Smooth sailing, not so much!

It all began Saturday afternoon with a call from our Columbus realtor. "Lindsey" had received a reply from the sellers regarding our request to remedy unsatisfactory conditions the home inspection discovered. There were 8 items of concern and the inspectors took it upon themselves to correct 1 of the items, 6 others were what the sellers called "handyman" fixes and the last issue deals with the furnace carbon monoxide return vent. A very serious issue. Well, the sellers, who are already flustered because they're losing money on the sale, said they'll have the furnace looked at and extend a $200 credit at closing because the rest of the remedies are "just handyman fixes that the buyers can complete."

Here's where a little background info is needed. The sellers, Rodrick and Billy, were one of the first people to pick out their lot and buy a house from the developers. They had a ton of extras built into the house and as expected, they paid for it big time. Eight years later they want to sell the house. The first time they had the house on the market for 216 days with no takers. They lowered their asking price and had it up only 13 days when we made them an offer. As with everything, we did our homework and our bid turned out to be exactly the same as the appraisal and to the sellers dismay, was $10,000.00 less than they paid 8 years ago. Just as we expected they countered. Their counter offer was only $500.00 (and $4500.00 more than the appraised value of the house) less than their asking price with the option to back out if they received a better offer within 48 hours. We accepted their counter offer and the folks who looked at the house that Monday afternoon didn't make an offer, so the contract was drawn up and signatures all around. We thought the next 4 weeks would be smooth sailing.

After 3 hours of back and forth over the furnace, handyman fixes and me in tears, Nick took control of the situation. Let me tell you, it takes a lot to anger Nick and this pushed him to the line. He took the next call from the realtor and told her all other offers were off the table and we wanted a receipt for the furnace repair and a check for $750.00 at closing, that was our final offer and if they declined we're walking away from the deal. Nick explained that we were already paying $4500.00 to much for the house and if they don't have a check, not a credit, at closing "they could put the house where the sun don't shine." Lindsey agreed, she reminded the buyers how we agreed to all their previous demands and we had no problem getting a "handyman" for the other issues but we're not budging on the furnace problem. A receipt and a $750.00 check, for the handymen we have to hire, is expected at closing. Once they were aware of the appraisal, Rodrick and Billy realised this was the best they were going to get and agreed to our final contract stipulations.

I can't tell you when I've worked with such uncooperative people. Either they want to sell the house or they don't, it's that simple. To put icing on the cake, Columbus has what they call "round table" closings. The buyers and sellers, along with their realtors, meet to sign the closing papers with a mortgage representative to answer any questions should they arise. When Lindsey told us about the closing details Nick and I promised her we would be on our best behavior and not embarrass her in front of these people. That was the first time she laughed in 2 days.

Hopefully, this will be last bump in the road on our way to Columbus.