It’s happened! I haven’t told The Other Half yet, as he gave me one of Those Looks when I said I was going to handle the sale of the house. We all know Other Halves are generally like that, so no skin off my nose, I simply elected not to respond. After all, we also know that Our Halves are Most Often Right, and in the end, it all boils down to one simple fact: if I sort the sale, there’s more mall-time for me.
In short however, my cleaning, painting and increased curb appeal has paid off. We’ve had a buyer-couple sniffing around. I wasn’t too sure if they were really interested at first, but when she came back for the third time, with her mother, I realized they were.
Luckily, I’d already had another look at the Private Property website, done a little homework, and so had my ducks, well dots actually, in a row. With help from the website, I’d found a user-friendly attorney complete with a suitably worded “offer to purchase” document. I was ready for any possible bites.
They do say strike while the iron is hot and that’s exactly what I’d intended to do. As a seasoned shopper, I know all too well the feeling of falling head over heels for a pair of heels one day, and if for some strange reason the purchase isn’t concluded, there can be that rather disappointing cooling off sensation when you next think about them. If you do think about them again, that is.
I didn’t want anyone getting that cooling off sensation about our lovely home (especially after the look I’d chosen not to react to) so I thought it wise to have the offer to purchase doc ready and waiting.
I had also been advised that having an attorney in tow was a good thing too. My gut reaction would have been to slink off to CNA (or simply Google) and find a suitable sale agreement, but after a little consideration, I realized that I didn’t really know what a suitable sale agreement was. I also realized that while a good attorney may cost something, it would most certainly save me lots more, should I miss a point, a trick or even an innocent slip.
Anyway the exciting moment came when the buyer-couple indicated that they wanted to put in an offer, and asked whether I’d be prepared to meet them for a chat.
I believe there are people who chat about prices first and come to verbal agreements before anything is put in writing, but here I decided to go with my gut. They knew what my asking price was. I didn’t want to negotiate verbally, so I smoothly mentioned that I was too busy to meet, but would immediately mail them a suitable offer form.
Good thinking I thought. A little harder for them to twist my arm on a price I wasn’t happy with. I hit “send”, sat back and waited!
