Every man has to have a shed
- Thread starter Dazz
- Start date
Congrats Daz
But I am sure that there is another bigger mountain in the not so distant future.
...not sure about that Andy, I've getting a weird feeling in my stomach that is saying "you've reached your plateau level". I've never had that before. Dunno if it'll pass or what, but normally when I buy something, I'm as keen as mustard to get looking again. This time that hasn't happened.
I'm also far more interested in spending some time with the wife and kids while they grow up (the kids that is). They are a whole bunch more fun than scratching around smelly tin sheds.
To everyone who has passed on their regards, thanks for that. Hopefully this is a two way street we're having here. I'd love to hear some stories of some of the forum members who I know are investigating some deals in their neck of the woods.
In terms of settling the place, I'm a long way from that milestone, and have a further couple of hundred pages of legal contracts and dross to wade through before we are anywhere near that position. I tried to contact one of the elderly vendors direct to firm up a realistic settlement date, but got word from one of his four advisers in the chain....read "professional blockers".....that he was sailing on some 42' catamaran in the Whitsundays. Well, bully for him !!
Great - sounds like he's spending some of my deposit funds before he's got them...lucky bugger. Hey Boatboy - you might know him ??
just received written finance approval for the full purchase price plus all costs.
Daz
Excellent work
Cheers
Congrats & well done Dazza. You have earned it mate. Thanks for sharing your 9 year journey with the forum.
Its wierd what you mentioned quoted above. Thats exactly the way I'm feeling now that we have purchased the last property required to complete the property acquisition stage of our portfolio - settlement is booked in for next week
I've listened to elite sportsman/athletes answer questions about retirement when their time has come and all of them say "you just know when the time is right". I guess its a similar sort of thing with us.
Time to smell the roses!
Once again congratulations & well done.
Cheers Sailor and Rixter. Good luck with your individual endeavours.
Rixter, I really must sit down with you over this harevsting principle and go thru it in detail.
Well, regarding this shed, I've had a really topsy turvy week to tell you the truth. She's been up and down all over the place.
There's a long way to go on this thing if it ever comes to fruition. It's already more than a week past the original settlement date and things have bogged down yet again - no prizes for guessing whom I'm up against - my familiar adversary, a gaggle of solicitors....(wonder what the group noun for those are ???....bustards perhaps ??)
I never spent so many hours early in the morning before work and so many hours after work late into the night inspecting paperwork and all of the fine details that get presented in 1 and 2 font down the bottom of legal documents. More than one person / solicitor has commented that I'm the first person they've come across to actually fully read and then have the gumption to question aspects of the documents. Surely they can't be serious...most people apparently take a leap of faith, close their eyes and sign whatever is put in front of them....."it's just a Proforma"....."standard stuff - everyone does the same"....not this little black duck.
I've had numerous calls from all and sundry after reading the lopsided paperwork, what with Bank Managers who feign authority that they don't have the authority to negotiate and will need to pass it through legal, Bank's solicitors who also say that don't have the authority to change anything and will need to consult with the Manager, and Vendor's solicitors who feign they don't have the authority to negotiate......hmmmm.....I'd love to, just for once, speak to someone - anyone at all from any organisation who actually has the authority to talk to me. It's quite pathetic really. Apparently it's all part of the checks and balances so the accountants and lawyers remain in control, gagging Managers so they can't actually act like humans.
If I hear the b/s fob off "Look, I know it's not right, but it's just a standard clause" then something will pop. I use this "standard" tactic myself to great advantage when dealing with Tenants, so I know when I'm being hoodwinked when the tactic is being used on me. Most people's brains go to mush when the killer term "standard" is used against them.
Luckily I don't need the deal and don't need the finance. Most people I'm dealing with wrongly assume I actually care about this deal, and therefore will agree to any condition to get it over the line. Nothing could be further from the truth. If the numbers don't stack up, and the terms are too onerous, the deal will die.
So, cos I haven't rolled over and automatically accepted their standard terms, everyone in the loop is ignoring me. Wonderful. They must be trying the ol' 'good sweating' technique that Rockefeller used to employ back in the 1870's against his negotiating adversaries. Bring it on I reckon.
So, another week went by with nothing progressed on the deal. Is there anything slower than Bank paperwork ??
On the bright side, just picked up the tax refund off the accountant, and received back every cent I paid. That's five years in a trot now - gotta be pleased with that. As big Kerry used to say, if you're paying any more taxes than you need to, you need your head read.
I think I'll go for a ride this weekend and forget about this shed for a while, and wait for the solicitors to see a bit of reason.....might be a longish ride. I'm just about at the point where I reach on every deal, and cut through the swath of brokers / agents / solicitors and all the other hangers on and actually talk to the only other party interested in the deal - the Vendor.
I've had massive resistance from all concerned not to do this, as if he has 3 heads or something. Methinks it's more to do with everyone protecting their commissions.....so the sooner I speak to him the quicker we'll get to both the truth and a sensible, reasonable outcome.
Rixter, I really must sit down with you over this harevsting principle and go thru it in detail.
Well, regarding this shed, I've had a really topsy turvy week to tell you the truth. She's been up and down all over the place.
There's a long way to go on this thing if it ever comes to fruition. It's already more than a week past the original settlement date and things have bogged down yet again - no prizes for guessing whom I'm up against - my familiar adversary, a gaggle of solicitors....(wonder what the group noun for those are ???....bustards perhaps ??)
I never spent so many hours early in the morning before work and so many hours after work late into the night inspecting paperwork and all of the fine details that get presented in 1 and 2 font down the bottom of legal documents. More than one person / solicitor has commented that I'm the first person they've come across to actually fully read and then have the gumption to question aspects of the documents. Surely they can't be serious...most people apparently take a leap of faith, close their eyes and sign whatever is put in front of them....."it's just a Proforma"....."standard stuff - everyone does the same"....not this little black duck.
I've had numerous calls from all and sundry after reading the lopsided paperwork, what with Bank Managers who feign authority that they don't have the authority to negotiate and will need to pass it through legal, Bank's solicitors who also say that don't have the authority to change anything and will need to consult with the Manager, and Vendor's solicitors who feign they don't have the authority to negotiate......hmmmm.....I'd love to, just for once, speak to someone - anyone at all from any organisation who actually has the authority to talk to me. It's quite pathetic really. Apparently it's all part of the checks and balances so the accountants and lawyers remain in control, gagging Managers so they can't actually act like humans.
If I hear the b/s fob off "Look, I know it's not right, but it's just a standard clause" then something will pop. I use this "standard" tactic myself to great advantage when dealing with Tenants, so I know when I'm being hoodwinked when the tactic is being used on me. Most people's brains go to mush when the killer term "standard" is used against them.
Luckily I don't need the deal and don't need the finance. Most people I'm dealing with wrongly assume I actually care about this deal, and therefore will agree to any condition to get it over the line. Nothing could be further from the truth. If the numbers don't stack up, and the terms are too onerous, the deal will die.
So, cos I haven't rolled over and automatically accepted their standard terms, everyone in the loop is ignoring me. Wonderful. They must be trying the ol' 'good sweating' technique that Rockefeller used to employ back in the 1870's against his negotiating adversaries. Bring it on I reckon.
So, another week went by with nothing progressed on the deal. Is there anything slower than Bank paperwork ??
On the bright side, just picked up the tax refund off the accountant, and received back every cent I paid. That's five years in a trot now - gotta be pleased with that. As big Kerry used to say, if you're paying any more taxes than you need to, you need your head read.
I think I'll go for a ride this weekend and forget about this shed for a while, and wait for the solicitors to see a bit of reason.....might be a longish ride. I'm just about at the point where I reach on every deal, and cut through the swath of brokers / agents / solicitors and all the other hangers on and actually talk to the only other party interested in the deal - the Vendor.
I've had massive resistance from all concerned not to do this, as if he has 3 heads or something. Methinks it's more to do with everyone protecting their commissions.....so the sooner I speak to him the quicker we'll get to both the truth and a sensible, reasonable outcome.
Gday Dazz
There aint nothing that suture's the possum more than being proactive and appearing to know to much.( from the collective of the hangers on and those that have a vested interest ).
Its like an ice breaker once stopped gowning in reverse only to come back with consistent purpose.
Seems to be how most of the archiving inverters get to there goals.
Good luck with the shed the rest will be your ability, and that aint luck.
Gerd
There aint nothing that suture's the possum more than being proactive and appearing to know to much.( from the collective of the hangers on and those that have a vested interest ).
Its like an ice breaker once stopped gowning in reverse only to come back with consistent purpose.
Seems to be how most of the archiving inverters get to there goals.
Good luck with the shed the rest will be your ability, and that aint luck.
Gerd
Hi Dazzling,
I know exactly how you feel. I, too, read every single word of every single contract/lease etc etc. I recently completed a lease deal with a Bank as my tenants and the whole thing from introduction to Heads of Agreement to Actual Lease was approximately 9 months, most of which was sucked in with Lease negotations between the overpaid solicitors.
In the end I got jack of all the solicitors and their BS and went straight to the head honcho's, arranged a teleconference with them all and sorted it out in 2 simple phone meetings.
The only way to do business in my opinion.
At the end of the day, the solictiors are paid to make things far more complicated than they really are, just one big fat peeing contest to see who can make the most simple concept the most complicated.
Go direct to the vendor; they are the only ones, as you say, with a vested interest in making the deal go forward.
Good luck.
I know exactly how you feel. I, too, read every single word of every single contract/lease etc etc. I recently completed a lease deal with a Bank as my tenants and the whole thing from introduction to Heads of Agreement to Actual Lease was approximately 9 months, most of which was sucked in with Lease negotations between the overpaid solicitors.
In the end I got jack of all the solicitors and their BS and went straight to the head honcho's, arranged a teleconference with them all and sorted it out in 2 simple phone meetings.
The only way to do business in my opinion.
At the end of the day, the solictiors are paid to make things far more complicated than they really are, just one big fat peeing contest to see who can make the most simple concept the most complicated.
Go direct to the vendor; they are the only ones, as you say, with a vested interest in making the deal go forward.
Good luck.
Just wanted to tell you how exciting your latest aquisition thread was to me, I literally had my heart in my mouth wondering if you would or wouldn't get the loan. Hang in there Dazz, in 6 mths you will be sitting back laughing while the bank employees will still only be collecting their salaries each week
Well, it's been 10 days now since I posted last, and a few largish events have occurred.
First off I went for a fairly decent ride to clear my head and try and de-stress after going nose to nose with absolute idiot Bank solicitors.
The smoke and mirrors shenanigans has cleared somewhat and there has been movement.
First cab off the rank, and most importantly, our original Bank who we've been borrowing off for the past 13 years, finally came good after three and a half months of legal obsfucation by hand delivering the two title deeds that we ripped out of their security X-coll pot. It was good to briefly hold them in my hand, before taking one of the deeds down to the new Bank's solicitors office, along with the discharge of mortgage papers, to act as a deposit. The other one remained uncrossed for future deals.....but that'll be way in the distance - if at all.
Secondly, after much soul searching and moral resistance, we signed the Offer of Finance facility to secure the loan on the new Premises. It gave me little satisfaction in doing this. The price and structure of the loan was outstanding, but the "standard Bank conditions" were horrible. I negotiated as hard as I could, and managed to waive most of the incidental fees and completely get rid of their outrageous 'all accounts clause', which gave them the right to come after me with a pack of wolfhounds if I defaulted. I figured, the remaining bad clauses only affect me if we stuff up.....so I resolved to keep my head above water and they won't affect me.
Smoked that through to the Banker today and he acknowledged receipt of our acceptance of the Loan Offer. We are planning on fixing our interest rate....I have no interest in yo-yoing with the 90 day bank bill rate.
Given that step, we were then able to sign away the Finance clause to the Sales Contract.....a monumental step for both us and the Vendor. This was the biggest bridge we needed to overcome, and the only real "out" clause we still had, so she's all steam ahead from here. I'm sure the Vendors are celebrating tonight after receiving that bit of good news.
The revised Settlement date is only 2 weeks away from today, and we still have a mountain of checking and DD to get through before releasing the Vendors from all of their obligations.
With these bigger deals, I've learnt to give myself more time to settle, there's simply to much to check to squeeze into the normal 6 weeks.
There was a Fire Safety Defect notice slapped on the property over 3 years ago by the council, which the Vendors, via about 2 or 3 consultancies are still working towards in terms of necessary rectifications. They've all had a bullet from the 78yr eldest brother who owns the shed currently for being slack and not doing their job properly.
I put a rocket up the Vendor and called them to task over this Fire Safety Notice of Defect, as the original Sales Contract asked about orders etc against the Land, and they clearly wrote "none known" which was patently false and misleading. This may come and bite them big time as it may delay their ability to Settle, and might cost them a fortune in penalty interest to me - here's hoping !!!
Once finished, the shed will be fully up to spec like a brand new building. All up, it has/will cost the Vendors probably half a mill to comply with the order, so I'm super glad that Settlement will only occur once the Council has signed off and removed the order. I don't want to inherit any of that headache.
The council rates and land tax bill are only partially paid for the year. The Vendors need to cough the remaining 70K before Settlement goes through.
Luckily we have a 3 month rental guarantee coming our way, and the Tenant is currently writing a bank cheque for us. This should give us some breathing space if the you know what hits the you know where. We checked the exact wording in the Lease, and although the money is directly in our name, any interest earnt on the account is due to the Tenant, which is a damn shame, cos we could easily live off the interest. Mental note to self - must change that wording in the next Tenant's Lease.
The Transfer of Land document has been signed off, so that's doing it's normal rounds.
I still have a mountain of specs and paperwork to check off, and so the process should continue unabated for the next 2 weeks solid such that we are in a position to be ready, willing and able. If we can arrive at Settlement and they are not ready, the penalty interest will be simply lovely.
Anyway, in amongst all of that lot, I have to try and seem interested in what's happening at work, and I must admit it's getting difficult to juggle two full time jobs plus try and be a good family man. Something eventually is going to have to give. Hopefully it's not my health.
So, plenty to get on with.
First off I went for a fairly decent ride to clear my head and try and de-stress after going nose to nose with absolute idiot Bank solicitors.
The smoke and mirrors shenanigans has cleared somewhat and there has been movement.
First cab off the rank, and most importantly, our original Bank who we've been borrowing off for the past 13 years, finally came good after three and a half months of legal obsfucation by hand delivering the two title deeds that we ripped out of their security X-coll pot. It was good to briefly hold them in my hand, before taking one of the deeds down to the new Bank's solicitors office, along with the discharge of mortgage papers, to act as a deposit. The other one remained uncrossed for future deals.....but that'll be way in the distance - if at all.
Secondly, after much soul searching and moral resistance, we signed the Offer of Finance facility to secure the loan on the new Premises. It gave me little satisfaction in doing this. The price and structure of the loan was outstanding, but the "standard Bank conditions" were horrible. I negotiated as hard as I could, and managed to waive most of the incidental fees and completely get rid of their outrageous 'all accounts clause', which gave them the right to come after me with a pack of wolfhounds if I defaulted. I figured, the remaining bad clauses only affect me if we stuff up.....so I resolved to keep my head above water and they won't affect me.
Smoked that through to the Banker today and he acknowledged receipt of our acceptance of the Loan Offer. We are planning on fixing our interest rate....I have no interest in yo-yoing with the 90 day bank bill rate.
Given that step, we were then able to sign away the Finance clause to the Sales Contract.....a monumental step for both us and the Vendor. This was the biggest bridge we needed to overcome, and the only real "out" clause we still had, so she's all steam ahead from here. I'm sure the Vendors are celebrating tonight after receiving that bit of good news.
The revised Settlement date is only 2 weeks away from today, and we still have a mountain of checking and DD to get through before releasing the Vendors from all of their obligations.
With these bigger deals, I've learnt to give myself more time to settle, there's simply to much to check to squeeze into the normal 6 weeks.
There was a Fire Safety Defect notice slapped on the property over 3 years ago by the council, which the Vendors, via about 2 or 3 consultancies are still working towards in terms of necessary rectifications. They've all had a bullet from the 78yr eldest brother who owns the shed currently for being slack and not doing their job properly.
I put a rocket up the Vendor and called them to task over this Fire Safety Notice of Defect, as the original Sales Contract asked about orders etc against the Land, and they clearly wrote "none known" which was patently false and misleading. This may come and bite them big time as it may delay their ability to Settle, and might cost them a fortune in penalty interest to me - here's hoping !!!
Once finished, the shed will be fully up to spec like a brand new building. All up, it has/will cost the Vendors probably half a mill to comply with the order, so I'm super glad that Settlement will only occur once the Council has signed off and removed the order. I don't want to inherit any of that headache.
The council rates and land tax bill are only partially paid for the year. The Vendors need to cough the remaining 70K before Settlement goes through.
Luckily we have a 3 month rental guarantee coming our way, and the Tenant is currently writing a bank cheque for us. This should give us some breathing space if the you know what hits the you know where. We checked the exact wording in the Lease, and although the money is directly in our name, any interest earnt on the account is due to the Tenant, which is a damn shame, cos we could easily live off the interest. Mental note to self - must change that wording in the next Tenant's Lease.
The Transfer of Land document has been signed off, so that's doing it's normal rounds.
I still have a mountain of specs and paperwork to check off, and so the process should continue unabated for the next 2 weeks solid such that we are in a position to be ready, willing and able. If we can arrive at Settlement and they are not ready, the penalty interest will be simply lovely.
Anyway, in amongst all of that lot, I have to try and seem interested in what's happening at work, and I must admit it's getting difficult to juggle two full time jobs plus try and be a good family man. Something eventually is going to have to give. Hopefully it's not my health.
So, plenty to get on with.
Daz
Congratulations on overcoming MORE obstacles on your path to owing The Shed! Hopefully everything will go smoothly from here on! As with JoannaK, I've really enjoyed this thread!
And when it's all over, I think you should have a huge family celebration and treat Mrs Daz, the Daz girls and yourself to a wonderful relaxing holiday!!
Cheers
LynnH
Congratulations on overcoming MORE obstacles on your path to owing The Shed! Hopefully everything will go smoothly from here on! As with JoannaK, I've really enjoyed this thread!
And when it's all over, I think you should have a huge family celebration and treat Mrs Daz, the Daz girls and yourself to a wonderful relaxing holiday!!
Cheers
LynnH
The same thing happened to me, and I think it would be fair enough except that *my* bank didn't even communicate the fact until about 2 days before settlement. And even then it was only because of something I asked them, otherwise I might not have found out until settlement when I'm suddenly left with $40,000 less available to me than I thought.
Hey Dazz
Nice post . I was wondering what the go is with the defect notice the council slapped on the place ?
Sounds like you are feeling the presure
Like you I read all the documentation put in front of me but unfortunately I understand about 80- 90% of it so I need someone smarter than me to help me out .
I have a solicitor who I pay well who knows this stuff inside out . I'd be buggered with out her .
How have you managed to waive "most of the bank conditions " ? How did you manage this ?
I always try but havn't had much luck on that front . However , my attitude is hardening ...It has to .
Good luck with it all .
Shawn
Nice post . I was wondering what the go is with the defect notice the council slapped on the place ?
Sounds like you are feeling the presure
Like you I read all the documentation put in front of me but unfortunately I understand about 80- 90% of it so I need someone smarter than me to help me out .
I have a solicitor who I pay well who knows this stuff inside out . I'd be buggered with out her
.How have you managed to waive "most of the bank conditions " ? How did you manage this ?
I always try but havn't had much luck on that front . However , my attitude is hardening ...It has to .
Good luck with it all .
Shawn
Well, I just re-read the start of this thread started so long ago. I thought that was the majority of the work concluded at that stage, having worked on the deal for over 3 months prior to getting to the offer being accepted stage. We started on this deal during mid-May. Little did I know that was only that start of things…..6 months down the track and we are still a long way from being Owners.
It’s been another full week, and we are supposedly in the home straight and yet things turn very slowly indeed. We missed the initial settlement date of Nov the 1st, which was positioned only 10 weeks after offers closed. That was way too ambitious. We were encouraged to delay it ‘til mid Nov, but I knew that timing was also too ambitious. We are dealing with loads of characters who don’t give a rats about the deal and ho-hum their way through work.
I still find it amazing how sharp and focussed you become when it’s your money on the line. When you work for a large corporation and you see these deals across your desk all the time, but have no financial interest in the result, things become very tedious and they slack off chronically.
I decided to push it out to the start of December, assuming another full month would be more than ample. Apparently that was too sharp as well.
The Bank seems to be working in another timezone, completely unaware and oblivious to the looming second settlement date of 3rd Dec. Can’t get any commitment from them at all. The wife and I have signed the mortgage docs about what seems 4 times with this Bank, and they’ve only confirmed they received the originals back 1 hour ago. Of course, with the other 3 Banks who had a crack at it, we signed all of those docs as well, all to no avail. If I don’t see another bank during 2008 that’ll be too soon.
I’ve got about 7 unanswered questions from my side regarding the finance side of things and they like to answer me with curt little one line emails that divulge nothing. Really, I can see why large organisations pay cash for these buildings and avoid the Banks altogether – what a pain in the proverbial.
So, the Vendor still has 3 or 4 very substantial things to execute and rectify before we can settle, which is making them sweat bullets at this stage.
The 3 month rental bond from the tenant’s has disappeared somewhere, but I’ve been asking for that continually, but it’s falling on deaf ears I think until I pay them the Deposit funds….fair enough probably.
Surprisingly, there still hasn’t been one cent change hands over this deal, and the normally very patient elderly Vendors are getting a bit antsy over that fact. I was supposed to pay the Deposit 20 days after contract acceptance, which fell due way back in mid-September.
If I was the Vendor I would have dumped me as a Purchaser long ago, but they’ve kindly hung in there and they will get a very good price off me….it’s just been a bit testy for them. Elderly folk must have the patience of a saint. The vendor is a group of two brothers and a sister, the eldest brother being 78, so a good bit of fishing money is coming his way shortly.
The Addendum to the Contract that I signed last week, to remove the finance clause, has disappeared into the electronic ether. They got the Addendum and now wish to argy-bargy with me over the wording that they wrote. The Fire clause is causing them grief and they are finding the Council to sign off the infringement notice moves about the same pace as my Bank – both at geological time.
I honestly think that both sides will fail to meet the second delayed settlement deadline, and she’ll go through maybe mid-December or even Jan 1 would be clean I reckon. I certainly can’t get any sense out of the Bank solicitors and the Council is fobbing the Vendors off.
Health-wise, I'm starting to get worn down. I've been having acid problems with my stomach over the stress of this acquisition. The wife reckons it's not worth it, and she's undoubtedly right.....but these things don't get done without pushing and shoving your way through to a conclusion. The heart has also been skipping a few times. I've been told stress can do that, so I need to complete this deal and get away on a holiday before I keel over !!!
Penalty interest for delaying Settlement is a snip at $ 2,650 per day, so both parties are both trying to avoid that impost at all costs.
Anyway, not much going on right now, just all of this plus pretending still to be interested in my job. Managed to get a large piece of work out the door yesterday for the company, so they are still under the impression I’m working flat out on their business objectives. I really am a terrible employee for them, but they love me anyhoo.
In terms of delays, this 2 month finance delay has cost me dearly. The price of money has gone through the roof since trying to close this deal, and basically I’m not happy about that at all. Looking back, the finance side of things has been a complete schmozzle compared to my other deals with the CBA – which all went completely smoothly.
Righto – I’m reminiscing now. Hopefully I’ll have some closure on Monday....but I'm not going to hold my breath.
My brightest spark in all of this, is that we fixed the price, and hopefully it has been capitally appreciating every day since we contracted it. If not, I'm wasting my time aren't I....
It’s been another full week, and we are supposedly in the home straight and yet things turn very slowly indeed. We missed the initial settlement date of Nov the 1st, which was positioned only 10 weeks after offers closed. That was way too ambitious. We were encouraged to delay it ‘til mid Nov, but I knew that timing was also too ambitious. We are dealing with loads of characters who don’t give a rats about the deal and ho-hum their way through work.
I still find it amazing how sharp and focussed you become when it’s your money on the line. When you work for a large corporation and you see these deals across your desk all the time, but have no financial interest in the result, things become very tedious and they slack off chronically.
I decided to push it out to the start of December, assuming another full month would be more than ample. Apparently that was too sharp as well.
The Bank seems to be working in another timezone, completely unaware and oblivious to the looming second settlement date of 3rd Dec. Can’t get any commitment from them at all. The wife and I have signed the mortgage docs about what seems 4 times with this Bank, and they’ve only confirmed they received the originals back 1 hour ago. Of course, with the other 3 Banks who had a crack at it, we signed all of those docs as well, all to no avail. If I don’t see another bank during 2008 that’ll be too soon.
I’ve got about 7 unanswered questions from my side regarding the finance side of things and they like to answer me with curt little one line emails that divulge nothing. Really, I can see why large organisations pay cash for these buildings and avoid the Banks altogether – what a pain in the proverbial.
So, the Vendor still has 3 or 4 very substantial things to execute and rectify before we can settle, which is making them sweat bullets at this stage.
The 3 month rental bond from the tenant’s has disappeared somewhere, but I’ve been asking for that continually, but it’s falling on deaf ears I think until I pay them the Deposit funds….fair enough probably.
Surprisingly, there still hasn’t been one cent change hands over this deal, and the normally very patient elderly Vendors are getting a bit antsy over that fact. I was supposed to pay the Deposit 20 days after contract acceptance, which fell due way back in mid-September.
If I was the Vendor I would have dumped me as a Purchaser long ago, but they’ve kindly hung in there and they will get a very good price off me….it’s just been a bit testy for them. Elderly folk must have the patience of a saint. The vendor is a group of two brothers and a sister, the eldest brother being 78, so a good bit of fishing money is coming his way shortly.
The Addendum to the Contract that I signed last week, to remove the finance clause, has disappeared into the electronic ether. They got the Addendum and now wish to argy-bargy with me over the wording that they wrote. The Fire clause is causing them grief and they are finding the Council to sign off the infringement notice moves about the same pace as my Bank – both at geological time.
I honestly think that both sides will fail to meet the second delayed settlement deadline, and she’ll go through maybe mid-December or even Jan 1 would be clean I reckon. I certainly can’t get any sense out of the Bank solicitors and the Council is fobbing the Vendors off.
Health-wise, I'm starting to get worn down. I've been having acid problems with my stomach over the stress of this acquisition. The wife reckons it's not worth it, and she's undoubtedly right.....but these things don't get done without pushing and shoving your way through to a conclusion. The heart has also been skipping a few times. I've been told stress can do that, so I need to complete this deal and get away on a holiday before I keel over !!!
Penalty interest for delaying Settlement is a snip at $ 2,650 per day, so both parties are both trying to avoid that impost at all costs.
Anyway, not much going on right now, just all of this plus pretending still to be interested in my job. Managed to get a large piece of work out the door yesterday for the company, so they are still under the impression I’m working flat out on their business objectives. I really am a terrible employee for them, but they love me anyhoo.
In terms of delays, this 2 month finance delay has cost me dearly. The price of money has gone through the roof since trying to close this deal, and basically I’m not happy about that at all. Looking back, the finance side of things has been a complete schmozzle compared to my other deals with the CBA – which all went completely smoothly.
Righto – I’m reminiscing now. Hopefully I’ll have some closure on Monday....but I'm not going to hold my breath.
My brightest spark in all of this, is that we fixed the price, and hopefully it has been capitally appreciating every day since we contracted it. If not, I'm wasting my time aren't I....
