dennis.ca

There's lots to cover since the last update. I've been somewhat hesitant to post anything as the negotiations got a bit testy and I didn't want to stir up any trouble.

We left off with my four-option offer. The whole premise was something of a farce because I knew the personal situation of the vendor and I knew which offer they'd be forced to accept (if any), but I wanted to appear as reasonable as possible. They select an offer an anticipated, and so off we trotted into the wacky world of "conditions of the offer". The conditions I required were a formal house inspection and guarantee of financing. My mortage was pre-approved, so that wasn't a particular concern. The house inspection was something I wanted, though, to ensure no ugly surprises.

After some disagreement on the inspection date and necessary reaction time, the appointment was made. Overall, the inspection was very favourable. A few minor things were uncovered, but the major issue from my perspective was absence of final inspection approval for the electrical, plumbing, and mechanical systems in the house. These documents combine to form a Final Occupancy permit which is required to obtain insurance and/or resell the property. Since the place was occupied, one would have to assume that this paperwork was available and simply missing. I'm not an 'assumption' sort of guy when it comes to doling out hundreds of thousands of dollars, and so I revoked the earlier conditions from the offer and added a new one requiring that the paperwork be provided.

This turned out to be a bit of a merry-go-round since the house was built at a time when the city of Ottawa was amalgamating, and we all know how efficient municiple government can be. The vendors spent a considerable amount of effort tracking down the information, which was provided to me last week. After review, I was satisfied that the condition was met. My lawyer was neutral on the matter, but that's another story.

So, I sent a contract amendment to the vendor's lawyer this afternoon revoking the final remaining condition. Everything gets punted back to my court now (or rather, my lawyer's court) with respect to performing a title search, lien check, etc. If all goes well the deal will finally be complete and I'll be off to the bank to sign many sheets of legal paper.

The title for the next update posting may well be "Mortgage Dread -- Part ∞".