fun house (not)

here’s the latest on the selling of the house…
after hearing nothing since noon last tuesday, friday around lunch my realtor called me and said the buyer wanted to come by and bring another inspector. i said that was fine. (not that i saw much in the way of other options.) i wasn’t sure if that bode well for the sale or not, but i’ve felt unsure of what was going on during this process numerous times.
i didn’t hear anything friday, but saturday afternoon my realtor called. she said the inspector i let in (whom i think she then made some disparaging comments about) told either the bank or the buyer (whoever he reported to) that it would cost $25k-$30k to do the repairs to the house. because of this, the buyer said she either didn’t have the funds to do it, didn’t want to do it, or saw no profit in it. or maybe it was the bank and they didn’t want to lend on it. whatever the case, the other realtor had called mine and said the buyer was going to back out.
i personally don’t think that was an unreasonable cost estimate, but that’s me as an individual with no “connections” finding contractors to do all the work. in fact, i wouldn’t be surprised if the amount would be higher than that. a person who flips houses should be able to get a lot better deals out of people they work with and such. plus they’d probably try to do a lot of cheap cosmetic fixes for resale. but i was honest about everything i am aware of that is wrong with the house in the sellers’ disclosure, so i’ve got no feelings of guilt about trying to hide anything. (note to paranoid/conspiracy readers: this is all repairs to things that either tamara and i did to the house together while we were married or that happened to the house while tamara was still around. despite the fanciful musings of certain individuals, i have not done anything to destroy the value of the house.)
anyway, my realtor went on to tell me she said she told the other realtor that she would pass it along to me but that i likely would not be very happy about things because i’d had to take the house off the market for a few weeks and make plans to move and such while they drug their feet for a week after the original closing date. the other realtor said he might know someone who would pay cash for the house, but he didn’t know what timeline he could do. my realtor said she told him things needed to be taken care of by friday (one week from the call). the other realtor said he would find out and get back in touch with her. later friday he called and said the other buyer would do it. my realtor said that sounded good, but she would need to see a contract. friday night he evidently sent her a contract, with closing on thursday (oct 26th) for the same amount as the last sale, and with me still getting 7 days after the sale to move. my realtor evidently also demanded we use the same title company, since the title is already opened there. that way things wouldn’t take as long and no new title costs would be accrued. she emailed me a form to release the earnest money from the first buyer, which i signed and forwarded to tamara before lunch today.
obviously i’m hoping this new stuff is true. because there is the obvious possibility that this new all-cash buyer could quite easily flake out as well, if they’re even truly interested as it stands anyway. i’m not saying this is the case, i’m just saying it seems possible. i’ve already had two buyers back out after they considered the cost of repairs, and now there is this mythical all-cash buyer coming in with no prior involvement, either trusting the info or advice of the realtor or previous reports or something?
like i said, i’m hoping it’s true. as much as i hate the idea of packing and moving, i’m more tired of having financial ties to tamara that leave me worried about her and her attorney’s ongoing actions. i felt like we were in a spot with this house for years, so if we get out without owing money then i’ll feel like we were lucky. why tamara and her attornies expected much from it — unless tamara never told them the truth and let them think it was worth market value and thus we should have about $40k equity in it — i haven’t the foggiest.