Finding a House with the Greedy Poet
continued from "Looking for a House with the Greedy Poet"
As you remember, faithful readers, last month the Greedy Poet's customers, Jake and Nancy, were considering buying one of three houses:
A: a $36,000 fixup in a good neighborhood with a $7,500 down payment and monthly payments of $293.
B: a $43,000 townhouse with $10,500 down and monthly payments of $310
C: a $43,900 3-bedroom house with $8,893 down and 2 loans, with monthly payments totaling $549.
They decided against A because it was too small and too far from both their jobs; B required more down payment than they could come up with. So they decided to make an offer on C and pay off the second loan within a few months from the sale of their mobile home. But the Greedy Poet suggested that before making an offer they should reinspect the property to make sure that it was structurally sound and that everything was working properly. So they took his advice and went back to the house, armed with a ladder. [This, dear readers, was before the days when home inspectors were easily available.]
When he and Jake first climbed onto the roof, the Greedy Poet's foot hit an air bubble. Then he noticed roof rot around the cooler. The tar paper was curling up at the corners of the house. "This roof will cost you another $2,000 before long," he told Jake.
"Not me," said Jake, as he slowly pulled his foot out of the roof. "I don't want this house now. Have you got another one we could look at?"
"Yes," said the Greedy Poet, and he immediately drove them down the street and around the corner to a beautiful little 2-bedroom home only a year old with a down payment of $6,000 and monthly payments of $318. It was near 22nd and Alvernon, close to both their jobs, and the newest and smallest house in the neighborhood, which made it an excellent investment. Jake and Nancy liked it so well that they made an offer on it that very day. It was accepted; they closed within two weeks, moved in, and are now living happily ever after in it.
May 1981