NT got his bonus! He netted about $3400 on a $6K gross. A tiny bit went to 401(k) but the rest is tax withholding. of course it'll help us at tax time, but it always hurts a bit to see that much taken out!
We used $350 to tip our amazing daycare. The rest stays in the bank until we sell the condo.
On that front, still getting a showing or two a week. The two buyers who expressed vague interest before Thanksgiving haven't reappeared. We'll hang in at this price for a while longer since it would be very rough to lose any more than what we've planned for in a lump sum.
The main reason I don't want to go any lower is because we'll already be losing an estimated $27,700 if we sell for $5K below asking and cover half the buyer's closing costs. These two conditions seem to be standard for condos in our building, so we have to plan for them.
Besides having to come up with that lump sum, I'm also trying to scrape together $26,500 to pay off the secondary loan from the seller we bought the duplex from. That loan causes me more stress than almost anything in my life right now, and I want it gone at any cost. My broker said we might be able to roll it into a mortgage in March when we refinance, but what if we can't refinance? What if we can't refinance for that larger amount? Our credit scores are a lower than before due to all the activity and new debt, and with the condo still on our books, our debt-to-income ratio is really high. I don't want to wait another three months and then be disappointed.
So anyway, my goal is to come up with $54,200 so we can pay off the crazy seller and still have enough funding to take the loss on the condo when it sells.
So far I've accumulated money and credit by saving surplus amounts both large and small, by delaying payment on loans and holding that cash instead, and by signing up for a line of credit. Here's what I have so far:
Line of credit: $15,000.00 available to borrow
Reserve line: $5,500.00 available to borrow
Money owed to a friend that we can wait on: $80.00
Deposit into kids' Pax funds that can wait: $80.00
AS IRA contributions that can wait: $868.60
Deferred Roth IRA contributions: $3,600.00
Credit card balance (0% til Dec '15): $10,753.00
NT extra student loan: $4,470.73
Cash surplus: $6,248.72
So that's $46,601.05, or $7,598.95 short of where we need to be.
I'm not sure if/when we'll be able to borrow or save the additional funds. Selling the condo is our first priority, so I can't pay off the duplex seller until we have enough money to do both.
If we do sell the condo, I think we'll be able to come up with the other funds quickly: We'll have an extra $1700 per month from not paying condo mortgage & association dues, and I'll gladly carry balances on some of our lower-interest credit cards in order to gather enough funds to pay off the duplex seller.
Assuming we eventually get both things done, sell the condo and pay off the seller, we'll then have a bunch of debt to pay off and deferred retirement contributions to make up. My plan is to do it gradually over the next year or two using the money freed up by not carrying two mortgages and sets of utilities. If (and it seems like a big if at this point) we do get the WV land deal money in the spring, that would be enough to pay off the debts listed above and make up the retirement contributions.
So those are the "plans" I have; right now it's just a waiting and money-hoarding game while I wait for things to change.
NT's bonus and other thoughts
December 17th, 2014 at 07:47 pm
December 17th, 2014 at 09:14 pm 1418850872
December 18th, 2014 at 12:12 am 1418861537
December 18th, 2014 at 12:30 am 1418862612
Would you consider hiring someone to stage the home for a month? It would be a small investment but might make a big difference how the condo shows.
December 18th, 2014 at 02:28 am 1418869681
I'll be interested to see where the recent ones that sold have ended up, but so far it seems like whether it's priced at $100K or $170K, whether it's a downtown or uptown view, they always sell for about $5K less than listing price. That's why we can only offer at a level $5K above what we can afford to lose right now.
December 18th, 2014 at 02:39 am 1418870345