Under Contract

As of this morning, we are under contract with a buyer for the Placitas house. We are cautiously optimistic. We’ve got several hurdles yet.

First of all, the buyer has been very hesitant. It’s a huge move for her – she’s coming from the east coast – and she seems indecisive. Apparently she’s been off-and-on looking for a house in Placitas for 6 years. 6 years! So hmmm, maybe a looky-loo?

Secondly, she is an older, single woman. I don’t want to be ageist and sexist, but that’s a complicated house. It’s got a well and a pump house (dug into the ground, handy-like, right?) and septic system, and solar panels, and there’s always something to troubleshoot. The desert countryside has mice, packrats and bunnies, all of which love to eat wiring. It’s just a hard house to deal with. So maybe she’s more together than I am, but I would not want to deal with that house alone.

But she loves the house (it is a very attractive house) and maybe she will be blissfully happy there. Everything is in good shape – there’s no known issues.

It will need to pass a septic test. I’m only giving it about a 50% chance of passing. That’s just because of the age of it. It’s original to the house. It hasn’t been giving us any trouble, but to test it the inspectors will jet into it far more water than we would ever send it at once. So there’s no way to know how it’s going to perform under those conditions until they do the test.

If that the system fails, that means probably $5,000 – $8,000 to get a new one installed. Hopefully they can find a good spot for it. You can’t put a new septic in the same spot as the old one. There’s not a lot of room up there at the top of the hill, and we can’t put it downhill because it would be too close to the corner of the lot where the well is.

And some of you probably remember the septic installation nightmare at that Placitas house John and I almost bought a couple of years ago!

Anyway, it’s a beautiful house, and we’ll do what we need to, to make sure it’s got a good septic system. And hopefully she will complete the sale and be very happy there enjoying the stunning views for many years to come.