Okay, my turn---so Ty really didn't have a lot of convincing to do especially after we saw the other homes available in the area. Plus, I realized that the size of the property was actually more square footage than our first house. I quickly jumped on board and decided we should make an offer. Now, mind you, the country is dealing with the worst housing crisis since I don't know when...... but let's just say we recently sold our house and felt the pain shared by many today! So, we knew we would come in with an offer less than the asking. We called Judy and told her that we were ready to make an offer with conditions----these included:
-inspection
-financing
-receiving contractor estimate (we wanted to make sure we could afford to take on such a project)
-approval from the city's Historic Review Board --this may sound easy, but we quickly learned that it involved a 3 month process and for us it was five!
At this point I should mention that we are using Judy because she is the listing agent, not because of all of the fun we had with her on day one---day one should have been a red flag! We move forward and sign the contract that states that she will be dually representing the property, which means (typically) that she can't side with either the buyer or the seller and she can't give advice to either on financial decisions. (I'm sure it means more, but that is the important part!)
At this point in our lives, Ty is living in a hotel to start his new job and I am still working at my job 2 hours away and living in the apartment we rented there. (something I once said I would 'never' do!)
The offer was made, than a counter offer and we reached an agreement--or so we thought! We called a few contractors and found one that was eager to do the project. Ty meet with them a number of times and on weekends I joined them for some discussions. Ty quickly downloaded smartdraw and we made a number of floor plan options. We thought that we would be able to move forward without hiring an architect (how naive!). The contractors provided us with an estimate that we were comfortable moving forward with.
In the meantime, we realized that 'special' agent Judy had the property listed wrong and that it wasn't indeed a 'mixed-use' property. It was, in fact, a commercial property. Judy indicated that the seller told her it was already designated mixed-use ( but isn't that her job to verify?!--another red flag!) We asked that the seller, Neil, apply for the mixed use permit. He indicated that he lived out of town and didn't want to fool with it. So we agreed that we would handle the process, but that the offer would be lowered to reflect the up front costs of the permit fees. He agreed.
This process, which is why it took 5 months, involved completing an application for the planning commission to review and pass on to City Council. Unfortunately, we missed the application deadline for that month, so we had to wait until the next month. Neither Ty or I were able to make it to the Planning Commission meeting, but our 'soon to be' new neighbor made an appearance. Let's call him 'Bob' ( we won't reveal his true identity because he will soon be our new neighbor!).
I don't think Ty mentioned but our property is adjoined to another property that for city code needs to be considered a 'condominium.' (we learn more, a lot more, about this later) Bob told planning commission that at one point all buildings in the area were owned by the same owner, so the current sewer line is connected to his building. At one point they had a problem and the sewer backed up in his property. He asked that our new sewer line be connected to the city's sewer line in the street down the alley from the property. No big deal, right? Well, not so fast. (we'll talk about this more in detail later!) The planning commission approved our request with the following conditions:
-the new sewer line be run to Frederick St.
-we obtain all necessary building permits
-approval from the Historic Review Board
YEAH---one step down and on to City Council!!!!!
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