Sunday, May 15, 2011

Hardball


It’s about time I update y’all on the status of our offer.

Since my last post we’ve bounced back and forth several emails and even faxed in a new set of offer papers with updated figures and dates.

And we’ve waited.

And waited.

I finally heard back from the realtor last Thursday.  Supposedly "the seller" wants another prequel letter.  And "he" wants me to double my earnest money deposit right after the inspection.

I sent back an email that said NO in no uncertain terms.

I pointed out that a contract can be made legal with as little as one dollar changing hands.  They already have a check in hand for a lot more than that.  I also stated unequivocally  that I will not apply for a mortgage on a house that has not been inspected and for which we have not yet settled upon a price.  While I was at it I also mentioned that they already have a prequel latter from another property I was looking at just prior to my offer on this one.  And that house was about double the range we are negotiating in for this one.

The final tactical nuke I dropped in that email was to point out that they have had this listing for at least a year and a half.  “In this buyer’s market it would be unwise to chase away the one serious offer you’ve had on this property.”

I also signed it more formally than I’ve been signing my emails up to this point.

The reply was cordial and made no mention of increasing the deposit or requiring another prequel letter.  We’ll see if future correspondence is any more timely…

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Keep up the good work. It will happen if meant to be.

HerrBGone said...

That's the way I'm looking at it. If it is meant to be it will. And if not then something better is waiting in the wings. As I said in that email: It's the deal as much as the house. And there are plenty of other houses to choose from.