I completely understand the advice to start at a community college to knock out gen ed as a way to save some cash, but I’m interested in the college experience as a whole to get a full on four year experience.
Anything you loved about starting as a freshman? Anything you hated about starting as a freshman?
We are looking for someone to stay with our household of seven kitties for four to five days later this year.
They are very accustomed to a lot of attention so we would love someone who would be able to just hang out. It could be more of a house sitting situation.
Does anyone have any great animal lovers who may be interested?
Note: We live in Madison County just outside of Athens.
In Georgia. I have several acres of property for sale. It has been in my family for almost 200 years so the last survey was done in 1890. Obviously the new survey came back at 3 acres less than the tax assessors records indicated.
Before we had the survey completed, a buyer made an offer and we went under contract. When we found out about the acreage being 3 acres less. 47 as opposed to 50, my realtor called to let me know and said that due to that, the price would be reduced. I understand the reasoning. I was just shocked as I was given a new number as if it was just what happens and I had no say in a price adjustment.
A couple weeks later after additional difficulties, I texted my realtor and asked if I had signed anything agreeing to the reduced price. His answer was no. I asked if the buyer had asked for a reduced price.
He then replied to tell me that after the survey showing the lesser acreage, the buyer’s agent reached out to him with a new number. And then he asked them to agree to something slightly higher - the number he’d called me with and spoken to me as if it just is how this works.
I would like to know if I am crazy for feeling absolutely infuriated to find out - only by asking - that the buyers agent had submitted a different price offer that he never told me about and took it upon himself to just tell them another number.
I feel like it was very out of line for him to negotiate anything on my behalf without my knowledge and especially to then present it to me as the new price existed because that is just how the contract adjusts due to lesser acreage. I did not list the property by acre.
I’m having extreme trust issues after finding out about the negotiation that I should have been involved in. I don’t feel comfortable with this realtor any longer, but I am under contract with him until January 11th.
Thoughts? Even if the thoughts are just saying that I shouldn’t be uneasy working with him moving forward. I don’t want to be overly specific, but the adjustment he negotiated without my involvement was tens of thousands less than the original contract.
If you care to read the saga... here it is.
I really appreciate many people taking the time to reply to my previous post. My post was a little all over the place because I was in an absolutely frustrated state. Several mentioned not having enough details. If you're interested, here's a summary. I certainly don't want anyone to think I was leaving out details intentionally for any reason. I had a need to word vomit and tossed it out in that post.
I inherited 50 acres of property that had been in my family for over 200 years when my father died this past October. I'm an only child in a long line of only children. There is truly no other family on my paternal side. I'm a 42F and unable to have children. In other words, this bloodline ends with me. Therefore, I took a few months to process and mull it over and ultimately decided I did want to sell the property.
So the property was listed... let's jump to the arrival of the offer at the center of the whole story. There were standard negotiations and we reached an agreement I was comfortable with at $730 and a contract was signed.
FF: They had been preapproved for a loan, so no issue there. The first issue that arose here was frustrating, but no one was at fault on either side. The lenders of course needed to have title insurance secured. They go back 50 years. This may be standard, but I'm tossing it in because I don't know what is standard and this is relevant.
I currently have the title and deed in my name. It became mine upon my father's death via his will. It became my father's upon the death of his father via the will. That occurred in 1998. We obviously haven't his 50 years at this point. Then strangely, no one could find anything anywhere showing how this property came to be in my grandfather's name. This issue has never risen before as the property has just passed down. I got to know the inside of the probate vault in my county very very well.
The solution to the puzzle went back to the early 1900s. An ancestor - Martha - was the last person to have the property in a will until my grandfather included it in his in 1998. Her will stated the property was to go to her son Claude upon her death, then to be deeded to her granddaughter Lois upon Claude's death, and then to heirs of Lois... which gets up to my grandfather who had drawn up a will that was executed in 1998. So this one will outlined the expected provenance for multiple generations and ultimately tied to my grandfather. With that will, death certificates for each person involved from Martha to Claude to Lois to my grandfather, and multiple affidavits of descent as well as affidavits of possession from living individuals who knew Lois (my great-grandmother) and could confirm that it was her intent to pass the property down to her son and to also confirm that the chain consisted of only children all the way down to me. This took a lot of work from my end, but I got it done and submitted to their title company. *These documents were what the title company stated they required to insure the title.
A week had passed and that brings us to last Friday when the buyer suddenly decided they wanted me to do a quiet title. I refused to do that until the title insurance company gave us their answer... which was ultimately yes. The documentation was enough to make them feel comfortable to insure the title. I was frustrated because of the amount of work I'd done to acquire all of these documents and dig up the dead to provide the information required by the title company to be asked to do more that would just keep running up my tab with my attorney and also set us on a two to three month journey to go through the quiet title process. So no. Just no. This all ironed out and all is well. My realtor did not advocate for me at this point and just wanted me to say "Oh. Ok. I'll do the quiet title." I gave push back and like magic, the quiet title problem disappeared.
While all of this was going on, the survey was completed. It showed that the property was actually 47 acres and not the 50 we understood it to be per the files with the property records office. Bummer, but I wasn't totally shocked because the most recent survey prior to this one was in 1890 (not even kidding). So sure. I have no doubt roads were built and any number of other things could have happened that were not recorded properly. At this point, my realtor called and said the survey came back at 47 acres "so we will have to reduce the price to $684". I didn't love that, but it didn't seem unreasonable to adjust a price when there is a three acre difference.
I had granted one due diligence extension in relation to the survey and acreage. Then I got the request for 20 more days on a second one. They wanted to clarify that an easement would not be needed for a paved drive area that goes along the side of a fire department. It wasn't that this was unreasonable. It was that I had absolutely hit the ceiling of my patience and I was so unhappy with how things were going from a million directions. I felt trapped. I was sick thinking this property that had been in my family for so very long was seemingly now just drifting in the wind and things were just changing on a whim. I can only sell this once. I want to be reasonable and sensible, but I do not want to sit at a closing table and sign papers feeling unwell because something just didn't feel right.
The due diligence period was set to expire Monday at midnight. After spending the weekend to do a lot of reflection and a lot of thinking, I had some questions to clarify where I stood. It was at this point that I asked my realtor if I ever signed anything agreeing to the price reduction. The way it was presented to me was as if it was a given and just the way it was. While I have experience in many things, real estate transactions is not among them, so I truly did not know. At that point... on the day of the expiration of the due diligence period, I was told that I had not signed anything to agree to the price reduction. I asked if the buyers had requested a price reduction. I was told that they requested the price be reduced to $680 and that my realtor told them $684 was in line with the difference in acreage. This dude legit negotiated without my knowledge or consent and presented it to me as where I stood.
Due to all of this, I lost faith in the process, trust in my realtor, and a lot of uncertainty about the deal questioning what else may be lurking around that I didn't understand and hadn't been given the benefit of a realtor who advocated on other points. Time was running low for the decision on the extension. My realtor wanted me to move forward with the extension to let the buyers invest more time and money into the process with the intention being that I would have a better chance of getting the price I wanted because they would be that much more invested. I said absolutely not. For one thing, that is not how I operate. I would not appreciate someone treating me that way and I felt the seller had done nothing to warrant being misled on this number my realtor had countered with. I told my realtor I would have had time to consider a counter offer to their $680 if I had been told it happened a week ago. As it were, I wasn't and I didn't have time to process where I wanted to land and what I wanted to counter with, but I did know that as part of this proposed amendment I wanted the price to be included so the buyers would know and be able to make an informed decision on moving forward.
I asked that they be told I would be sticking with the original contract price, extending the due diligence period by 14 instead of 20, and require the earnest money be non-refundable. Did I think they would take this? No. I didn't I absolutely expected and was fully prepared for them to walk away. Which is exactly what happened. I felt absolute relief. It was a lot of work to end up back where I started and I'm sure the seller was not pleased with money and time they invested to end up where we were. But time and financial investments from both sides aside, I had to make the decision I knew was right for me.
I thought that was the end. They said they were terminating the contract and I went on with my life and enjoyed a day out with a friend today. When I got home, I received a message from my realtor letting me know that the buyers had reached out and asked if I would be willing to accept $700 for the price. And you know what... yes. I absolutely will. I think in a perfect world I would have liked the original purchase price, but I'm also sure the buyer would have preferred their reduced request of $680. That's what I call a negotiation. We both gave a little and we are going to be able to make this work. I've extended the due diligence period. We do not foresee any problems (knock on wood), and closing is schedule for the end of the month. I feel so much better with this scenario.
At the end of the day there were a lot of hiccups that I don't fault any person for. They required a lot of time and energy to resolve, but it had to be done. Admittedly, I was mentally spent and the bulk of what I was doing was with my attorney while my realtor sat and waited for us to take care of everything. I was also misled by my realtor in a way that completely made me uneasy about signing anything else at all. The buyers have done absolutely nothing wrong. Their requests have been reasonable and they were very kind to continue with the purchase after the title situation and through finding out the acreage was slightly less than expected. Their reasoning to request this extension to verify this last thing is absolutely reasonable and I am happy to accommodate. A lot of stress on both sides could have been avoided if my realtor had been more clear with me and advocated for me.
In conclusion, I'm thrilled with how this has played out. I feel content with passing the property along. And I appreciate the buyers who have been (unbeknownst to me unfortunately) so patient and so reasonable. I am going to sleep well tonight knowing the necessary papers have been signed to make this deal work and thankful that despite the stress and lack of guidance on all of this, I have landed in a place I feel good about.
They have been so complicated to work with and I feel like I have somehow been nudged out of the driver seat by my realtor telling me what would get us to closing - but not advocating for me to not bend and bow to every concession requested. And there have been many. I don’t plan to extend again.
For fun, I’d love any speculations on how you think the buyer will respond. I honestly hope they terminate, get their earnest money back and hit the road. This isn’t something that I have any pressure to sell so finding the right spot that I’m comfortable with and not a point where I’ve just nodded when my realtor has told me what to do and not really explained options.
Ugggghhhhh. Please please send vibes that these people will just bounce. They are the most obnoxious and needy and have a very high expectation that I will do whatever they want.
I am in search of an obituary or mention of death for Mrs. Martha “Mattie” White (maiden name Stone), widow of Stephen B. White, and mother of Claud E. White.
Date of Birth: Oct 28, 1869
Date of Death: Jun 4, 1933
She was born and died in Georgia in the Madison County area. Her burial is at Old Danielsville Presbyterian Church.
I’ve been digging and have the death certificate, but a newspaper mention would be wonderful as well.
If anyone can help with this, I would be most appreciative. I am searching for the newspapers my great grandfather's obits was printed in. Date of Death is being difficult too. I have the years, but not the precise date. It's making it difficult to find Death Certificates. I have a printed copy of an obituary for him from a newspaper in Anderson, SC. I believe it would have been placed there due to the family of his wife at the time of his death. I am hoping to find something closer to local, but any help would be appreciated.
Name: Joe Curtis Burroughs (Often listed as J.C. or Curtis)
Date of Birth: June 21, 1908 (Ila, Georgia)
Date of Death: 1965 (Died in Athens, Georgia)(Resident of Madison County)