What a waste of time & effort

I heard the funniest news last night.

Did I happen to mention that my SIL was buying a house? Two weeks ago the Hubs got a call.

Hubs: "Hello?"

SIL: "It's me. I'm buying a townhouse."

Hubs: "Oh. Yeah?"

SIL: "Yeah. I wanted to call and let you know before Mom did."

Hubs: "Why?"

SIL: "She doesn't like where it's located."

Hubs: "Why? Where is it located?"

SIL: "It's near the intersection of A Street and Z Street."

Hubs: "Okay. Congratulations."

SIL: "Bye."

So that's the conversation. The Hubs didn't ask for the MLS number or the address of the place. He didn't ask about the number of bedrooms or bathrooms. He didn't even ask how much she was getting it for. But super-sleuth (aka 'nosey') me got on the internet and found townhomes near that particular intersection. Let me just say they were NOT showing well via the web. The ones I found were built prior to 1975. None of them had a garage (only carports). None of them had any additional photos of the interior. Hmmm...suspect, eh?

Last night the Hubs tells me about a phone call he received at work.

Hubs: "Hello."

SIL: "It's me. Can I ask you something?"

Hubs: "Sure."

SIL: "I gave $x in earnest money for the townhouse. Now what can I do to make sure I don't lose that money?"

Hubs: "What're you talking about?"

SIL: "Well, I found out the principal is much more than I expected. I can't pay that much."

Hubs: "I still don't understand what you're talking about. How can the principal be more than you expected? You made an offer on the place. You should know how much it is."

SIL: "Well anyway...what can I do make sure I don't lose my earnest money?"

Hubs: "Well, if the lender doesn't qualify you then you get your earnest money back. If the lender qualifies you and you back out then you lose your money."

SIL: "Okay. Thanks."

Now tell me folks, are you confused like we are? She had a realtor bring her around to look at places. You'd think that the realtor would sit down with her to go over the basics of what she can afford. This way the realtor wouldn't be showing her places that are WAY OUT of her price range, right? I guess that basic step did not happen, so she's backtracking and trying to get out of the contract without losing her money.

I guess the situation is like when you buy a car. You think you can handle a certain total amount, but when they give you the interest rate and make that final calculation? The amount you'd have to pay monthly is WAY more than you expect. I guess my SIL didn't go into the house search without figuring this simple bit out.

Bwa-ha-ha-ha!

I'm sorry. That wasn't nice. But after the Hubs told me about the conversation? There were moments all through the rest of the night that we'd see the other one just start shaking our head. Like we couldn't believe (yet again!) that my SIL was in that particular situation.

What's sad about this situation is that if she can't afford the townhomes that she was looking at then she won't be able to afford to buy a place. Unless she wants an hour long commute every day.