All the good~offer~ma you can muster

Offer-Ma!!

We've been in a flurry of calls/open houses/emails over the last week, and got on a Facetime call this morning with JZ's brother, Lukas, and his husband, TJ (our unofficial financial advisor, as distinct from our official one. TJ used to work in finance at Fidelity, so he's not just amateur advice).

Now that we've looked at five or six properties we've got a better sense of what's out there and where and at what price and what kind of tradeoffs we're willing to make.

But we didn't have a clear idea on what the outer edge of our stretch on finances might be and the places we like best are near that stretch or just beyond it.

So we have to get our pre-approval lined up (it's almost ready), look at the terms, go back to our (official) financial advisor and work out tiers for a monthly budget. So if we buy at the bottom of our budget, how does the math work out. Middle of the tier, top of the tier etc.

(Obviously if we buy at the top of the tier, we have less money to invest and all those implications.)

Other additional wrinkles:

The unicorn house that's a Probate Sale is probably going to be bid up to the top or over our stretch, but it would still be a bargain at that price.

Because it's a Probate Sale we'd have to make an initial bid on it by Feb. 2 BUT we can skip that step and just try to outbid at the actual Court Date. Which might be better because we'll have more time to line up all of our scattered ducks, and also, the bidding increments are set by a formula so we can see where the minimum over bid is at before we'd have to go to the Court Date, and if it's well out of our range we can just skip it.

While we're in a position to buy now, we still haven't received the biggest distribution which will happen after JZ's dad's business is sold. That will probably happen within the next two months (it's been pushed forward, Letter Of Interest has been issued, it's in the approval/disapproval process. If we have to pivot away there are interested other buyers). But there have been so many snags along the way we're clear there's a big difference between the sale SHOULD go through within two months, and it WILL.

We're coming up on the two year anniversary of JZ's father's death and we had expected the business would've been sold before the end of 2020. (As it turns out it has been hugely advantageous that we didn't sell then but usually delays aren't helping you.)

Our realtor has pointed out that we're in a slow period right now, and there will be many more houses for sale on the market over the next two months. So Beautiful Unicorn 2.0 will probably present itself if we wait out the market a little bit.

However, we do have some time constraint because I told Emmett he and his GF could move into our apartment in the summer and he's planning on transferring to San Francisco State to finish his COVID delayed degree.

So it's not just 3D chess, it's 3D chess in Zero Gravity while all the pieces float around.

One of the very appealing things about the Probate Sale/ Unicorn house is that it's a complete Victorian that's been broken out into two separate flats (one per floor). And that would allow us to secure a place for Emmett and Matilda to live in the City going forward, and after we're gone it can be a source of income for them as well.

These are good problems to have and we realize our good fortune, but it's a lot.

Wordle has been bought by the New York Times.

That's a lot of balls in the air, David! I hear often that the real estate market is poised to open up a lot more buyer opportunities in the coming months. Inventory here is still very limited. Patience is a challenge when things being settled and a plan in place is so much more satisfying.

Reminds me that we really need to do as much prep in advance as possible so we don't leave the business and houses and anything else up in the air for people to deal with. After we deal with the house being sold then we can work on getting the business in the best condition for selling that since it is obvious that the kids don't have any interest. (both have expressed that they embrace the set hours and paycheck model and want nothing to do with the hours and stress involved in owning a business. I get it. So many of my doctors hear the same thing from their kids. Doctor's hours, forget that noise.

I still haven't tried Wordle. Maybe in the summer when things are less hectic.

Wordle has been bought by the New York Times.

Well, I hope Mr Wardle got a good pile of money. I expect it will disappear behind a paywall or get a bunch of ads or something before too long. Alas.

Uggh yeah, I hope it’s not behind an additional paywall—I already pay for the NYtimes but don’t pay for additional game subscription or cooking subscription and it kind of annoys me they want me to pay even more. Hmph.

I used to have just the game subscription but it was really kind of pricey for something I didn't need and couldn't even keep up with so I gave it up.

Yeah, I subscribe but don't pay for the extras either. I got the cooking newsletter when it was free. I only do the daily mini crossword for that reason too.

Although possibly having it disappear behind a paywall will be less sad than having interest in it just dwindle over time. I do enjoy the whole thing so much right now, though.

I hear often that the real estate market is poised to open up a lot more buyer opportunities in the coming months. Inventory here is still very limited. Patience is a challenge when things being settled and a plan in place is so much more satisfying.

I do think we'll see the right place if we can hang tight for a few more months. We keep seeing places that are close but not quite it.