I’m Being Taken For a Joyride!

Some people have a lot of nerve!

I know I’m beginning to sound like a broken record but I lowered the price of my house again the other day. Hours after the price change took effect and was broadcast to all the local real estate agents via what they’ve coined the “hot sheet,” guess who calls my agent? The agent for the family of three.

In case you forgot, this is the family that I’d been negotiating with for weeks. Finally, after a lot of back and forth, I agreed to their price only to be told that they were no longer interested.

Now, it seems, they’ve returned to the negotiating table and obviously smell blood in the water. They’ve now offered me a price that is $10,000 lower than the “final” offer they presented to me (and I ultimately agreed to) just weeks ago. Their reason: The housing market continues to decline and that’s what they believe the house is now worth. It also doesn’t help that the comps paint a grim picture as prices of surrounding homes continue to drop.

There’s no doubt that these people are jerking me around. They can sense I’m desperate to sell and they are playing the game.

My initial reaction was to tell them to take a hike but I didn’t, at least not yet. As much as I don’t like being taken advantage of, the reality is that I need to get out of that house.

Each month I’m throwing my money away on the mortgage and commuting costs, and the threat of foreclosure looms closer as the months progress. To make matters worse, John (my ex) said it’s likely he will have to move back into the house come August due to his financial constraints.

I, of course, strongly expressed my opposition to him moving back but he does own half of the house and has been paying half of the mortgage, so legally my hands are tied.

The way I look at is that I really have only about a month or so left to sell the house for several reasons. First, John would likely be moving back around that time. Second, once mid- to late-August hits, the summer is coming to an end and less people are looking to buy in the fall and winter.

Boy is it quite a bit of money that I’ll be bringing to the table to pay off the bank—money that’s not just sitting in the bank.

What will I decide? I’ll let you know when I know.