Quick Update

**Update, 12/5/08, 8 p.m.**
We just found out that the appraisal for the Bentonville house came back slightly above the sale price, so there is no issue with the mortgage! We are now waiting on the roofer's report on any potential repairs (hopefully minor) and are moving towards closing on that house.


**Update, 12/10/08, 2 p.m.
The roofing report on the Bentonville house showed no significant damage and no repairing needed. Everything on both houses is going smoothly; we are ready to close on the Cabot house with the title company already finished with their end.

Just a quick update --

Everything is pretty much done to close on the Cabot house on time. We've finished the appraisal, inspection, termite clearance letter, survey, title work, etc. Since the buyer's are paying cash, their funds have been verified, and there is no lender to deal with. It's been a bit of a headache this week, as our appraisal on the Cabot house came in under the sale price we'd agreed to. That was quite a shock, as we thought we had priced low. However, only two homes in our neighborhood have sold in the past year to use as comps since we live in a small neighborhood with relatively low turnover. Those two sales were priced low and did not have the upgrades my home has, but they were all the appraiser had to compare for sales prices. We came to a compromise with the buyers since they didn't have to satisfy a lender, and we met in the middle for a new sales price (they came up from the appraisal, and we came down from the original sale price). The inspection went well, and the buyers are not making us fix anything. We are on schedule to close on December 22 and vacate by December 29.

The Bentonville house was inspected this week, with some damaged shingles as the only issue. The sellers got a roofer out there yesterday, and we are awaiting his report today. It appears to be minor damage, and all the other inspection items were small. The main things we are waiting for is the appraisal! Since our Cabot house appraisal was low, we are concerned about the Bentonville appraisal. That house is in a similar situation to our Cabot home, in that there aren't any good comps from 2008 sales in that neighborhood for the appraiser to use. Only five homes in that neighborhood sold in 2008, and all of them were significantly smaller than the one we are buying which can skew the comp figures in an appraisal. We expect to get the report today or Monday, and we are praying it appraises close to the sale price, so we don't have to walk away from the property, as our mortgage is tied to the appraisal value. If the appraisal is low, we are going to ask the seller to lower the selling price to the appraisal value and see what happens! If this house falls through, we will live in temporary housing in Bentonville for 2-4 weeks while we try to close on another property (which we would have to locate!).

Keep praying! It's a crazy, wild ride with real estate in this market!