Stressing

Life has gotten stressful! I mean, it kinda was already, what with the cancer and the threat of covid. But now there’s a bunch of regular life stuff going on too. John’s project at work is facing some significant hurdles and may need to shut down. John wouldn’t lose his job, thankfully. But it’s a big, multi-year project and he’s put a lot into it. It would be discouraging to lose it now after all that work. He would have to find someone else’s project to work on.

Along that same line (of losing projects), I am mourning the impending loss of our small rental business, which we are preparing to dismantle. We have put enormous amounts of time and money into this business over the last few years! We’ve bought the properties, put them into LLCs, did a lot of repair and upgrades, and haven’t actually made any money yet. They were an investment with the intent to keep them for a number of years. If we sell them now, the real estate fees alone would wipe out any rent generated.

It really doesn’t make any sense to build a business just to give up on it right before it was supposed to start generating an income. But cancer doesn’t make any sense. And covid doesn’t make any sense. Nothing makes any sense anymore. It’s sad, it seems like all that work for these past couple of years for nothing!

Plus, I liked the rentals! I’m so sad to sell them, because they’re nice houses and we fixed them up the way we thought was good for the tenants. I liked having tenants and being able to provide a nice place for them to live. We replaced the kitchen appliances, fixed the sprinkler systems, planted plants in the yards, tore out old carpet, repainted, and made them feel like homes, not depressing rentals.

But then I got cancer (actually, then I got diagnosed with cancer, who knows how long I’ve actually had it – years maybe). After the diagnosis we started thinking about getting out of the rental business because of how much work it is. Also with the economy worsening, John and I are feeling increasingly vulnerable as small-business property owners.

The leases all came due this spring. When I got diagnosed at the end of January we considered giving our tenants notice to be out at the end of their leases so we could sell the properties. But then the coronavirus appeared, and we didn’t want our tenants to have to find new houses in those conditions. So we decided the tenants could all stay past their leases and we just hoped for the best.

Turns out, two of our tenants gave us notice themselves – one couple bought their own condo, and another tenant needed to move to Santa Fe. They were both apologetic for leaving us with empty houses in the middle of a pandemic, but we figured it was for the best, allowing us a chance to try to sell the two properties. In addition, our third tenants have given notice for the end of the summer – they are moving back home to Florida in September.

The first house to list was one in Albuquerque. We got an offer within two days, which we accepted. Then the buyers backed out during inspections! Bummer! The inspections went very well – the house is in great shape. But inspections give an easy-out for buyers who are having second thoughts.

The buyers wanted us to take out the beautiful tree in the backyard! It’s the only large tree on the property and it would be a tragedy to lose it. Mature trees are valuable in the deserts of Albuquerque!

In the picture it looks like the tree is right up to the eves, but the picture is deceiving. The tree is in the far corner of the backyard and not threatening the house in any way. There is an entire patio between the tree and the house.

And if it was the view they were after, there’s plenty of view in the other direction.

Plus, of course, they could always take the tree out AFTER they buy the house. We weren’t going to take it out for them, and devalue our own property, and likely end up with them still not going through with the sale.

Buyers with doubts often focus on some inconsequential issue because psychologically they are having misgivings even if there isn’t a logical reason, and they are trying to resolve their feelings of hesitation. But it wasn’t the house for them.

Our real estate agent (who is excellent) said not to worry, that we can relist it right away and probably get a better offer. Sure enough, she had it relisted that same day and by the following day we had another offer! The new offer is for more than the first offer. Our concern with this new offer is these are first-time buyers and they show signs of being cash-strapped (the type of loan they are getting is the main concern).

In this market, the banks are being very cautious, so we’re worried these buyers may not end up qualifying for their loan. And we wouldn’t know that for over a month. So we’re thinking of sitting tight for a couple of days and see if more offers come in before committing ourselves to these buyers.

Update – we’ve gotten a third offer for the Albuquerque house, at full price, and with a better downpayment and a stronger loan situation than the second offer. Fingers crossed, there seems nothing wrong with this offer. Having to relist the house delayed us by about 3 weeks, but if this one goes through it’s actually a better deal than the first offer.

A Second Update – I got distracted and didn’t manage to hit the “publish” button yesterday afternoon so now I have a new update. Buyers #3 backed out for an unknown reason, only a few hours after they had submitted their offer! I don’t know why. But it’s a hard time to be buying or selling right now.

Here in Albuquerque the housing inventory (number of houses on the market) is currently extremely low. So buyers don’t have a lot of choice. If they are determined to buy, they end up making offers on houses that aren’t really what they wanted, because that’s all there is available. That happened to us when we moved to California in 2012. There was nothing on the market! Nothing! I was so unhappy with the house we bought that I was literally in tears when we signed the closing papers.

Also everyone is just nervous about making a big investment right now. The coronavirus is such a new situation, and the economy is doing badly. So many people are out of work! I don’t blame buyers for getting cold feet. I’ve got cold feet. I don’t know what’s going to happen. None of us do. Anyway, we think buyers #2 are still interested, so we’re contacting them today.