Today I had an engineer/appraiser look at the house which is just something you do before buying anything used. If you want to get financing for a used car or house and the seller wants $20,000 over what the item is worth you won't get financing. If you don't pay the bank has to recover the loan somehow.

When I bought my Corvette I couldn't get more then $22k on a loan but the Vette had $100k+ in modifications and the guy only wanted $33k - which was a steal. He had to dump it because of a divorce. The only way I could swing it was by paying cash for the extra. Before all that went down, I paid $500 to have Corvettes of Texas look it over and tell me, "Yes, this Corvette is worth a whole lot more then $33k and is in great shape mechanically."

Here I'm paying cash for the house so financing isn't a problem. However, this is a serious chunk of cash and you have to know what you are getting into. No one wants a money pit.

I'm sure some people out there can afford to buy a $90,000 Mercedes Benz as a daily driver ... I am not one of those people.

Well, not everything is sunshine and happiness with this house. The roof has problems in a few areas that will cost $10k to $15k in repairs. I can replace bad carpet. I can fix a window. I cannot fix a roof.

So the contract is void and now it becomes a game of who will pay for this shit? The new contract will include something like, "The seller agrees to repair this problem."

Will they sign that contract? Am I willing to pay an extra $15k on this place if the owner says, "Naa, that's your problem. It's priced as-is."

$15,000 will take the house over the appraisal value of the house. No one is going to be able to get a loan for it without also throwing cash out. At the same time I've got to consider if this house is really worth that much more?

I've looked at so many properties and most were ranch style houses with problems or houses with no problems but well over $100k ... or in a ghetto. There is very little variety around here. For whatever reason, very few small houses have been built in East Texas and that makes finding a house in a middle class neighborhood for under $100k a problem.

The spread is literally - 3 Bedroom two story house with a pool? ... Little condo with no yard? ... living on the wrong side of town ... or ... Double wide trailer? heh.

Things to think about because I really like this house ... and man, do I want a smoke.

EDIT:

I was just informed that I'm not the only person working on a contract for this house. Which means if they offer more for the house then this was not meant to be.

... Life isn't always fair.