Deb talked to city hall today and found a few nuggets, a few turds and faced down a town council to win a resounding victory on the eve of our closing.
Turns out that we can't build on either property; lot B is not considered a dwelling nor can be grandfathered in despite having a full basement on the site; lot A's mobile home can only be remodeled - it can't be replaced as both lots are smaller than city code allows for a home to be built.
City hall wanted to assess a 2K charge to hook up to the water system currently under constructon. Deb pointed out that not only was there notice of the initial $100 assesment undated and therefore open-ended, but that if the council persisted in requiring the 2k fee that we would abort our closing and the abandoned property would continue to be a nuisance and eyesore.
They crumbled under the immense pressure of an irish woman who stand 5'1......
We are now negotiating to continue the sale on lot A under the original contract terms while pulling out on lot B. We may have to forfeit our $500 earnest money but Deb pulled another rabbit out of her hat (Irish stew?) and is attempted to broker a side deal between the seller and an adjacent lot B neighbor....
Cross fingers - we are not going to raise our offer price more than 400 bucks. The seller forgot to mention the 2k charge and we have no intention on telling her that we negotiated a better deal. Our purchase costs we will represent to the seller is 12k for the lot, 2k for water, 500 in forfeited earnest money and $100 Deb paid for water assessment. Total? $14600.00. If seller wants more we will point to this number and say we are already higher than our planned costs for this property.
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