OT- Boy am I ticked!

Just gotta vent a little.
Been looking to move closer to Dad's farm, that I farm. Currently live 2 miles away. Last spring a neighbor came to us. They want to sell. He is afraid he is going to lose his job. House appraised at 45K less than what he paid for it 8 years ago at the height. I said ok, I will talk to the wife and get back to you. We decided to pursue it and left him know we are interested. No response for 6 months. Last fall he stops in. Yup, want to sell. Gives me a price 5k more than last price. Ok, fine we want to see the house. He says he will check with the wife and get back to me with a date to come through. Never gets back to me. Last month, I call the guy up."Hey whats the deal on the house?". Yup, we will sell. Come up and look at it on Sat. We go up look the house over. Now we wants 20k more than the first price.
I call him up a week later to see if it ok if we have a contractor walk around the outside of the property. There are some changes we would like to make and we want to get some ballpark prices before final decision on buying the house. He says that's fine. He says he is looking at his options but hasn't made a decision yet on the sale. Fine. Now today he emails and says he is thinking of subdividing and developing the property. Would I want to buy one of the lots?

This guy has strung me along for a year on the house and used me as a fall back plan in case he lost his job. Now when I am seriously interested in the house he back pedals and wants to split off lots to maximize his return. He wants me to commit to a lot, and give earnest money, so he can use that money to fund the subdivision. I am all for working together to make a deal that works for everyone, but boy do I feel like I am taking a beating...and I got a wife that I have to convince to go along with whatever plan ends up being the route taken!!
 
Well from his view his job may be gone ? he still needs a place to live so sub dividing will allow him to stay there and make enough to pay it off more than likely. He needs to get the most he can.
 
Till a paper contract is witnessed and signed, it is just his poor decision making to complain about. There might be other options in the area. keep on checking them. Jim
 
The lesson here is to ALWAYS get a signed sales contract when buying or selling land. If you're buying, pay some earnest money, even if it's only 100 bucks. Likewise, insist on earnest money from the buyer when selling.

Don't be mad. Just learn from your mistakes.

You might be able to salvage the deal, depending on how desperate the guy really is. Making him an offer IN WRITING and enclose an earnest money deposit of around 1 percent of your purchase price. He can accept your offer, reject it, or make a counter-offer. That's how it works in real estate. Stop goofing around with verbal "contracts" and get the deal done.
 
We never really had a "deal" its just irritating to have someone keep jumping around and changing their mind. I would have made a deal a year ago, but he kept disappearing when pressed....
 
2 miles isn't that far to drive.If you are walking than it would be a different story.

JMHO

Vito
 
Tell the guy that AFTER he divides the land you MIGHT buy one of the lots, and leave it at that. Let him sweat for a while.
 
Don't know the location but you could check with the area planning commission and see if it can be made into a subdivision. I have heard of a few places (and different states involved) that subdividing was rejected. A little leverage when negotiation?
 
Your mistake was not giving him a time limit in the first place,like buying equipment people will want me to come over and then give them a offer.Then they'll take that offer and try to shop the piece out for more $$$ so when I make an offer its good for as long as they can see my taillights tomorrow it'll be less.
 
It's the same thing trying to buy a house,or a tractor,car etc.It's like trying to hit a moving target.They want to raise the price if they think your interested.I looked at an antique car,the price went up 2000 overnight.A tractor I saw in the photo adds went up 500 when I called.He said it was a misprint.(He put the add in and set the price)
 
You'll still see the kids,he's using you tell him what you will pay ( closer to original terms ) and be done with it.
 
Is swaping homes an option? That way he would still have the security of somewhere to live and you would have his place near the farm....Plus you could stop this sub-dividing nonsense that will only bring more neighbours to your area....
If that is not an option then go see him with a witness, bid him a price, show him the money and give him a very short time limit to decide or you walk away from the whole deal!
My tuppence worth! (sorry ....two cents worth!).......Sam
 
The way I see it is... It's his property, he can do whatever he wants to do with it. If you felt he was jerking you around and kept raising the sale price, why did you keep chasing him? I would have walked away after the first incident.

Seems he is just stringing you along to keep you as an ace-in-the-hole type thing.

My 2 cents- Walk away and don't look back!

Greg
 
101 in Dealing. The first raise in price make a lower offer than the first and say this is where I am at! Call me when you are ready to sell.
He now knows he has a buyer. You just told him that his price was too low. Every time you kind of excepted a higher price you told him his price was still too low.
 
He thinks he has you over a bucket and you are the only one that will buy because its close to where you want to be, Show him he's wrong don't say know more to him make him sweet a while!!!
 
Do you want the place or not? If you want it, get to work. Write up an offer to purchase and hand it to him. Put an expiration date on the offer. If you keep lollygagging, the place will probably go into foreclosure and it will be tied up for months or years.

If you're really serious but don't know how to go about buying the place, get a real estate agent to help you for a flat fee or reduced commission.

A couple of things to keep in mind:
The place is probably under water; if so the bank will have to approve a short sale which is not real likely with prices going up.
The guy and his wife may have quite different opinions about what they want to do with the house.

Good luck.
 
For private property sales I try to put any offers in writing, and also put down a deposit with the offer, even if I have to hire a lawyer to help me write the contract. There is no reasonable way to enforce a verbal contract.

Was any money exchanged? If no, then there is no legal contract.
 
That's too bad.

I sure wouldn't want to live in a subdivision.

I'd move on. I realize your options are limited as to location wanted, but looks like this is a reverse kick the tires deal, and you won't get anywhere.

Paul
 
First off, why don't you put a house on your dads farm? Can't get any closer than that. 2 miles away now, is not so far anyways. Your neighbor must not be in to big of fear of losing his job, he apperently has kept it this past year. A house for sale is only worth what its worth today. What it was worth 8 years ago don't meen didly. I would of told him I was no longer interested if he was going to jump the price. That would of likely atleast stopped the price jumping. His sub-division plan is just a get rich quick idea he has got. No way I would get sucked into that. If thats the way he is (all about putting alot of dollars in his pocket) that would turn me off to even negotiate with him on the house. Bottom line is, it sounds like this guy is wishy washy and not serious about selling the house unless it makes him rich. If you are serious about buying, I would explore other options. House on dads place sounds alot better to me than dealing with this yaa hoo.
 
(quoted from post at 13:37:28 05/01/14) We never really had a "deal" its just irritating to have someone keep jumping around and changing their mind. I would have made a deal a year ago, but he kept disappearing when pressed....

Thats because he dont want to sell, he is thinking he [b:6d59a63a19][i:6d59a63a19]has[/i:6d59a63a19][/b:6d59a63a19] to sell but he dont [b:6d59a63a19][i:6d59a63a19]want[/i:6d59a63a19][/b:6d59a63a19] to. All distressed sellers are like this, flip flopping around and trying to bump the price as much as they can. You said its appraised at 45K less than they paid, make no mistake, not only do they want that 45K, they want more. They want more because people became conditioned to think no matter what the purchace price was, they get more when they sell. The problem is, Bummer got elected. Real estate has taken a schlacking since and people are [b:6d59a63a19][i:6d59a63a19]still[/i:6d59a63a19][/b:6d59a63a19] shell shocked.

My prediction is, untill this guy wants to sell or is forced to sell, he will keep moving the goal posts. Wait till he actually loses that job, then he will be motivated to sell. If it makes you feel any better, thats when the tables can turn and you can put the screws to him...

Its also worth noting, he dont sound poor since he is about 45K underwater, that means the house is many times that. Whats a killer is somebody in a 50K house playing the same game. It goes round and round and it usually ends up on the courthouse steps. Almost every time its a waste of time, better off just waiting to deal with the bank after the forclosure. Poor people make poor decisions and since this is a higher end house, maybe with some luck it will work out better for you.

Good luck.
 
You pretty much nailed it.
The interesting thing is the guy is in a financial position at a cattle brokers. He thinks the broker is gunna go belly up. He was at a feedmill before that that shut down cause they lost their shirt on pig contracts. See a trend here...Guy makes bad decisions for himself and others.
 
I'm not trying to put my nose in family matters by saying this, but your farming your dads place and he won't sell you 2 or 3 acres to put a house on. Sounds like there is something wrong with that picture. 2 miles away might not be such a bad thing. Atleast there is a little bit of distance there. Sounds like your dad might be a little like your neighbor and not really want you much closer either.
 
(quoted from post at 01:19:12 05/02/14) Put up a 1000 head hog house on your dads as close to him as you can while you can. Lol

A friend of mine did this to his neighbors who complained about a project he was just THINKING about doing that they found out about, he put a 50 hogs just over the fence from the president of the homeowners association. He took me back there last year and it really smelled bad. They complained to the county official and since it was zoned rural farmland there was nothing they could do and told the neighbors he could greatly expand it if he wanted. No more was heard from them.
Started as sort of a lark but he likes the pigs and is selling whole and half hogs to individuals and a couple of local restaurants. He's a wealthy guy who built up then sold a building supply mfg. and sales company, so he has the means to do about anything if you p!$$ him off, and they did.
 

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