Have I Got a Deal For You!

We, the family, and this time it's the extended family, have made an offer on a piece of property. We looked at the listing price, the qualities of the property, and thought hey, let's make an offer.

The goal is a place that the family can enjoy. Deanna, Quinn and I will eventually live ther full-time, and there will be a classy small garage apartment, that will never be called that out of respect for the governing municipality, for the grandparents. And that leads me to the interesting point about real estate dealings. Essentially this. They are all about bullshit!

The spot is a dream. Walking distance to Sound and Ocean. Potential views of both considering that the structures will be raised to be out of flood-harm's way. But this is not about hopes and dreams. It's about making offers.

So we want to make an offer. Obviously we want the property, or we would have spent our evening watching a movie. But, we have to act like we could care less, all the while promising to pony up a hundreds of thousands of dollars. So, after a nerver wracking few days of phone calls to mortgage lenders, all of the family members involved, and several waking moments in the night. I email the agent, and act disinterested. Like it would be a favor to the owner if I took the property off of his hands.

Then the owner, who's had the property listed for five years with as many realtors acts like he doesn't need to sell the thing. Like he couldn't care less. And the charade continues. The problem here is that no one pays full price. So the price isn't actually a price, and the offers aren't actually offers. Sometimes, it's a war of atrician. We banter about, until someone breaks down. Other times, it's more like the war on terror. We all think we are getting somewhere, and then some jack-ass from Jersey rolls up and pays full price.

The bottom line is that the negotiation creates more negotiation. No one has a number because the age old question of What can your afford? has no real answer. Hell, ask the government. We're all, accept for devout Quakers, playing a game of hot potatoe. Debt gets thrown around like the hot potatoe, and when the music stops, who's holding the bag. Who knows, but I can tell you this seller and I could care less! Shit, it's just money. We don't let bullshit like money bother us. Right !?