We're under contract!!!!!

I haven't mentioned it in a long while, but if you remember back to early 2011 when I was selling our house and buying our new one, I was also trying to sell Mr.A's condo that he bought while in college.

We have rented the place out since 2009, but soon realized that the long distance rental business wasn't really for us, and put it on the market to sell in 2010. We had continued to rent it while trying to sell, up until earlier this year.

We decided to bite the bullet and fix the place up to perfect, move in ready condition and cease renting it all together. We ripped out the carpets, water damaged laminate, and put in all new flooring throughout. We painted the entire place a neutral pallet, updated the kitchen counters and appliances, updated the lighting and fixtures throughout.

Then we waited.

And waited.

And waited.

We were patient, and were fortunately getting several showings and good feedback. Unfortunately, though our unit showed very well and was well priced, the poor feedback we received from nearly ever potential buyer is that the community felt "old" or "run down"; something that was entirely out of our control.

On Sunday my realtor called to tell me that we had our first SECOND showing that evening and Monday morning she called to tell me that we had an offer.

HOORAY!!!!!!!

The bad news, the offer was more than 12% under asking and we were already taking a substantial loss. But, what can you expect in this market, with a place that has been for sale for a long, long time.

With the other buyer's incentives we had offered in the MLS, it was far below our bottom dollar. I worked out the figures, and after everything was said and done, we will have lost more than $30,000 on a property that was valued under $100K to begin with.

Generally there is always negotiation room when buying/selling, so I fully intended to counter at 6% below asking leaving all concessions in place. That is, until my realtor emailed me to tell me that this was her best and final.

For hours, I emailed back and forth with Mr.A while he was flying, consulted my parents, realtor, and friends and tried to come up with the best possible solution. We needed to sell this place, and how wonderful would it be to have it sold before baby girl comes. Since this is a rental property the losses we incur are tax deductible which would help lighten the burden slightly.

In the end, we conceded to her price but removed the other concessions from the offer. This only saved us around $1500, but at least it was something.

So, as of last night we are officially under contract to sell. Thank goodness. We are scheduled to close in 30 to 45 days and I cannot wait!