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tomatofreak

What to do next?

tomatofreak
9 years ago

After the debacle of buying-the-wrong-house and losing our cookies in the reno and sale, we are *still* in a house we don't want to live in any longer. It's possible with an architect and contractor - and money we don't have - we could finally make some sense of this house that topsy built. That would not change the fact that we don't want to be in this area. Soooo, looking for a bit of advice from those who may have encountered similar situations. Just a few facts for starters:

1) Without the sale of this house, we won't have enough money for a house we'd really want in an area of choice.

2) Because of our rescue pet 'sanctuary', it will be difficult to show and sell this property.

3) Supposing it sold despite #2, we would have to have a place to go at closing. Where?

We've considered buying a relatively low-price second home as a transitional step. We could get all our stuff and pets out and basically empty and fix up this one. Or....

We've considered *trying* to rent as a transition. I realize that would be difficult and would likely involve a very steep deposit. I'm not worried about that part, but is it a good idea? I'm sure we'd need to sign a lease and that could botch a possible purchase.

Ideas? Questions? I have to find a solution before I lose the last few fragments of my mind.

Comments (25)

  • hollynla
    9 years ago

    Sounds like you might be better off renting till you decide where you want to live. If you buy a smaller transition house, you'd probably lose money unless you stayed in it for several years, not to mention the hassle of buying and selling. At least if you rent, you can move out of your current home and prep it for sale like you'd want to, then you'd have nothing holding you back once you were ready to buy in your place of choice.

  • nosoccermom
    9 years ago

    How quickly do you think you'd sell your current house? Buying a temporary house involves not only additional fees but also the hassle of selling yet another property, unless you could keep it as an investment property. On the other hand, how much would it be to temporarily rent a house? And how easy would it be to rent a house with all your pets?

  • gyr_falcon
    9 years ago

    After everything you just went through, even having an interim house purchase on the table boggles my mind. What then? You sell this house, then have to sell that house. What do you do with the animals when you need to sell that house? Most mortgage lenders do not like quick flips, especially if you have signed the usual clause about planning to live in the house for at least two or more years, and you already have one recent flip on the books.

    The most cost effective solution, and the least disruptive to the pets, is to have them cared for off-site while you sell your house and move. Maybe you could check with temporary foster care through the rescue groups you know--easier to get accomplished with your financial support for their care and knowing they are temporary placements.

    Or, if you are able to lease an interim place, insert a clause into the lease for early termination for house purchase. Normally, if you break a lease, they can only charge you for the period of time it takes to re-lease the property anyway, not the remainder of the leased year (plus cleaning, etc., of course). But that does not mean they will necessarily make things easy for you.

  • tomatofreak
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    "After everything you just went through, even having an interim house purchase on the table boggles my mind."

    Yes, it boggles mine, too. The OH is so opposed to renting, aka "throwing money away", it's hard to get him to consider this option. However, you are quite right about all the fees and commissions involved in two sales. I do think it's possible, with a large deposit, to find a rental in an older neighborhood here. Good tip about an early termination clause; that would ease my mind.

    Right now, we're thinking (**just thinking**) about buying a property north of the city in a cooler climate as a second home. If we did that, we would move everything - and everyone with 4 legs - there while we readied this house to sell. With the equity from this house, we would search out a much smaller house in the city and keep the second home.

    We're also discussing purchasing a kennel run for the dogs and improving our outdoor cat habitat so no (or only a couple) kitties are in the house. Right now, all those needing special care are indoors. Boarding just the dogs could work if we only allowed showings on the weekend. How many sellers do this?

  • sylviatexas1
    9 years ago

    Renting may not be an option;
    here, it would be, at best, next to impossible to find a landlord willing to accept a lot of pets.

    If you want to sell the house, check with a Realtor in your area & ask for the brutal truth regarding the pets.

    Even fulltime poop scooping sounds more rational than moving out of your house & paying the house payment & rent or payment on another house.

    I wish you the best.

  • camlan
    9 years ago

    Just how bad is the area you are in?

    Because frankly, it sounds like you need to take a year and just recoup. Spend that year exploring all your options, figuring out what things would cost, calling around to see if there is anyone, anywhere that will rent to you with the number of animals you have.

    Because I recently moved to this area, I am renting while I look for something to buy. I have one cat. About half the places I was interested in would not rent to me because of the cat. Many of the others had restrictions on the number of pets and/or their size. I'm sure you could eventually find something to rent, but you might not like it very much--and then you'd be right back where you started.

    Get the facts on all your options before you even begin to think about what to do.

    Unless there is a threat to your health or safety, I'd stick it out where you are for one year. Is that a possibility? You could start saving up to buy the next house, which might help the overall situation a little bit.

    Do not make a major decision in haste, just because you feel you need to be doing something.

  • patriceny
    9 years ago

    Are you wanting to buy an existing house, or do you want to build new?

    If you build new, you can buy the land first. If zoning allows, then you can build a garage or outbuilding for the pets first. Then buy a cheap travel trailer you can live in on the land until your house is done.

    The above process is not for the faint of heart. But I do know someone who pulled this exact thing off as she had 2 horses she wanted to keep with her at all times.

    The other downside is that it's going to cost more than buying an existing house too. That little "money" wrinkle does add layers of complexity in the process. :)

  • sylviatexas1
    9 years ago

    Most cities & most subdivisions prohibit occupancy of a garage or travel trailer, etc.

    If you buy acreage that isn't in a restricted subdivision, you may be able to live in the garage or travel trailer, but anyone moving onto adjacent or nearby parcels can do anything they want, too.

    like hauling in a mobile home & raising roosters or running a puppy mill.

  • weedyacres
    9 years ago

    A few more specifics would help to understand/advise a little better, if you're willing to share:
    -How many and what kind of pets do you have?
    -How much is your current home worth?
    -How much will your future home cost?
    -What's an average rent that you'd need to pay (not counting additional pet fees, etc.)?

    I'm having a little trouble wrapping my head around "we can't buy another home until we sell this one" yet "we could by a small interim home." Which, btw, is a lousy idea. :-) Here's the math to share with your spouse:

    Money thrown away renting = rent x # months

    Money thrown away buying = closing costs + 6% commission to sell on the back end + interest paid x # months.
    Since buying something small would be a squeeze, you're not going to be paying down much principal, and you'll be paying an awful lot in the fees above for the privilege.

    BTW, you could always rent month-to-month (some places do that for a little higher rent).

    I think your likely best route is to find a temporary home for your pets, kind of like how people with too much stuff put it into storage while their home is on the market.

    One other thought: any house will sell at the right price. So perhaps instead of spending money finding a temporary home for you or your pets, you use that money to lower the price on the house.

    Of course, all this depends on how many and what kind of animals we're talking about, and how hard it is to keep them from offending potential buyers.

  • Acadiafun
    9 years ago

    Start looking for places to rent that can accommodate your pets. Rent, sell, then buy.

  • annkh_nd
    9 years ago

    Weedy summarized my thought almost exactly.

    Most folks watch enough HGTV to know that anything that looks/smells like pets can be replaced. I think the least disruptive option is to try to sell as is, and/or fix as you go.

    What sort of "fixing up" are you considering? Pet-related things (like flooring), or something else?

    You'll almost surely have a housing crunch at some point along the way - if you find the right buyer for your house, you have to hurry up and find something else, and you'd be lucky to get the timing to work out exactly right to move from one house to another.

    Best of luck to you.

  • tomatofreak
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    camlan, my neighborhood is in an older part of the city. The convenience to everything - shopping, hospitals (there are 5 major ones within a 5-mile radius, my doctors (10 minutes away), freeways, universities, community colleges, etc., etc. - is unmatched in newer suburbs. It's diverse in home styles/ages, age, race and employment. We have retirees, laborers, professionals, who knows who else. I don't mind any of this; it's the increasing noise level, the traffic (I'm 1 block from a major street) and - worst of all - the constant noise, loud talk and the day and night commotion of the cretin's house across the street. I love plants and my front yard was once beautiful. No more. I can't enjoy being out there and there's now not a bloom in sight.

    I should add that I have a rare blood condition and the stress and depression of living here, I am sure, are not doing my health any favors. I want so much to be in a quiet, peaceful place. It's one reason we're considering the second home in a small community north of the city.

    Re: wanting to build. I'd love to; I just don't think it will ever happen. And, yes, in areas we'd choose, there are restrictions regarding what you can live in while you build.

    Re: the pets. We have 22 cats, a little over half live in the outdoor habitat built for them; the others are indoors w/access to 4 large litterboxes. Just to note: None of them have bred on this property. If they (or the dogs) arrive intact, they are spuetered. Currently, there are 5 dogs, one not for long (elderly with liver tumors). They get the best care we can give them and there is no consideration of "giving them away" or dumping them at a shelter. Several of them arrived when the bubble burst and people walked out, leaving them behind.

    What is the house worth? Hard to know. Based on the average price/sq.ft. in this general area, I'd say $350. Based on the neighborhood, perhaps not. It is on a third acre, irrigated lot, has 2 HVAC systems and a self-contained apartment/guest quarters. I'd want to spend less on a much smaller house on a large lot.

    What I feel we need to do is pretty much the standard: paint, upgrade kitchen (nothing fancy), spruce up bathrooms (3) and have the Saltillo floors professionally stripped and resealed. There's no carpet, no drapes in this house. A big thing is to get rid of years of stuff and unclutter the entire house. Beyond that, hire someone to spruce up the front yard for curb appeal.

    Can I stay for another year? I don't know. I'm hoping for a solution sooner than later.

  • _sophiewheeler
    9 years ago

    Upgrade the house you are in and stay put. You will never find something equally suitable that fits your logistical needs. Put all of the RE commission and ''updating to sell' funds into better windows that will shut out the noise, and a water feature for your yard that will mask the noise while you are outside. If you have neighbor conflicts, use that second residence funding to buy him out and rent to someone easier to deal with. Or band together with the other neighbors to use the community resources available to deal with the noise or mess or whatever it is that creates the conflict.

    The grass is NOT greener elsewhere, and it costs a lot more money and heartache to find that out.

  • tomatofreak
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    hollysprings, I wish it were possible to buy him out, but it isn't. Unless that godawful place is swallowed by a sinkhole, it will be there till it falls down. The only way in h3[[ I can envision staying here is to have that second house as an escape to peace and quiet. I do like your suggestion of a water feature, but I need more than that. Banding together with the neighbors is a non-starter. I spent ten years as a neighborhood organizer/activist, bringing improvements to a run-down, anything-goes part of the city. Now, nobody else gives a diddleydamn.

    "The grass is always greener on the other side, but you still have to mow it." Yes, indeed, but I have a mower.

  • C Marlin
    9 years ago

    Is it possible to wall in your front yard, I've seen some done attractively. Let me see if I can find pics.

  • sylviatexas1
    9 years ago

    or berm it.

    or plant a 'windbreak' (noisebreak) of evergreens, assuming that they wouldn't interfere with the line of vision of people driving by.

    I *think* that in your situation, noisy "public" location, stress adding to my health probs, operating a pet rescue, I'd sell the house, now, & buy something else.

    Compare your likely loss on the house to the loss you'd definitely take by making 2 payments for who knows how long, & the loss that you might still take on the house when it eventually sells, & factor in the stress of owing 2 payments every month.

    If you don't want it, & it's making you sick, & you can live a decent life by paying to get rid of it, get rid of it.

    I wish you the best.

  • peter826
    9 years ago

    I can sympathize. We bought the "wrong" house last year and had to make a decision about what to do...

    This post was edited by peter826 on Sun, Nov 2, 14 at 13:14

  • tomatofreak
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    peter826, thank you so much for your post! It gives me hope that the right house is out there somewhere. I just need to find it and figure out how to get from here to there. I'm happy you found the right one.

  • rockybird
    9 years ago

    I think you should look for a new house. You are clearly not happy in your current home.

    I imagine that boarding that no. of cats could be very expensive. I also agree that finding someone willing to rent to you with that many cats will be difficult. Can you get all the animals in the separate facility, at least during showings? Or I wonder if you could contact a rescue facility and see if they have members willing to temporarily foster the cats, knowing that your cats were rescued? Maybe they would require recent vet certificates, though, and that might get expensive.

    I dont know what the soln. is, but since you are unhappy, I would find a way to buy a new house.

  • nosoccermom
    9 years ago

    If you could financially swing a smaller house further north with a cooler climate, this may actually sound like a viable solution: You could move your pets there, regroup, and spruce up the current home to get it ready to sell. Then you'd have plenty of time to look for a new home to buy.
    The main question, of course, would be, how long could you comfortably live in that "second" home, assuming that it may take a while to find the perfect "forever" home. If you'd HAVE to find a new home ASAP, you'd find yourself stressed out again.

    This post was edited by nosoccermom on Tue, Nov 4, 14 at 12:04

  • guvnah
    9 years ago

    You mention that you have a self-contained apartment/guest quarters. Can you use that for your temp transition space? Maybe move the necessities in there, declutter, work on the main space then list, hopefully sell quick & move on. I'm guessing it must be too small or you would have considered this already.

  • tomatofreak
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    guvnah, we have done that before, when we were doing major work on the main house. I am considering moving up there again, but don't know if both of us can. He works till 11 p.m. (RN at a nearby hospital) and rarely gets to bed before 1:30 a.m.. I gave up trying to sleep in the MBR and moved to the second BR downstairs. Still, except for the pet dilemma, it would solve part of the problem.

    nosoccermom, I do think a second house is the best way out. We've made a pact not to be hasty, so we have to consider all the costs involved, the distance between the two properties, etc.. Right now I'm pricing materials and trying to prioritize what needs to be done here.

    rockybird, I think placing the cats would be difficult to impossible. However, I may be able to find temp homes for the two most obnoxious dogs IF we decide to try showing while we're here.

    Thank you all for ideas. My brain is so tired of this situation...

  • Acadiafun
    9 years ago

    tomatofreak I just want to wish you all the luck in the world. I truly mean that. My husband and I have always been very cognizant that searching for our "new" home would have to accommodate our animals. We only have two dogs (plus DD's pup) and ruled out so many houses because they were not in our opinion located in pet friendly areas. For example one beautiful house in a great neighborhood did not have sidewalks for walking the dogs. One house had a neighbor with two vicious sounding dogs that would tear up our dogs if there was a breach in the fencing. I commend you for caring for your rescue animals. I often wondered if God meant animals when he said the meek would inherit the earth.

  • tomatofreak
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Acadiafun, I'm glad you understand. We always look with our pets in mind. It eliminates a lot. We don't want them to be in danger of any kind - and we don't want to be nuisance neighbors ourselves. I tell any realtor we talk to that we need a small house, a big lot and a barn. Of course, not a real barn (though that would be handy), but a garage, large shed or any outbuilding that can become their heated and cooled outdoor house. Here, we have one custom-made dog house that takes a twin mattress and is heated with infrared lamps in winter. Our 'storage' shed has a window AC in one wall and an x-large doggie door so they can get out of the hellish summer heat.

    This photo was taken 5 years ago when the dog house had a futon in it. Sweet Snickers (red dog) died this year of liver tumors and Noah, who has idiopathic alopecia and is now all but completely bald, was diagnosed over a year ago also with liver tumors. He's still here. He wears a t-shirt with pantlegs and an overcoat. Right now, he's asleep on a cushion under a blanket. This dog has more heart and will to live than any person I know. The other 'dog' in the house is my heart's treasure, my now 6 y/o GGS who, I am certain, was a dog in a former life.

    I'm kinda like Mark Twain who famously said he did not want to go to heaven if there were no dogs there. Or cats, I'd have added.

  • hayden2
    9 years ago

    Mark Twain would have added the cats also. He loved dogs and cats, but was particularly fond of cats.

    Just google Mark Twain and cats, and you'll see what I mean.

    Best of luck.

    This post was edited by hayden2 on Tue, Nov 4, 14 at 9:00