Done and done!
It's been a while since we blogged, and lots to update you on. Specifically what happened with the seller after the inspection... Well of course - he was anything but reasonable. Essentially our agent Mike went to him with our inspection report of what could potentially add up to $25,000 in repairs - and his response was "I won't come down one more penny." That said, we know that the renovation plans we have will address most, if not all of the issues the inspector raised. But the bottom line is, ultimately we're buying THIS house, in it's present state, and regardless of our future plans for it we shouldn't have to absorb all the cost of any repairs that it needs going in.
It’s a good day to buy a house!
Sometimes to get what you want, you have to be willing to walk away - which is exactly what we did when offer negotiations with the seller of the house we wanted reached a stalemate. After flat out rejecting our initial offer (which was admittedly WELL below his rather inflated asking price), it was pretty clear that talks between his agent and ours were going nowhere fast.
Buyer frustrations…
Ugh...home owners can be so frustrating! Don't get me wrong, it's TOTALLY understandable to be emotionally attached to your house...but seriously - Pricing a home for sale is a science. You can't just arbitrarily pick a number that you want to sell for just BECAUSE. These things have to be based in reality. Lot size, square footage, how many upgrades you've put in, comparable properties in the neighbourhood and their past sale prices - these are all things that you have to keep in mind when setting the right price for your home if you expect to sell.
This might be the one…
So after expanding our search area, we've found an interesting property in the West Shore neighbourhood. The house itself isn't much to look at. In fact it probably hasn't been updated much since it was built in 1962. Now in saying that we don't mean the cool 'retro chic 60s', we mean circa 1962 textured plaster walls, parquet & vinyl floors, avocado tub in the bathroom - we're talking full on time machine the second you walk through the door. Not exactly what you might envision us looking for in our dream house.
Seeing the potential…
With our dream mapped out, we set off in search of the perfect property. But after getting outbid on a house in our ideal Pickering area of Rosebank South, we decided to widen our search a bit to include the neighbourhoods of West Shore. Rosebank South is one of Pickering's more exclusive neighborhoods that essentially contains one of two things: older, reasonably priced bungalows; and renovated custom homes priced in and around the million dollar range. Because of its proximity to the lake, larger lot sizes, and higher property values, this tends to be a high demand area. Of course, that makes snagging a property pretty difficult - especially at the entry level.