They offered $10k in closing costs. Our closing costs will be less than $5k. If we accept their $10k offer, we will be leaving at least $5k on the table. I already hit send on the email to the agent before Kirkhall responded. Do you think this wording is okay? � Seller shall pay Buyer's closing costs, prepaids, and insurance not to exceed $5,000.00. � Sale price of $611,500 shall include home as specified in Proposal, as well as a $15,000.00 allowance for additional upgrades of Buyer's choosing to be determined by June 22, 2012. We do already have a the builder's price list for most of the options we're interested in, so I think they will have little opportunity to screw us over.

Unless you are willing to have very little free time or privacy, and can't shell out large chunks of your money, then pass on the house. Your dream home could be a nightmare. After moving into a 1970's home, we've been hit by bad "surprises" that a standard inspection missed. We were new to the process, but have become experts and know what we'll do next time! We are stuck with $20,000 in repairs. The inspector didn't even look in the attic to report that we had no insulation over 4/5 of house! An electrician discovered it while re-wiring something. We later found out from a neighbor that it had also had a fire. During showings and inspection, the floor was covered with furniture and rugs, so we didn't notice how uneven it was until we moved in. We trusted his assessment and got burned. We don't know if litigation is even worth it. One contractor gave me the wisest advice... Next time you buy, hire a roofer, a basement company, an electrician, a plumber and an exterminator to look over the house. Even if you are spending hundreds more, you may be very glad to have bargaining power or the knowledge to walk from the deal. Bad news has a way of waking you up from a dream. Hope this helps you!

I guess I never really told you all that my house did actually sell. My story: We put our house on the market in SoCal in August because we were moving to Oregon. 6 days later we had a good offer, we signed the papers and then found out my DH's mother was in emergency care in Maine and we had to jump on a plane and get there. Stayed there for a week (MIL was critical but improved greatly) and came home to find that the buyer had disappeared. He wasn't returning calls, his agent couldn't locate him. Finally the buyer said he'd changed his mind. We lost the earnest money ($3k) because of the 17 day no-strings contingency period in CA. Put the house back on the market. DH moved to Oregon in late September while I stayed to continue at my job and to sell the house. We reduced the price and the next offer, in mid-October, gave us $27k less than the first - ouch. We bartered on the closing date and a few other things, their inspector did a very CMA report and the buyer asked for ridiculous amounts of repairs & updates (this was a 1958 small tract home), we said no and did the few actual repairs needed. I faxed to our agent all the repair paperwork but the buyer's agent never said if this was satisfactory. Closing was supposed to be Nov 15 but the buyer's agent kept messing things up and delayed getting the loan papers in to the escrow company. Every day he told them he'd have the documents the next day. I finally moved out of state on the 18th not knowing if the sale was going to go through or not. It was almost as if the agent was working against the sale ... During the last week when it looked as if the other agent was messing up the deal, my agent put the house back on the market. That seemed to make the other guy straighten up a bit - he was about to lose a $19k commission. I spoke with the escrow company rep who said she'd never seen anything like this transaction before. She called in some favors and pushed the papers through the title company asap when they were finally all in because she also wanted to get it over with. It closed on Nov 21. Since the buyer failed to close on time we could have called off the transaction or continued with it and kept the items we'd offered as incentive for the Nov 15 close (w/d, refrigerator, patio furniture) - we didn't want to cancel the transaction and we didn't want to keep those items as we were moving so we went ahead and just left them. The sales contract stipulated that we had 3 days to occupy the house after closing. We moved out earlier because we'd already made the moving plans and were ready to go. Wednesday the 15th was chosen because that would give both families a chance to get to their new homes for Thanksgiving. Since the close actually happened on Tuesday, 2 days before Thanksgiving, I don't know if the buyer was in the house for the holiday or not. Too bad if they weren't - but it was their agent that was holding up the process, not us. It was a true Thanksgiving Day for my DH and me, even though we're living in a small rental apartment and ate turkey at a restaurant instead of cooking for ourselves. But we were so thankful to have the deal finally done. That 5 weeks of waiting for the escrow close were so stressful - if the deal had fallen apart, I think I would have too!

5 years in the business hasn't been long enough, I think. You are trying to invent a concept that already exists. Kitchen showrooms do all of what you are describing. They carry multiple brands at multiple price points and can coordinate all aspects of the decor finishes. Design and build firms even employ GCs to be able to 100% handle the home add on or extensive renovation if that's involved. You're not talking about offering anything new. You're just talking about marketing what exists differently, which possibly could work if you found the right ad campaign. Cabinet companies are also pretty particular about who carries their cabinets. And they often will not work with companies that carry their competitors. So, you won't end up with 9 different budget choices and 12 different mid range choices. They just won't allow you to do that. Unless you're talking 9 different Chinese made choices, that is. And those aren't likely to be taking any market by storm any time soon. Too many risks and quality variables. And potential customers who are looking to renovate really won't flock to a "Cabinet Hut" type of place run out of anyone's home. There will be a great deal of suspicion attached to that, directly related to your location (especially considering your sex), as well as your liquidity. If you can't afford a decent sized showroom with really good displays, then you will have people wondering if you'll be in business in 6 weeks when their cabinets are supposed to be delivered. You have zero reputation with anyone as a startup, and that's going to work against you with both consumers and builders. That's why most KDs either go to work at an establised showroom and create a name/buzz and then go out on their own or only work part time out of their home and have a spouse with a more traditional job who carries the insurance and benefits. All in all, you'd probably be best served by approaching an already existing residential KD firm and pitching your services to them as a "contractor division" that you'd run. If your data checks out, and your finances are sound, it'd be a win/win proposition for both of you. And, in 10 years time, after you've built a reputation, you could then sever the ties and have your own company that could easily stand on it's own feet.