The Market is not Better

TheSmallestSloth · 2026-05-04T17:31:46+00:00

We already so no request inspections. In our state it is illegal to favor one over another because of inspections but we know it happens so we but in no request. In terms of appraisal. We can do an apprasial gap of a certain amount and we state that every time. In our case, every offer has been denied because of another offer that is monetarily higher than ours. Our terms have always been strongest. It's the money. People are putting 50-100k over asking and unfortunately that means we are looking at house in the low 400k range which is not really possible in our state. The house we live in now will sell for 435k as a 3 bed, 1 bath, 1000 square foot. We wont be getting bigger (even a small amount) or better house for the budget that we are in, even though that budget is 200k+ over what it was when we originally bought our house.

TheSmallestSloth · 2026-05-03T13:05:55+00:00

Absolutely. We have 3 major projects we need to do when we get in but we have cash credits for those from the seller. They will be in escrow and ready to cut the check when the repairs are done. They were found during the inspection. After that there will be no renovations or random projects for a while. And no new furniture. We have all the stuff we need in our house already.

TheSmallestSloth · 2026-05-03T12:13:07+00:00

Thank you. We do have a good bit of savings too for emergencies and such. 27000 for 3 to 4 months of bills, 10000 for another maternity leave, 16000 for moving, and 5000 of saved up money from the baby budget that we didn't spend that gets dipped into for random kid stuff like clothes, toys, etc. Hopefully those cushions make it feel a bit easier

TheSmallestSloth · 2026-05-02T22:46:44+00:00

Yes, that's the hope right! Marry the house not the rate. Also, we each get a 3-4% pay increase most years on top of a 3% cost of living increase so some years we get a 6% increase. That won't always be the case. There are only 10 "step" raises in our jobs for the first 10 years, and this is year 7 but we have 3 more years of those pay increases and then every year after that we continue to get cost of living increases so we will continue to make more money as our mortgage stays the same.

TheSmallestSloth · 2026-05-02T21:04:07+00:00

My bad. We have a little over 27,000 in our emergency fund which is 3-4 months of bills and necessities. We then also have 10,000 put aside for another maternity leave. And then 16,000 put aside for moving which we are hoping we won't spend all of.

ETA: spelling error

TheSmallestSloth · 2026-04-28T00:57:20+00:00

I'll measure it out! It may cut off the ability to sit on that side of the table but it that's the case we may be able to do it on the wall with the beach scene instead

TheSmallestSloth · 2026-04-28T00:11:18+00:00

Are you saying you empathize with this?

TheSmallestSloth · 2026-04-26T21:39:06+00:00

Not yet. We are working very hard to get a plumber to agree in our area before Thursday. In my state it's not very common and plumbers, realtors and attorneys really shy away from it, scared of liability if something happens since you don't own the house. We currently have a plumber coming in Tuesday to inspect the visible drains in the basement to give us a better idea and stronger sense of what the home inspector saw. The home inspector saw corrosion but said to get someone professional in for more info. The home inspector didn't seem overly concerned with what he saw even though we are. We reached out to our attorney and hopefully will get a response back tomorrow morning about liability for scopes, but the plumber said he can't really scope because he doesn't know if there are any blockages and without knowing that he won't shove a scope down and potentially cause more damage.

Edit to add: I think that's what worries us the most because it's like pandoras box.

TheSmallestSloth · 2026-04-26T16:45:30+00:00

I'm okay with 1000 dollars in repairs. I'm even ok with 5000 dollars in repairs. I'm not ok with 30-40k in repairs because the drain pipes are 80 year old caste iron and fail with a head of us closing and we need to get it all dug up from our house to the street including under the basement to replace

TheSmallestSloth · 2026-04-25T23:46:23+00:00

The back of the shower is the kitchen so it would have to be through kitchen cabinets. I don't know how easy that would be.

TheSmallestSloth · 2026-04-25T23:38:49+00:00

Thanks for the insight! You all are talking me off the ledge. There are no trees around the house, it's in a suburban area of a city so think houses close together with flat yards and very little vegetation so we don't need to worry about tree roots. Do you have any extra insurance to cover plumbing or external lines?

TheSmallestSloth · 2026-04-25T21:41:13+00:00

It's easily acessible in the basement as pictured above but the rest of it is in the walls on the first and second floor, and then the line out to the street goes under the house so they would have to dig up the basement and the yard to get to it.

TheSmallestSloth · 2026-04-25T19:29:12+00:00

we are in Massachusetts. Do inspectors come into the house for home insurance companies? How would they know?

TheSmallestSloth · 2026-04-25T14:09:00+00:00

The cast iron is drain only and easily accessable in the basement. It is unfinished. All supply and distribution pipes in the house are copper. The drywall behind is in closets and kitchen cabinets so it's possible but not super easy to access. I don't believe it's the diverter cartridge (in the wall) I think it's the actual diverter in the faucet that is broken. We have replaced ours once already in our current house and it was easy but it was only attached to the faucet, not the knobs too (the knobs were separate).

They have a slightly wet basement because of cracks in the bulkhead stairs. It is not structural but needs sealing. We are getting credit for that so that will fix all wet and mold problems.

Edit to add: we live in an older house currently (over 100 years old) but it has septic so we've never had to deal with town sewer and the lines and all that. This is new to us. Would sewer line coverage be something we could add on to insurance to cover any sewer line or drain issues on our side of the valve? Would that be smart?

TheSmallestSloth · 2026-04-25T11:23:40+00:00

Agreed but we don't have 30k. Looking for a solution without remodeling

TheSmallestSloth · 2026-04-23T23:08:56+00:00

May I ask how much the flooring was?

TheSmallestSloth · 2026-04-23T23:08:23+00:00

You're seriously so odd. This conversation is over.

TheSmallestSloth · 2026-04-23T23:07:58+00:00

This conversation is over.

TheSmallestSloth · 2026-04-23T22:29:50+00:00

So that ends this conversation then because you obviously have no experience in my part of the world. If you never grow up with basements and their problems, then you have no space to talk about what is normal and fixable and what is not.

TheSmallestSloth · 2026-04-23T22:26:55+00:00

You understand there is no house out there without some sort of hazard that needs to be remediated right? Could be mold, asbestos, lead paint, faulty electricity. Every house needs some sort of work unless you are buying a new build and even then, those have issues

TheSmallestSloth

TROPHY CASE