Apache the Magnificent Steed is not the only one expressing curiousity to us lately. We’ve had a few questions about what’s going on with the Roadrunner property in College Station. After all, it’s been on the market a while, and we just went in and repainted the second floor.
Neigh! I’ve been wondering what you Hermits are doing with all those houses? And, can I have a cookie?
Well, painting those pink walls tan seems to have done the trick. A family with a lot of children took one look at the number and size of the bedrooms of the house and fell in love with it. They’re really the right kind of family for the place! We were excited to receive their full-price offer.
But, This Is Hermit Haus – There’s Always a Catch
Yes, it is absolutely true that we haven’t had a sale go through without a hitch or some strange circumstances in a long time. This one’s no exception. This family wanted a VA Loan, which is great with us, of course (Russell and Carol make use of VA Loans for their own personal property). However, there is some technicality involved with a previous loan they had. It means that they can’t GET a loan until August. Of course they want the house now, and we want to sell it now, too!
It took quite a bit of legal research, creative thinking, and patience to figure out how to work this out. They were willing to rent the place for 6 months, then buy it, but we were concerned about what would happen if they backed out and had trashed the place (a risk with lots of teens and young kids). We needed a solution that worked for all of us. Our management team thought long and hard.
Win-Win Solution
Thanks to helpful input from Judy Todd, our Realtor®, and Robert Black, our lawyer, we came up with something that we think will work. They put down a much larger than usual amount of earnest money, which will go toward their down payment when the house sells. If the sale does not go through, they agree to forfeit the money. That way we will have funds to fix the house back up, and they will get to use the money toward the house. So, the least is month-to-month, and they pay a month in advance, just like with any lease. It will cover our holding costs, and a bit more, so we won’t be out of money by waiting to close and missing the good season for sales.
Hooray? We are hoping this all works out!