Looks Like I'll Have To Sell The House

[Zema Bus]

And because I seem to be a magnet for problems with this move, I haven't been able to find my checkbook. It could be in one of these moving boxes but so far no luck in finding it so I don't know if was lost in the move. I've been planning to transition over to an online bank with better interest rates and I setup an account with one several years ago but never created any savings or checking accounts. So I thought this might be a good time to do that. I initiated the process, only for them to tell me it will take a week for them to do a background check first (required now by the government). So I guess in the meantime I'll see if my credit union can move everything to a new account. It's going to be a royal pain to transition everything over, and I already gave the title company wiring instructions during signing, so once it's sorted out I'll have to send them updated wiring instructions. I only have until the 14th when closing is scheduled.

[Grogan]

Banking is very unfriendly in the U.S. Here, I could go to any bank tomorrow and open an account.

It's just something else to keep you stressed and pissed off.

[Zema Bus]

I got my credit union to create a new checking account and move everything over, all done in a one hour chat session. The real fun part is getting external linked accounts moved over. Some of them went smoothly but others fought me "your settings cannot be saved at this time". Of course credit cards take the longest because they'll send micro transactions and wait for me to verify the amounts, so it'll probably take a few days for each.I still have some left to get to.

[Grogan]

That's good that you got that done at least (only a one hour chat session) and you can finally get your house sold and get out of this temporary loan mess.

What a pain in the ass.

[Zema Bus]

The sad thing is after all of this, after the mortgage company gets the remaining balance, the realtors involved get their cut, the two temporary loans are paid off (one of them is the small personal loan from last July that paid for work on on the old house and helped keep me afloat a little longer) I'll only walk away with a fraction of what the house sold for. It will still be slightly more than I've ever had at one time. Back before I bought that house I was still living at home with very few expenses and making more than I am now so I managed to accumulate a good amount, most of which I used for the down payment and closing costs on that house. Not sure how much I'll use to recast my new mortgage, I originally thought I'd have more to work with. I wanted to use some for other things, like getting solar again, and some type of an addition in the backyard to solve my space deprivation issue. But at least I will finally be free!

[Grogan]

Yes, one day at a time. Right now you have what you need. Eventually the lower cost of living will pay off and maybe you'll start getting ahead again.

[Zema Bus]

Yeah the old house closes in about 1 week now.

Since I didn't have my NAS set back up I was going to use a USB flash drive to get the documents work wanted for updating my direct deposit but I discovered they had locked down the USB ports on the work laptop. Not a big surprise though, everything is locked down on it. I didn't want to use unencrypted email to get it to the laptop so I decided to just get my NAS machine going again (Debian server inside a container in Proxmox on a 10 year old server board). It was in a bedroom where I put a bunch of machines, cables, monitors etc I had no place else to store, I was going to move it somewhere else, but it was sitting next to an electrical outlet so I just plugged it in and ran a long Ethernet cable around the corner into the next room where I had a switch. Problem solved.

[Grogan]

Security theater is so silly. They think they are clever by disabling USB storage, yet you can connect to any dickhead network and transfer files. You know what I always say, security that foils the legitimate user.

That's mostly just what I use my old system for now, storage. It has mechanical drives and I can access it with NFS, SMB or sftp for simple transfers like archives etc. (e.g. for just working in a single directory with wild cards)

[Zema Bus]

Trying to get one of my credit card companies to link to my new checking account is an exercise in frustration. The other one just worked, but Chase not so much. They send micro amounts to your checking account and then you go back to verify the amounts in order for the account to be verified and linked. Problem is the newly added external account doesn't show in the list of external accounts, only the old checking account, so there's no way to enter the micro amounts they sent to it in order to link it. If I try to add it again it just says it has already been added. It's just lost in the ether. So I'm stuck. I sent them a message, it says they'll get back to me in 1 business day. Failing that, an hour or more on hold on the phone to talk to a script reader from someone with a thick foreign accent who will just tell me to call back later (based on multiple complaints on Reddit). Or transfer the balance to my other Chase account (Amazon), it wouldn't solve the underlying problem but that would at least buy me some more time, until the first of next month.

[Grogan]

Modern technology... it was almost better days when they used ink and paper.

It seems you'll be fighting to sort out niggling bullshit like this related to moving for a long time.

[Zema Bus]

I sure hope they can resolve it without me having to call their customer service, I'm dreading having to do that.

[Zema Bus]

I got a response, they said someone will contact me within 48 hours In the meantime I have an account with an online bank ready to go, this one the credit card company has a template for (vs my credit union, for which I had to set it up manually) so maybe it would be more likely to just work. If I can add it as an external account successfully I could transfer $ from my credit union to the online bank, and then make a payment that way. Just in case the issue isn't resolved in time.

[Zema Bus]

Well it looks like that has already failed. I initiated the linking process and as before it says they will send two micro amounts for verification over the next two business days. But, this one also does not appear in my list of external accounts, meaning I would be unable to verify this one either.

[Grogan]

So now it's call and wait on hold for a geological period to get this sorted.

[Zema Bus]

I received a message from them already, the response was - call them lol! Before doing that though, I wondered if maybe their phone app would be different. And it was, I was able to verify my new account in seconds....but then it still didn't show as an external account, not on the phone, and not on the website. So finally I just called them. I had to get past the bot which wasn't recognizing the numbers I typed in and making me start over from the beginning, then finally it just put me through. I got a tech with a strong Indian accent but he got it done. He re-added my external account and finally it's showing up. The online bank isn't showing so if I want to use that as a payment account later I guess I'll have to call them back, but at least the immediate problem is finally solved and I can focus on other problems I still need to solve.

[Grogan]

I'm glad you finally got somewhere with those disconnected assholes. What a waste of time.

[Zema Bus]

The buyers backed out at the last minute. It was supposed to close on Monday. So I'm back to square one. Another month at the minimum, and we may have to drop the price even further. I'm not going to be able to afford two mortgages much longer before I'm completely out of money. Yeah, I really wish I'd just gone with a house flipper now. Just when I thought this stress was finally coming to an end, it ramps way up instead.

[Grogan]

Aww fuck, what a pain in the ass. I hope there are other interested buyers that want to snap it up. (and you don't have to lower the price)

[Zema Bus]

Thanks Grogan. It turns out it was due to their financing. Their lender originally gave them a lower quote and then when the real numbers came out they weren't comfortable. My realtor changed the listing back to active status tonight and got a call from an agent, so hopefully something happens soon.

[Grogan]

What sucks is that you wasted time on that buyer, waiting for it to close. It sounds like you're not going to have a problem selling it though, from prior discussion. It could have been done by now if that was another suitor, vying to purchase it

[Zema Bus]

Yeah, it pisses me off that they can do that right up to the last minute and walk away free and clear (well not totally, the buyer did lose money on the appraisal and inspection fees, but I had to pay for some of that stuff too). I wish he'd have pulled out a lot earlier if he couldn't get his act together, it was very inconsiderate of everyone else involved. I've been checking the view and save counts on the various real estate platforms, both counts have already gone up significantly, much more quickly than when it was originally listed. We're now in prime home selling season, which runs from spring until late summer. When it was first listed the market was still in the winter slump. I'm hoping for a bidding war that makes that buyer backing out a "blessing in disguise"

[Grogan]

That would be the best outcome indeed

At least you shouldn't have to reduce it, anyway.

[Zema Bus]

It may be wishful thinking but I sure hope it turns out that way. In the meantime the waiting game is excruciating. I projected several months out to see what my status would be financially in the event the house didn't sell in that time. I will be losing $1,000 / month, my weekly income will cause my bank acct to rebound with each month being $1,000 less than the previous month. I don't think it would take that long to sell but I wanted to see if I could survive several months just in case, in an attempt to reduce some of the stress I'm feeling now. To make this work I have to set my CC's to min pay so that the only things of significance hitting my bank account will be the two mortgages and the personal loan from last summer.

[Grogan]

... and then what, racking up califuckingfornia fines for having your grass 1/4 inch too long or something

I'll bet it will sell in weeks, not months

[Zema Bus]

Well I sure hope the local city doesn't mess with me again with their ordinances. I'm still paying the gardener to maintain the lawn and keep the weeds in check. This whole situation is like in games where after a long fight with a boss monster it's finally down and you think the fight is finally coming to an end, and then it suddenly springs back to life with full health again

[Grogan]

Except in real life, there's no god mode. Yes, this has been a struggle but it seems a house like yours, in a neighbourhood like yours, will be in demand. (I hope)

[Zema Bus]

I got one offer on Monday, but my realtor felt it was sketchy, so I decided to see what happens by the end of the week. I got one more Thursday that seems to be OK. It's at a higher price than listed but they requested concessions to cover their closing costs, so in the end it'll be just a hair more than the asking price. I signed the initial documents to get that going, should close in 21 days (hopefully it does this time). I also signed the cancellation for the 1st buyer, and I saw the specific reason behind the cancellation. It was because of the high property taxes. That makes me kind of nervous that the same thing could happen all over again. I mentioned that to my realtor, I'm hoping they are aware of the total costs upfront. Lots of counties especially in California abuse people with ever higher property taxes, it shouldn't be nearly as much as the principal and interest, but they're greedy and think people are made of money.

[Grogan]

It just goes to show there are lots of interested buyers though. Hopefully they should be aware of high property taxes in California. Most of those that can afford to live there probably have enough money to cover it, if buying. Lets hope this is it.

[Zema Bus]

After talking to my realtor we decided to wait until Monday before going into escrow to see if any more offers come in over the weekend. There are more showings on weekends and this is the first weekend since being back on the market.

[Grogan]

A holiday weekend too, that's a good idea. Let the bidding war begin