I've been buying on eBay and exclusively using PayPal for many, many years. Things may have changed with PayPal in the ensuing years, but when I signed up you put in a credit card number, and all of your payments were against the credit card. There was a PayPal limit of $2,000 that could be charged against the card. After that, if you still wanted to use PayPal you had to give them your checking account number. PayPal then made three random deposits in very tiny amounts (like anywhere from five cents to a dollar); and those deposits were made on different days. You then had to key into PayPal the dates and amounts of the deposits. This verified to them that the account was, indeed, your own account. (And you got to keep whatever amounts they deposited into your checking account.) After that you have the option of paying for an auction by putting it against your credit card or by a cash transfer from your checking account. I only pay for things with a cash transfer if it is $15 or less (including shipping). But if it's a larger amount, or if the seller is relatively new, I'll put it against my credit card because I like the protection that a credit card payment affords -- if an item doesn't show up, or if it is substantially different than what was advertised, I can notify my CC company and cancel payment. I like to pay for my winnings as soon as possible. But, I never, ever, make the payment until the notice shows up in my Inbox that I've won the auction.

Evilbunnie (and I love that name!), I definitely don't think your post was finger-waggie. You brought up some excellent points that I hadn't considered, such as contingencies, the my possibly unrealistic $5k remaining budget, etc. What sealed the deal for me on my decision was when I sat down with my trusty Excel spreadsheet, with this forum's advice in mind and the pricing I'd done on the things I wanted, and laid out a 3-step, 2-3 year plan. Even with doing mid-range components (nothing super expensive, but better than rock bottom), I came up with $17,500 for my total. And that's if everything had gone right. I cancelled the cabinets the next morning. I decided that I simply could not afford to do what I wanted to do with my kitchen. I would rather do a $500 patch job to get me some temporary storage and to knock out the wall to give me more open space, than to spend, say, $10k or $12k and end up with a kitchen that I just wasn't happy with. And truth be told, things always go wrong, don't they? To do what I really wanted to do, it probably would've ended up at $20k if not more. The fact is, I'm 27 and I still have student loan debt. I have a secure job that I love, but that doesn't pay awfully well (I'm a writer for my state's fish and wildlife agency). My budget is tight with a mortgage on one income and this economy is just plain scary. My cash needs to stay in my savings account. Your advice and everyone else's brought me back to earth. And I am SO thankful for that. It's a tough lesson to learn, but we just can't have everything we want at this moment, right? I believe we can have what we want, but slowly and with planning and hard work and good old-fashioned saving money. I am so glad to have changed my mind before it was too late. And how wonderful to be adopted! :)

Alrighty, let me see if I can answer you guys in order. NCRealEstateGuy, I gave the buyer all the information you gave me and thank you for that. I am not sure what he's doing with it. I got scolded on here before for trying to help my buyers get a loan. Trying to hold their hands and being too much in their business. So I didn't ask. We are not under contract yet. He called me today to let me know things are progressing. Sweet tea, he applied for the transfer and is waiting to hear. Don't know if he asked his bank about the letter. I suggested it. Yes Bill, the difference is the banks AND the market. Yes, multiple people told me the banks would want more than 20% but that was not for my original buyer. That was for my second buyer. After HE was rejected. After I lost the original buyer, I did what you're supposed to do and I called banks and asked them what they required. I told them I was attracting a lot of out of state people and at least one of them was self employed. They told me what he'd need. They told him what he needed. He got pre-approved. We went under contract. Later what the bank said he needed changed. That's why I lost him. It really had nothing to do with his house NC when it comes down to it. He was not coming out with as much money as he originally expected because of the flood insurance issue with his house. But at first that wasn't a problem. It wasn't a problem until the bank changed its criteria from him needing 20% down and one year's worth of mortgage payments in escrow to 40% and one year's worth of escrow payments, that it became a problem. Now he was short--he could only come up with 35%. The bank knew his whole situation being self-employed and relocating from the start. That was the purpose of the mortgage payments going into escrow. He was not starting a different business, just relocating his same business. But they knew all that. That's the point. We told them. Who knew you couldn't count on what the bank employee says? Now I know. And that's the point of this board. Not to constantly be picked on for being a for-sale-by-owner. Not saying that is specifically you NC. And what do you mean you put your own hardwood flooring in? How long do you think that's going to last? Ha! Funny you should say that live_wire_oak, because no, I don't have a note on my house. I paid for it with cash. All my vehicles except one were either paid for with cash or paid off early. Credit cards paid in full monthly. Yes, you're right, credit is a tool and I use it wisely. I will be paying off my only truck loan asap. I'm the customer. I'm a good customer. I don't really NEED them. I guess if you want to split hairs some buyers might need them. But I don't even really NEED to sell this house. I received more than offers. We were under contract. Why does the word "buyers" bother everyone so much? Okay, let's call them "pre-buyers,"--they're more than lookers, they're more than interested, they're more than people you are negotiating with--you are out of attorney review, you are under contract, but you haven't closed yet. So how about "pre-buyers?" No harm in interviewing realtors because that's what I did before I even put it on the market. There is nothing wrong with my price or my marketing. In fact, I just saw the agent who gave me comps, an expert in the area who specializes in horse property and she could not believe the action I've had on this place. I've been under contract three times, once for the full asking price, twice for close to it ($3,000. under) and I have a fourth one cooking. All in about eight months. I hate sounding like I'm bragging but some of you keep on insinuating that I am doing something wrong because I'm a FSBO. My problem is the banks giving someone a mortgage! I know this is not a vanilla kind of house and I know that's all they're giving out loans for--vanilla houses being bought by vanilla buyers. That's what I'm saying! That's what this post is all about! How the banks are over-correcting and making it almost impossible to get loans unless they are absolutely perfect and there's no risk whatsoever involved! And all I wanted to do was vent about how hard it is nowadays and maybe get some board buddies to shake their heads and say, "I know, it's a nightmare out there." Chrisdoc, I swear I have gotten at least two dozen people asking me if I'll hold a mortgage or rent with option to buy. More evidence people can't get loans. I can't because I'm using the money for my next place. And Live_Wire, the banks can go jump off a bridge because even though I could afford a mortgage, I'm not getting one.

Hi again and hope everyone had a Merry Christmas. Out of town family just left and here we are back trying to get the estimates going so we can respond to the buyer tomorrow. You are all correct about the fire-rated door that the inspector only noted "modern constructions standards typically require" and is advisable for safety and security. The one electrician said we didn't have to do anything, but we are going to get a second opinion just to be sure, hopefully we can get someone out today. The roof, we found the warrantee cert. and it sure is still under cover, not sure if whatever is wrong now would be covered though. The roofer who did our roof 4 years ago did come by the house on Monday, left a note that he was there but gave no other info so we will have to chase him down today to see what he found. One of the 4 items on TRR is the chimney that I did not mention with my original post because we didn't have any question and didn't think much about it. We simply thought we could get an estimate to fix the cracked mortal on the crown and the clay flue without any problem. Well the one guy came out on Monday could not give estimate because his son was out of town (hello???) and he thought it would be a major fix! His worst case scenario would be to tear down the chimney an rebuild and that could cost us an arm and a leg and certain would kill the deal!!!! We had to pay him $50 for this bad news! The whole 11 year we lived there, we only used the fireplace 2 or 3 times and that was why we put "unknown" on the seller disclosures. We're having hard time getting people out for estimates due to the Holidays so I'm not sure if we even have everything together to respond by tomorrow, the deadline. This is very stressful! And no, Ottawa, my contract doesn't say anything about reducing commission if agent also represents buyer :( I wish it did.