight we have our potential buyers doing a home inspection on our house in Brockton. Assuming it works out well (and it should), we will probably place an offer on a spacious house in Northern Nashua, across from the Nashua municipal airport. For more details, try our Handy-Dandy MLS Gizmo, and use MLS number 119010. The MLS number on our house in Brockton is 30752457.

19 Replies to “Housing Update”

  1. [doug]Termites! Where did those come from. They weren't there (or weren't detectable) in the spring, so the problem should be easy to control. Other than some concerns about the plumbing, and one other possible pest control issue (outside of the house), things went well.
    However, I learned how traumatic these things can be. I now know completely why Nichelle asked never to attend another home inspection on our house. We should hear back from the prospective buyers today. I’ll keep you posted.

  2. Co-worker and fellow Lego fan Christine Bennett just sent me a link to this article on MSNBC:
    Libertarians aim to set N.H. ‘free’
    A group of libertarians announced Wednesday that New Hampshire had edged out nine other finalists as the place where it hopes to send 20,000 Americans to create a “free state.”

  3. [nuke]We are still working with our structural engineer (who seems to be overworked) to find out what else should be done, but we just learned our buyers have withdrawn their ofter after the home inspection, citing primarily structural problems with the foundation.
    More details as I have them.

  4. Our friendly guy from WatchAll just left, and he has pronounced our house termite free. We are going to have the house treated for carpenter ants, but these are a minor problem, and found in a different area. He offered to do a written inspection report, but said that it would be of little import, as no buyer would really take our report at face value.
    He also said the rodent evidence was extremely common, and nothing to be concerned about. (But we're gonna poison the little buggers, anyway.)

  5. [doug]Yesterday we accepted another offer; we have another home inspection tonight. After so long on the roller coaster, I am beginning to grow weary of it.
    We have an offer from a family downsizing (going from two incomes to one) who has to sell their house in Brockton. So, assuming the home inspection passes, we just need to have them sell their house in perfect timing for us to find and purchase a house in the Nashua area! So simple, yes? Thankfully, we are resting in the LordÂ’s care: He will work all things out in His time.

  6. [nuke]The home inspection found four issues that the buyers were worried about. None of them were major, and one was a case of the inspector failing to find the sewer vent pipe. However, the buyers reduced their offer to $10,000 less than we had agreed upon, a full $17,000 less than our reasonable list price of $212,000. We have researched their issues, and let them know that they can forget it for that price. So we donÂ’t know for sure, but it doesnÂ’t look like this one is going to go through.

  7. Well, 9 days after the offer, haggling, home inspection, more haggling, the buyers have finally accepted the offer. We let the house go for a little bit less than we'd hoped, but not enough less to really hurt us.
    Today we start hunting again in New Hampshire. We have a number of properties lined up to see.
    More details as I have them.

  8. We looked at three houses today, and have 3 to 5 more on our list, which we hope to tackle in the next few days. The first one we saw was a good candidate. It has a great open-concept first floor, and a fully-finished basement. The second house we liked as well, but it appears the owner is going to take it off the market. The third house wasn't too bad, and had more land, but wasn't quite as good as the first, although either one would work.
    We want to make sure weÂ’ve checked everything thatÂ’s available before making an offer.

  9. Trying to get the sellers to come down in price a bit. We've checked the utility bills and all that, and they seem to be the same. Use the Handy-Dandy MLS Gizmo with MLS #121524. Our second-choice property is MLS #120082.

  10. Our offer was counter-offered, as we expected, but at the price we expected, so we are taking it.
    Our home inspection is today. If this goes well (and we expect it to) we are most likely going to be moving at the end of December (possibly the beginning of January).
    Our pastor has assured us that our ministry will continue, and even has someone in mind to take over the bus, although we havenÂ’t yet met about it.
    I must say the finality of this is starting to hit me. Most of the time, though, I am excited, rather than anxious, about the move.

  11. Well, this time we are on the opposite side of the home inspection fence.
    The biggest issue we face is a safety one: There are no outside exits (windows) from the two downstairs bedrooms. Even though the basement has two exits, the bedrooms would become deathtraps if a fire started in the central basement room. WeÂ’re looking at ways to solve this.
    The basement, contrary to what weÂ’d been told, also has no heat, and the boiler is probably undersized for adding a second zone. (We are looking into this as well.) Adding forced hot water heat to the lower level would not be prohibitively expensive (about $2,000), unless the boiler needs to be upgraded, which would bring the cost to $6,000 or more. Electric heat is possible, but would be costly in the long run.
    Then thereÂ’s the roof. It is definitely at the end of its lifespan, although it looks fine from the ground, there are cracks all through the shingles.
    The problem is we really like this house, and the price was great. However, we have no idea if the sellers can negotiate down enough to get these issues taken care of. Aaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrgggggghhhhhhhhhh.

  12. Well, we really liked this house, despite knowing that we would need some extra construction to make it livable for us. The buyers were at first unwilling, but later conceded to give us $5,000 back at closing; enough to cover the immediate construction needs, more or less.
    So we have a deal! IÂ’ll post some pictures soon.
    Thank you to all who prayed. This is a lovely house at a very affordable price, and has all the space we need – even a 5th bedroom if/when we need it.

  13. Closing in Brockton on the afternoon of December 30, closing in Nashua (329 Nowell Street) on the morning of December 31. Moving December 31.
    Woo-hoo!

  14. Looks like we won't be closing and moving until January 9-10. No real problems, but our buyers are getting a grant of some kind, and the grant paperwork will not be available in time to close at the end of December.
    Overall, I am happy about this, as it gives us a little more time to get ready for the move, and lets us relax a little more over the holidays.

  15. My 2 cents are this: It was all God's timing…AMEN?
    Hate to see you guys go.
    Do you know yet who will take over the bus ministry?
    Again, sorry about your dad. I honestly did not know until Christmas Eve when pastor announced it. I am so sorry.
    Love,
    MJ

  16. We don't yet know about the bus ministry, but we think we have that covered. I left it in God's hands and stopped worrying about it a while ago.
    Dad passed away on December 23, so there wasn't much time to notify anyone before the Christmas Eve service. The funeral was good (which sounds odd), but I will post more details later.

  17. Our new address and phone number (beginning January 9 or 10) will be:
    329 Nowell Street
    Nashua, NH 03060-4453
    603-886-5225

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