My Federal Tax Refund came in today! I'm fake rich!
I just sold my house. I was going to put it on the market in the next few weeks and was dreading it -- the hassle of getting it in as perfect condition as possible, keeping it constantly immaculate and having my son do the same, leaving the house with my dog during open houses and showings, etc. But my agent has been spreading the word among fellow agents that I'd be selling it soon. On Tuesday, one asked if she and a buyer could see it in an hour. I said it was totally messy and she said that's OK. So they came, spent about half an hour looking around, then called that night and offered my asking price, plus closing costs and a few other things. He put $10K down and supposedly if he backs out I get to keep the $10K. So it's a huge relief after the nightmarish previous times I tried unsuccessfully to sell it. Houses here are in such short supply and high demand that many are getting multiple offers the day they go on the market, and some are getting bid up over the asking price. I was hoping if I had listed it that might happen. But that's not guaranteed. I might get less, and now this will save me a lot of expenses, not to mention work, fixing it up.
My only slight concern is the guy who's buying it. He's this burly guy I guess in his 30s (hard to tell with masks these days) who came alone with the agent. Yesterday he had an inspection done, again came alone and followed the inspectors around. (I don't think they found anything deal-breaking, and the guy committed in advance to taking responsibility for anything they might find.) Along with their offer, the agent sent this letter he had supposedly written that went on very colorfully about everything he was going to enjoy about the house, which suspiciously parroted almost exactly what both I and my agent had emphasized was good about the house. Plus it was in all this flowery language, whereas the guy in person was kind of taciturn. I suspected the agent might have written it. Buyers sometimes include those letters, and to me it's kind of pointless because for all I care they can demolish it and rebuild. But whatever.
So at first I wondered if he's a pedophile. I know -- kind of a big leap, but this is an extremely family-ish neighborhood. Too much so even for me, in fact, so although the location has lots of nice things (walking distance from a lake, a creek, a library, stores, curated artisanal restaurants). I wondered what the appeal would be for a youngish single guy. Neighbors on my block have little kids. I'm three blocks from an elementary school, a middle school and a big park with a playground.
So yesterday when they did the inspection I chatted with the guy's agent while he was off with the inspector. I asked her if he was going to live here alone. She kind of hesitated and said no, he was going to have a friend with him. Whew, I thought, he's gay! That's fine, and a gay man lives alone across the street, so maybe they can be friends.
But later my son said he overheard the guy say he was going to rent out the bedrooms. There are four, and supposedly he'd have three other guys living there with him and paying enough rent to cover the mortgage payments. I guess they'd share the kitchen, dining room and living room.
So that's the weirdest scenario of all. Not as bad as a pedophile, I guess, but why would four single guys want to share a kind of ordinary house in a boring family neighborhood?