In my previous blog post I explained that the Marmots had done so much damage to my house in Idaho, that I decided to sell it. The several new housing developments surrounding my house had driven the Marmots onto my property. Never in the past thirteen years of owning this house had the Marmots been so destructive. I believe that this change in their behavior was caused by the stress and pressure they were under from being chased out of their previous burrows.
I soon found out from my home insurer that they were not going to pay for any of the damage to my home or well-pump-house done by the Marmots. I was told that my home insurance did not cover, “damage caused by animals”, because it was the homeowner’s responsibility to detect and prevent this type of damage from happening. This made it even more clear to me that I should sell this house.
If I had wanted to sell this house, and had planned to sell this house, the Summer of 2022 would have been the time to do it. This was the peak of the Idaho real estate boom, that was caused by so many people leaving California. But I didn’t plan to sell, or want to sell my house. This just suddenly became necessary. Apparently there was still such a demand for houses in Idaho, that when I contacted a real estate agent that was referred to me, he was eager and enthusiastic to come over to my house the following morning to get started and take the real estate listing photographs.
One of the very first things that this real estate agent did, was show me thirteen real estate listings of comparable recent home sales near my home. The lowest of these recent comparable sales, was a home on less than one acre, for $250K. The remaining recent comparable sales, were all over $300K, going up to $550K. Based on these comparables, he said that he believed that my home was worth about $325K. This is what I believed as well, based on the number of acres of land that my house was on, and its location next to several new housing developments where the lot sizes were only 1/2 acre.
To clarify a little more, within a short distance from my house, there were one-acre lots for sale in the $80K-$110K price range. My house was on multiple acres, with a water-well, electric-service, and septic-system already installed. Just the amount of land alone, with existing utility services, and direct road access to each acre, was arguably worth more than $325K because of its potential for subdividing it into smaller lots.
But the beginning of the problems with my home sale, came on the second day of working with my real estate agent, when he said that he did not want to ask buyers who submitted an offer, to pay more than $1,000 earnest-money, because, “….it might cause them to be unable to make their down-payment.” I was wondering what the hell was he talking about, what kind of buyers was he talking about?
I explained to my real estate agent, that if an offer is submitted by a buyer, and it gets close to the closing date, I would have to travel from North Dakota back to Idaho in order to remove my personal property and vehicles before the closing. I am not going to make this trip, be absent from my job, risk losing my job, move a bunch of personal property, and have the buyer back out of the sale with no penalty, after causing me a great deal of expense.
An older friend of mine, who used to be a real estate agent, when discussing this with him, he said to me, “Hell yes you need to collect at least several thousand dollars earnest-money. That’s the only way that you are going to prevent people from tying-up your home with frivolous, nonsense offers that they know they can’t follow through with.”
When there was a second, much larger misunderstanding with my real estate agent over a different matter that caused me to contact the real estate broker of this real estate agency, the broker was in lock-step with my real estate agent about, “…Oh, no. We don’t want to collect more than $1,000 earnest-money from buyers who submit an offer, because that might interfere with their ability to make their down-payment.”
I quickly realized that both my real estate agent, and the real estate agency broker/owner were trying to steer my home sale towards local, first-time home buyers. I was beginning to question if this was not legally a conflict of interest, as they were not attempting to represent me and my best-interests, but instead trying to create a good-deal for their own friends, family, or someone else they had in mind. It was like they were trying to be “good guys”, “do the right thing”, “be charitable”, but with MY HOUSE, and at MY EXPENSE.
Within a few more days, a couple of realizations made the situation more clear. When I was browsing through all of the current real estate listings for that region of Idaho, from the lowest price going up, I found out that my house was currently the lowest-priced house for sale in that county. The reason why my real estate agent and the real estate agency broker/owner were trying to steer my house sale toward first-time home buyers, was because it was currently the lowest priced house for sale in that area of Idaho.
The second important realization that I made, was that first-time home buyers who lacked the necessary income or ability to make a down-payment, could qualify for a HUD/FHA loan guarantee, creating a bunch of potential buyers for every real estate agent in the area.
Within the first few weeks of my home being listed for sale, there were about fifteen home showings. I was advised by my real estate agent that it would be best for me to be absent during home showings, so I always planned to leave to go shopping or out to eat at least 1/2 hour before a house showing appointment. But in some cases I would drive to a neighbor’s house several hundred feet away, and watch from my vehicle without being seen.
From what I observed, the people who were being shown my home, they didn’t have very much money, or life experience. They sometimes acted kind of lost. The fact of the matter was, they didn’t want or need a house on acreage to keep their horses, cattle, chickens, goats, dogs, construction equipment, boat, motorhome, they were just there because this was the lowest-priced house for sale in the region, and they were going to try to get a HUD/FHA loan guarantee.
I looked up information about HUD, the U.S. Department Of Housing And Urban Development, and FHA, the Federal Housing Authority. These Federal Government Offices were created to assist low-income and possibly disadvantaged groups of people such as minorities, LGBT, people with AIDS, in obtaining housing through financial assistance and enforcement of non-discrimination in housing. For readers who don’t believe me, here is a quote from the HUD website, “HUD continues to play a major role in providing shelter for America’s most vulnerable populations: the working poor, minorities, Native Americans, people with disabilities, people with AIDS, the elderly, the homeless.”
HUD/FHA has applications for people with low-income, inability to make down-payment, and first-time home buyers, to receive loan guarantees, making them eligible for bank loans to buy a house, that they otherwise would not qualify for. These HUD/FHA applications are complex, time-consuming, and often get tied up in government bureaucracy during multiple stages.
Because of the HUD/FHA programs, every real estate agent in the area had a HUD/FHA first-time home buyer, low-income buyer on hand to bring to my house, because it was the currently the lowest-priced house in the area, even at $325K. But these first-time home buyers, low-income buyers didn’t want, or need a house on acreage in a rural area. For instance, how are these low-income people going to mow that many acres, it takes a tractor to do it, which costs as much as the house down-payment they can barely afford. And, it could easily cost $100 per week, $5K per year in fuel for their daily commute to and from work.
Though every real estate agent had their first-time home buyer, low-income buyer to bring to my house in order to create a possible sale and receive their portion of the roughly $18K real estate commission, there was/is a risk to me as a home seller in accepting an offer from a HUD/FHA participant. After accepting an offer, the wait time for the completion of their HUD/FHA loan guarantee application could take 3-5 months, with the possibility of not being approved at all for many different reasons.
In the case of my home sale, I am unwilling to make any improvements or changes to my property to complete the sale. Except for the Marmot damage, my home is O.K. the way it is as far as I’m concerned. I am aware that HUD/FHA would probably require me to remove some things from my property, in order for their participant’s loan guarantee application to be approved, but I’m not going to do it.
I sometimes look at the situation this way: I own a paid-for home that is worth about $325K. Someone who doesn’t have the income, or the down-payment to buy my home, doesn’t even own a home, is going to tell me, “Hey, you need to have that Dodge box van, other vehicles, that storage trailer removed from your property.” Why the fuck am I going to take orders from a low-income renter, with no property of their own, who has no legal ownership in my property yet, and has a 50% chance of being denied their HUD/FHA loan? How many times would I be willing to spend $5K for a property improvement request from a buyer, only to have the buyer fail to qualify for a loan, or just back out? Zero times would I do this.
A neighbor asked me the question, “How are these people who don’t have the income, or the down-payment to qualify for a Bank loan, who receive a HUD/FHA loan guarantee, how are these people going to make the $2K per month mortgage payments?” My thoughts, “Isn’t this how the 2008 housing-bubble-burst, nationwide home foreclosures, bank failures happened? The Federal Government pressuring banks to give mortgages to people who were not qualified in employment history, income level, down-payment?”
As I explained in my previous blog post, I left Idaho in 2011 to go to work in North Dakota because I couldn’t earn enough money in Idaho to survive. For the next ten years, I had to continue to travel to North Dakota for work, because I had not been able to earn enough money in Idaho. Keeping this in mind, the way I see it, if a person or a family doesn’t have the income or the down-payment for a $325K house, they probably shouldn’t be trying to buy a $325K house. Why are they even trying to stay in an area where they can’t afford the lowest-priced house on the market? Isn’t that a big indication that they need to leave and go live somewhere else?
I try not to tell EVERYBODY, because too many people knowing will ruin this, but there are many small towns in North Dakota currently, where the price of a single-family home, is roughly the same as a person’s annual income, not six times a person’s annual income like Idaho currently.
Here is a good example of a small-town North Dakota house currently for sale, $59,900 3BR/1.5BA 2,000 square feet, low-crime, four city-blocks to the K-12 school, three city-blocks from the grocery store https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/1018-1st-Ave-W_New-England_ND_58647_M77231-31494
Dickinson58601 
I somehow stumbled here because I was looking into stopping in Dickinson while on a road trip this month. I came on here and ended up going down a rabbit hole. I like to travel a lot and I found a fondness for hiking, going to national parks, etc. I’ve been to South Dakota and Wyoming and loved it. I saw there was roughrider days in Dickinson and wanted to see if it was worth stopping or going to. I’m always mindful considering I’m Afro Latina from the Midwest so of course it’s good to know certain details prior to going to areas I’m not too familiar with. So, I appreciate the honest blogs especially from a local to get a glimpse of what Dickinson is like or North Dakota in general. I’m kind of a social butterfly at times so I can mix and mingle with anyone. If you have any recommendations or advice I’m definitely all ears.
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In reply to Heather Jillian,
If you are entering North Dakota from the east on Interstate 94, the first city that you come to will be Fargo, North Dakota, which may be the only culturally-diverse and multi-facetted city in North Dakota, with both old and new places of interest, all ages of people being active, a high education level. You can probably find at least one full day’s worth of things to see and do in Fargo, including good places to eat, nice people to meet.
Continuing west on Interstate 94, you will come to Bismarck, Which is the state capital of North Dakota, but it only has about 75K people. The people in Bismarck will be more conservative, less educated, and less friendly than the people in Fargo. You may even encounter mostly unfriendly people in Bismarck. You may drive around Bismarck looking for a good place to eat, and find nothing that looks good at all. The only interesting thing about Bismarck in my experience, is that the Missouri River flows through it. After arriving in Bismarck and driving beside the Missouri River for twenty minutes, driving through downtown for ten minutes, you may not find anything else that interests you in Bismarck.
Continuing west on Interstate 94, the next large town that you will come to will be Dickinson, North Dakota, population 25K. Dickinson is the largest town in southwest North Dakota, and probably is a good place to get a hotel/motel room for a couple of days if you wish to explore and find out what North Dakota is really like. Dickinson is currently moderately busy because it is the regional large town that provides support services, shopping, supplies for probably two-dozen small towns in southwest North Dakota.
From Dickinson, you could travel back east on Interstate 94 for twenty minutes to get to the small town of Richardton, which has a one-hundred year old monastery called the “Assumption Abbey” and is open to visitors (check hours on-line). From Richardton you could travel back east on Interstate 94 for ten minutes, to get to the small town of Gladstone which is slightly picturesque as it sits above the Heart River that passes through it, maybe stop on the bridge and take a photo. You will be on the “Enchanted Highway” which has approximately ten of the largest metal art sculptures in the World placed along an approximately twenty-five mile route.
Taking the “Enchanted Highway” south through Gladstone, passing giant metal sculptures of grasshoppers or fish as you drive, you will come to the very small town of Lefor, population 80, with a very old impressive Catholic Church/Cathedral. Lefor has/had the largest per-capita population of Hungarians of anywhere in the U.S. Continuing on, you will reach the small town of Regent, population approx. 500, which I believe has some kind of Enchanted Highway themed restaurant thing.
From Regent, you could turn and go east to Mott, just to see an example of a typical North Dakota town that hasn’t changed much, but it’s not pretty. I would just pass through Mott, to get to the turn going south to the town of Hettinger, population approx 1,500. I would plan on spending ten to twenty minutes driving around downtown Hettinger, it’s quaint, not ugly. There is an interesting old railroad depot area with large old trees and unchanged agricultural warehouses, adjacent to a very nice park with “Clear Lake”. There is a bar or two downtown where you can order food, and an old small bowling alley that serves food. In Hettinger, you are just six miles north of the South Dakota border, it’s a good place to take photographs on the high hill on the south side of Hettinger.
Leaving Hettinger on Highway 12 heading west, you will see what agricultural, sparsely populated North Dakota was like a hundred years ago. When you get to Highway 22, you could take it north back to Dickinson, passing through the town of New England, population 500. Or, you could continue on Highway 12 heading west through the towns of Reader pop. 200, Gascoyne pop. 50, Scranton pop. 400, until you reach Bowman pop. 2,000. There are a few places to eat in Bowman, if it’s not a Monday when they are all closed. If you leave Bowman going north on Highway 85, this will take you back to Interstate 94, but first you will pass through the small town of Amidon population 50.
***There are two things that I recommend the most out of everything else in North Dakota. 1) Go to the town of Medora on Interstate 94, about a one-hour drive west of Dickinson. See the “Medora Musical” performed in a one-of-a-kind spectacular outdoor amphitheater. Visit the “Cowboy Hall Of Fame” in Medora, mostly for its pioneer museum. Visit the “Chateau De Mores” on the Little Missouri River in Medora. Go to the Theodore Roosevelt National Park museum/visitor-center in Medora. Go look at the Buffalo in Medora.
#2) And this is just for people who are prepared to get lost without freaking out, who leave either Bowman or Belfield with a FULL TANK OF GAS, to travel just south of the town of Amidon on Highway 85, look for the highway sign that says, “Davis Dam, Burning Coal Vein, Logging Camp Cabins” and take the turn-off going west on a dirt/scoria road for about 3-5 miles, take the next right at the road sign for “Burning Coal Vein, Logging Camp Cabins” and head north for the next 8-10 miles, this will give you BOTH the Best View of the “Badlands” and you will pass through the only “Pine Forest” in North Dakota. If it is daylight, you can take this dirt/scoria road for the next 20 miles all the way to the town of Medora, and this will be a once-in-a-lifetime type drive, with the views of the Badlands, buttes, ravines, the Little Missouri River, the Pine Forest, and livestock that like to stand in the road.
You could stay in Medora, but it could be fully-booked, and expensive in summer.
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Thanks so much for the recommendations. I actually took my trip and I ended up doing the majority of what you recommended. Truthfully I loved North Dakota. Really loved it. I found the people to be friendly for the most part. There were a lot of men that asked if I lived in North Dakota and even one guy pulled over to talk to me when I was walking my dog, but otherwise people were friendly. It did help I took my dog with me so I spent time walking my dog and going to different places talking to locals. Dickinson was really cool. It reminded me of the smaller cities where I live. I arrived too late to attend the rodeo but it was fine. I did go to TRNP. I spent two days out there and drove down to Bowman and other areas. There were a lot of places I stop at from Fargo to Dickinson. Really wasn’t motivated to stop in Bismarck this time but Fargo was fun. There’s so much more, but I wanted to respond to your comment. Thanks again and I’m 100% sure I’ll be back in North Dakota. I honestly will go back to Dickinson and stay there again.
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Interesting story. I had heard of deer and gophers damaging yards up to now, but not marmots demolishing interiors.
Whenever I see “HUD”, I have to think of The Sopranos episode in season 4 (2002) where they run a complicated scam on HUD funds in collaboration with an assemblyman, a community leader and a property appraiser, all crooked.
An “investment” of around $400,000 in 4 ghetto houses (fronted by the urologist Dr. Fried) gets turned into about $1.3m with HUD money, split 5 ways.
The kicker at the end was Tony chasing squatters out of the houses and stripping out the metal piping to sell at an additional profit !
Not remotely suggesting that anything of that nature is going on here of course, the episode was hilarious though.
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