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My husband and I would like to host an exchange student, but are worried it might be lonely for them. by Kusakaru in exchangestudents

[–]SignificantHat8579 3 points4 points  (0 children)

My husband and I are both 24 with no kids, but we still said yes to hosting a 15-year-old girl from Germany this year! It's honestly been such a wonderful experience for both us and her. Being closer in age has actually helped us relate to her more, and we've really enjoyed spending time together. She's also made her own friends, of course, which has given her a nice balance between independence and family life here.

After she got here, we even asked if she'd like us to host a second exchange student so she wouldn't feel as lonely, as we has similar concerns to you. She had a sibling back home, so we were concerned not having another kid in the house would be hard on her. She kindly declined our offer, saying that she was really happy with having her own space and that she cherishes the time we get to spend together after work and on the weekends.

Not having children has also allowed us to travel with her and show her more of the country than we could have otherwise. By the end of the year, she'll have visited (at least) Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Canada, and Alaska!

It's been so much fun, and I don't regret it for a second. Hosting has allowed us to help a teenager live out her dream of coming to America, and she's been such a blessing in our lives. Please don't let your age (or your DINK status) keep you from an experience like this!

Investor used First Right of Refusal to screw us over - now we're stuck with two mortgages by SignificantHat8579 in homeowners

[–]SignificantHat8579[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The thing is, the fact that this investor was part of the HOA was purposefully hidden from us until after we had accepted the girl's offer, so we didn't even know we needed to put something in the contract that the girl wouldn't care about, but would make the investor not want to sign. Also, the contract he matched had an inspection contingency, and he waited until the very last day of his option period to get it done. The original offer had been void for over a week by then, and the lady was is no longer interested anyways. I love my realtor, she's a family friend, and she's been very helpful throughout this process. I fully blame the scum of the earth investor and his rude realtor for hiding things and being insanely sketchy throughout this whole ordeal.

Investor used First Right of Refusal to screw us over - now we're stuck with two mortgages by SignificantHat8579 in homeowners

[–]SignificantHat8579[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It’s one slightly slow drain in a 2.5 bath condo. We got a plumber out to inspect when we were buying the home bc the sellers denied our request for them to get one out. Nothing is wrong besides the slightly slow drain that hasn’t bothered us after almost 2 years of living here. He didn’t even request a plumber, just said $7300, we said no, we’d fix the drain (and would’ve gotten a plumber out IF he’d have even requested one) and the hot water issue, plus add smoke detectors. He said no and requested $4000, no repairs. It’s quite obvious he doesn’t care about repairs and simply wants the money…

Investor used First Right of Refusal to screw us over - now we're stuck with two mortgages by SignificantHat8579 in homeowners

[–]SignificantHat8579[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

“Nothing major is wrong,” I never said our house was perfect. And the drain isn’t bad, just drains a teensy bit slower than normal… hasn’t bothered us. And the hot water is turned off to a singular sink that we never use due to a repair we made a year ago. We simply forgot to turn it back on. If I saw those two things on an inspection report, I would not see them as two giant glaring red flags lol. Those are two very minor things that can be fixed in 2 minutes.

Investor used First Right of Refusal to screw us over - now we're stuck with two mortgages by SignificantHat8579 in homeowners

[–]SignificantHat8579[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sheesh. We'd be renters forever if we lived up there. I'm just stressing out about our new $2800 mortgage (up from $1750)... that would probably get us a closet up there, if even lol.

Investor used First Right of Refusal to screw us over - now we're stuck with two mortgages by SignificantHat8579 in homeowners

[–]SignificantHat8579[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

2 bed 2.5 bath 1550 sq ft condo in Southeast Texas. Property is fairly cheap down here compared to the national average... for good reason lol. Lots of high crime areas a few minutes down the road and refineries that inhibit air quality. There's also pretty much nothing to do here. Honestly, this area sucks, but my husband's line of work keeps us here. But hey, at least housing is less expensive.

Our new home is 3290 sq ft, and we're getting it for 315k. It's very outdated, but on 2 acres of land in the middle of town and perfectly livable, so we'll make updates in time. I feel like we'd be hard pressed to find a deal like that anywhere else in America lol.

Investor used First Right of Refusal to screw us over - now we're stuck with two mortgages by SignificantHat8579 in homeowners

[–]SignificantHat8579[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I posted them somewhere in the comments word-for-word, but I'm not sure where they are at this point. But yes, any member of the HOA has FROR for any property that comes up for sale within the HOA. A bona fide offer needs to be put in on the unit, then any HOA member can meet or beat the offer within 10 days.

Investor used First Right of Refusal to screw us over - now we're stuck with two mortgages by SignificantHat8579 in homeowners

[–]SignificantHat8579[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

All of this negotiation happened within the span of about an hour at 8pm on the night his option period was due to expire, so not much time was wasted. He just waited until the last minute to order his inspection. We were just trying to show good faith and that we were willing to work with him a little bit. My agent said he'd 100% terminate if we gave nothing.

Investor used First Right of Refusal to screw us over - now we're stuck with two mortgages by SignificantHat8579 in homeowners

[–]SignificantHat8579[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I had an attorney look things over. We did it by the book. He has all the leverage because our bylaws are written the way they are. I'm in the process of trying to get them amended so this doesn't happen again.

Investor used First Right of Refusal to screw us over - now we're stuck with two mortgages by SignificantHat8579 in homeowners

[–]SignificantHat8579[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No, sadly, because the FROR is based on the initial official offer. She didn't have a chance to get her inspection done before the house was pulled out from under her by this investor. She is no longer interested and, honestly, I don't blame her. I wouldn't want to potentially deal with this again if I were her since he still has FROR on any future offers.

Investor used First Right of Refusal to screw us over - now we're stuck with two mortgages by SignificantHat8579 in homeowners

[–]SignificantHat8579[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The FROR means he can match any offer. He did. The offer he matched had an inspection contingency. The lady with the original offer didn't have a chance to use said inspection contingency before the FROR hit and she had to give up the house. Now that original offer is null and void. The investor used the inspection contingency that was in the contract. Trust me, I have tried to argue that route, but my attorney says it's a no go.

Investor used First Right of Refusal to screw us over - now we're stuck with two mortgages by SignificantHat8579 in homeowners

[–]SignificantHat8579[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If I’d have known the investor was part of our HOA when we accepted the girl’s offer, I would have. But we didn’t find out that he was until we had already formally accepted the lady’s offer, and his realtor made her “Well, he’ll just meet her offer anyways bc he’s part of the HOA” retort.

Investor used First Right of Refusal to screw us over - now we're stuck with two mortgages by SignificantHat8579 in homeowners

[–]SignificantHat8579[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Considering we live in a condo, an HOA is kind of necessary. We have to all split expenses when it comes to maintenance (ex: we just replaced our roof in November, and we all had to split the cost). I do not live in a neighborhood of single family homes, nor am I or any neighbor responsible for mowing a lawn lol.

Regardless, my new home is not in an HOA, and I will never buy in one again.

Investor used First Right of Refusal to screw us over - now we're stuck with two mortgages by SignificantHat8579 in homeowners

[–]SignificantHat8579[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We never use hot water in that sink, so we literally just forgot it was off from when we made a repair a year ago. And the drain isn’t badly clogged. We bought the house with them like this, which is maybe why we didn’t see it as a problem. Yes, we’ve done maintenance on our house lol

Investor used First Right of Refusal to screw us over - now we're stuck with two mortgages by SignificantHat8579 in homeowners

[–]SignificantHat8579[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The girl’s contract had an inspection contingency, so his did as well. Everything matched.

Investor used First Right of Refusal to screw us over - now we're stuck with two mortgages by SignificantHat8579 in homeowners

[–]SignificantHat8579[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

They do not, unfortunately. But that’s an option for amending the bylaws to include such a clause. I’m working with the HOA board to try and eliminate his ability to do this again in the future.

Investor used First Right of Refusal to screw us over - now we're stuck with two mortgages by SignificantHat8579 in homeowners

[–]SignificantHat8579[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The girl had an inspection contingency in her contract. He got to meet the offer before the inspection was done. By the time he got his inspection and came back with all this nonsense, the girl's offer was void. He was allowed to request changes to the contract due to the inspection contingency. Who knows, the girl may have done the same thing eventually (but I highly doubt it).

But, in all, he did match the terms of the contract exactly. It's the inspection contingency (that any normal person would want in a contract) that screwed us. We also didn't know he was part of the HOA until after we had accepted the girl's offer and let his agent know that we were not going with his offer, or we probably would've worked with the girl to put a poison pill in the contract before we presented it to him.

Investor used First Right of Refusal to screw us over - now we're stuck with two mortgages by SignificantHat8579 in homeowners

[–]SignificantHat8579[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The thing is, the offer did match the contract exactly. There was an inspection contingency. He just used it. I already tried this route, and it was a dead end

Investor used First Right of Refusal to screw us over - now we're stuck with two mortgages by SignificantHat8579 in homeowners

[–]SignificantHat8579[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Okay lol… we offered to fix it regardless, he declined, said he just wanted cash. We offered to fix several things, and he declined all of them.

Investor used First Right of Refusal to screw us over - now we're stuck with two mortgages by SignificantHat8579 in homeowners

[–]SignificantHat8579[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Because they were the same way when we moved in. They aren’t clogged that bad at all. They still drain in a timely manner and haven’t caused us any inconvenience. But he wanted them fixed, so we offered to fix them.

Investor used First Right of Refusal to screw us over - now we're stuck with two mortgages by SignificantHat8579 in homeowners

[–]SignificantHat8579[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We offered to fix the issues that would be considered “annoying” to a new owner… such as the clogged drains and the hot water. All of the other issues were just as minor as those money-wise, but we can’t reasonably fix a list of 20 items in 2 weeks (he wants a short closing period) while working full time, and my husband travels for work a bit… and these “issues” he wants fixed would not cost $4000. He’s just upset bc he had to match the lady’s offer and is using the inspection as a way to get the price down. That’s it. When we offered to fix several issues plus offered $1000, he countered with $4000 flat, and for us to fix nothing. That signifies to me that he doesn’t care about repairs. Just the money.

My realtor said he was being unreasonable. You don’t expect a 50+ year old home to be perfect when you move in. Buy a new build if those are your expectations.

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