How this experience began: part 3

We were given 30 days to close escrow, with the removal of contingincies occuring at various periods of time within this month period, the first of these being the inspection one by day # 10. The ultimate goal of the inspection is the acquisition of data indicating whether or not the building is sound from: 1) a structural standpoint (e.g. is there considerable dry rot (visible dry rot, in many cases, being like a tip-of-the-iceberg indicator of the existence of farther reaching expanses of the stuff hidden from visible sight), are there any large trees growing close to the building (root networks having a particularly insidious effect on foundational structure in addition to a complete indifference toward underground plumbing), is there evidence of wood destroying pest activity (e.g. termite shit and/or dried up termite thorax hulls); and does the roof show signs of dilapidation (e.g. visible drooping or evidence of water leakage in the ceilings)); 2) a plumbing standpoint (e.g. do all toilets flush, drains drain (it is also helpful to, in addition to testing these during the inspection, ask the tenants about the existence of issues in the past) and is there both hot and cold water available); 3) an aesthetic standpoint (e.g. are there large holes in the walls, doors, windows, broken tile, dingy bathtubs, etc..(it should be noted, however, that the aesthetic portion of the inspection is far less important than the two preceeding it)).
Since it isn't usually the case that home buyers are also professional contractors familiar with the clues that indicate faults in any of the 3 above mentioned categories it is necessary that such an individual be hired to give the property a fine toothed combing. In our situation, the individual enlisted to complete this was my brother Justin who, while not a licensed contractor, has worked in the field long enough to know what clues to look for. He and Robin completed this in a 2 hour period one morning, the final conclusion of this inspection indicating that, to his trained eye, there were no serious compromises to the building's overall structure (there were, however, a number of aesthetic factors that needed to be dealt with if we ended up closing the deal).

How this experience began: part 2

Not long after the initial visit we were in contact with Shep letting him know that we would like to put in an offer on the property at $55k less than the listing price and it was at this time that Robin and I began to familiarize ourselves with the intricacies of the California Association of Realtors' form entitled 'RESIDENTIAL INCOME PROPERTY PURCHASE AGREEMENT AND JOINT ESCROW INSTRUCTIONS' (I will tell you now if you have yet to experience the tediousness that is reading and comprehending this document that there are more favorable ways to spend one's time). Here we were introduced to such jargon as 'contingencies,' 'Escrow,'Transfer Tax,'Home Warranty Plan, and 'Property Disclosures.' Once the arduous task that was familarizing ourselves with the document was completed we submitted this offer to the agents in person and were unexpectedly wrangled into a face-to-face meeting with the two of them (one being the aformention Middle-Eastern woman, the other a corpulent East European who seemed to take great pride in: 1) extolling his victories and spoils in the real estate game and; 2) pointing out everything that we'd done wrong in completing the offer (most of these errors due to subtle differences between the Bay Area and Sacramento Valley offer protocols), adding emphasis to these with a combination of highlighter markings (this writing implement looking more like a crayon between his vienna sausage fingers) and unnaturally loud mouth-breathing. The take home message from this meeting was that they would be getting back to us once they presented the offer to the sellers (it should be noted here that the general tone of the meeting was a negative one. We came away feeling that they didn't take us seriously and that we were basically pushovers and this didn't sit well with us.

The counter-offer came back with a price just $25k less than the listing one and included an addendum page that include such gems as:

1) The Wood Destroying Pest Inspection shall be the Buyers' responsibility.
2)The Sellers shall not pay the cost of the Home Warranty Plan.
3) Buyer Inspection Contingency shall be removed within 10 days.
4)All property disclosures provided on MLS shall be signed by the Buyers and delivered to the Listing Agent within three days after contract ratification.
Among others...

The seller's terms were agreed upon during a conference call between Shep, Robin, and I and the counter-offer was signed by the two of us and resubmitted to their (the seller's) agents and thusly was the Escrow machine set into motion.