Still houseless in Heel country

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My wife and I made our first offer on a Charlotte-area home today. It was for 96 percent of the asking price. After keeping us waiting for 10 hours, the owner countered by barely moving off her price. So the search continues.

In Charlotte, as most is the case the most locales, it is a buyer's market. There is a lot of inventory, and prices have been depressed by the multitude of foreclosures. Charlotte is one of the nation's banking hubs, and when the banks went bust, so did a good chunk of the area's economy.

Many potential buyers are lowballing when they make offers. But we thought this was a relatively reasonably priced home in outstanding shape in a nice neighborhood. So we gave it our best shot with as fair an offer as we could.

When our realtor called to say the owner wouldn't sell to us, Roberta, who really liked the house, barely shrugged her shoulders. She thought all along that the owner wasn't very motivated and didn't think we'd get the house. I thought we had a chance, though, so I was a little sad.

Should we have ponied up a little more dough to buy this home? If we had, it wouldn't necessarily have been the "wrong" move. Sticking to our budget, however, definitely was the right move. In any kind of negotiation, one must draw the line somewhere.

After the holiday, we'll reassess where we are in our search and start looking at houses again. It's a slow and sometimes trying process. Yet I'm sure we'll find another place we'll like - maybe even a better one in a better location at a better price.

In this Thanksgiving season, I'm grateful for everything we've got - including a roof over our heads in our little apartment, and the financial means to at least be considering a home purchase.

Here's hoping you all have many reasons to give thanks, too.
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Trying to stay sane ... one MLS listing at a time

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My tummy is jumpy. My head and neck ache from the stress. I'm not sleeping very well. My attention wanes. The cause of these maladies?

Househunting Madness.

Mrs. N and I have ramped up our search for our next home - and our first in the Carolinas. It's been more than six years since we last shopped for a home, and things have changed dramatically.

The good part is that it really is a buyer's market out there. Inventory is huge. Prices are down. The Internet provides an avenue for endless research.

Which all adds up to the bad part: Too many houses out there, too many nice areas from which to choose, too much information.

I now find myself obsessing about finding the perfect house in the perfect location for the perfect price. The practical side of me knows that doesn't exist, but it's very difficult to be practical.

We are in the fortunate position of not having a house to sell. We have some cash to invest. And we have sellers begging for our business. It should be all good. And yet ...

I worry all the time about blowing my one chance to buy the right place at the right time. I mean, who knows what the market's going to be like the next time we're in this position? If we're ever in this position again, that is.

It's madness. Madness, I tell you!

Guess I just have to take two (more) Aleve and call my realtor in the morning.
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Was Kane really able to do such a thing?

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The Bald Truth

The first time I read the Patrick Kane story, I couldn't believe it. So I surfed the 'Net and found more versions of it. And it still seems too absurd to be true.

For those unfamiliar with the whole shebang: The 20-year-old Blackhawks star - the carefully marketed, baby-faced face of the franchise - supposedly beat the crap out of a Buffalo cabbie over 20 cents.

The CliffsNotes version: He and his cousin, James Kane, allegedly handed the cabbie $15 cash for a $13.80 fare after a night of partying. After the driver gave the Kanes a dollar back but said he didn't have 20 cents in coins, according to the police report, one of the Kanes tore money from the driver's hand and both punched the driver in the face and head.

(Click here for the TV interview of the cab driver.)

"They broke my glasses. They ripped my clothes off. All over 20 cents," the cabbie told the Chicago Tribune.

As I said earlier: Un-freakin'-believable.

But is it? Is it really?

Is there anything that pro athletes - so full of wealth, testosterone, feelings of invincibility and senses of entitlement - are above doing?

Even sweet-looking kids like Patrick Kane, the new EA Sports NHL '10 video game coverboy and a prospective U.S. Olympian?

Hey, I'm not here to convict Patrick Kane. I don't know all the facts. The only people who really know what happened in that cab are the Kanes and the cabbie. Over time, hopefully everything will come to light.

All I know is that the most unbelievable actions involving jocks turn out to be all-too-believable anymore.

I'm determined to keep an open mind. A skeptical and cynical mind, yes, but an open one.

If these charges prove false, I hope Patrick Kane can have some semblance of a normal life and NHL career. If they prove true, however, I hope he rots in jail until he's ready for hockey's Senior Circuit.

The Balder Truth

I'm not supposed to joke about such a serious subject, but ...

I'm so, so, SO tempted to give Patrick Kane a new nickname that's sure to give him street cred:

"20 Cent," of course!

THE BALDEST TRUTH

Every time there's a story about a one-time multimillionaire athlete or rock star or actor going broke, the natural reaction is:

How? I couldn't spend all that money even if I tried!

Well, actually, you could. And these rich and famous people do. All the time.

A three-paragraph item tucked deep inside Sunday's Tribune tells of the real-estate transactions of one Rex Grossman, the QB Chicago fans learned to loathe until he was handed a one-way ticket out of Bear Country.

Seems that Grossman - who already was trying to sell his three-bedroom suburban townhome for $899,000 - now is trying to unload his 3,437-square-foot condo in the new Trump International Hotel & Tower downtown at a substantial loss from the $2.68 million he paid for it less than a year ago.

OK, I understand why Grossman bought the expensive home in the 'burbs. That's where the Bears train and the former No. 1 draft pick figured he'd be the team's starting quarterback for a decade. Plus, he bought it before the market went to crap.

But the Trump place? Really? He thought $2.68 million was a bargain for a condo in a declining market? And he thought buying a second place in Bear Country was a good idea even though the team had lost all faith in him and practically was holding the exit door open for him?

Either he got bad advice, he's really stupid or a little of both.

Maybe Rex has made dozens of great investments and that was just a bad one. Maybe he's got more money than God and would laugh at his name even being mentioned in this blog post.

Still, such silliness is just one of hundreds of examples I can give you illustrating how a millionaire can become a bankrupt ex-millionaire faster than a mediocre QB can get picked off for a TD.