And he was surprised by our response?

You may remember that I mentioned that my wife and I had put an offer in on the house here in San Francisco. And you might also remember, how the "lovely"person who would put the place up for sale countered our reasonable offer by increasing his price by approximately 25%.

Because apparently he thought that it was an automatic given that any property in San Francisco must be sold for over asking.

So we told him, after making one counter, to pound sand. At least, that was the polite translation I allowed my broker to make.

After all that, we passed by the place over the weekend. We noticed that there was an open house. We did not go in.

Apparently, his cunning plan of finding someone to get into a bidding war with us failed. No one apparently so much as made a low ball offer on the place.

So what is he to do? Well, apparently his plan was put into effect yesterday, this "lovely" person came back with what he called a great offer. His listed price (as opposed to his desired price) plus we get to pay all of the transfer fees.

Now, let's step back a moment and consider comparables for the neighborhood in question. The median $/square foot is about $657. Let's consider the condition of the house for a second. The front stairway which needs serious work (as in the report came back saying it needed $10,000 in work soon or it was liable to collapse in some places), a kitchen in which only one of the main appliances was working, a basement which can best be described as a haven for things that go bump in the night without the possibility of doing anything usable other than storing boxes and a car (seriously, the ceiling in the basement is 7 feet max, except for a lane where you can park a car which would be about 9 feet, basically making anything installed down there other than a work bench being in violation of building codes), and house which needs foundation work. And for this, he wants to get in the range of $670/sq ft.

Consider the fact that the houses which have gotten 670/sq ft and above have all been in markedly better condition.

Ummm... does that make sense to anyone? I mean, I suppose if I had money to waste, it would be the perfect deal.

So we countered low. Why? Because with $20,000 in repairs to the foundation and the steps (not to mention a roof which is on the edge of needing to be replaced... oops forgot to mention that), with an addition 3 to 7 grand in appliances for the kitchen (you sort of need a refrigerator and the cabinetry would look really funny without a dishwasher, plus the stove looked to be about ready to die), you come in with a bill of being $25,000 - $30,000. And thats not including redoing the floors to get rid of the carpet which looks like it belongs in a crack house (thankfully there are hardwood floors underneath, even tho their condition is questionable since this "lovely" person has zero pride of ownership in his property, being content to let it run down over the past 20 years).

I mean suddenly, we're talking a lot of money. Money we would not have to put into another house in better condition.

Add into that Mrs. Angrybell's goodwill was used up by the "lovely" person's actions during the first go round and you have a situation where any offer is going to be low. Also, remember, we had moved on at this point. We were not intending on making another offer.

However, add into this mix, our real estate broker was saying that we should accept his terms. I almost fired him on the spot. Can anyone give me a good reason not to? I mean, we are in a position where we don't have to move right this minute. We also have a situation where we are the only people who are willing to make any sort of a bid on the property. So why should we meet his price? Especially in light of the fact he has been such a "lovely" person to deal with so far?

We will be needing a new real estate agent in the near future. One who actually wants to work for us instead of himself.

Anyways.

So we came in low. At about $637.50/sq ft.

The "lovely" person was apparently offended by that and has informed us that he will no longer try to sell to us.

I'm so broken hearted. Of course, its going to tickle me to see the sign for the open house every time we go near there.

Yes, someone will buy it. Some idiot is out there who will pay this "lovely" person's asking price. And all I can say is that person is a sucker.