House hunters, come on in!

[August2005Bride]

That isnt too bad and I do know all banks are differnet. It is just so frustrating to hve to wait pretty much

[Lindzee82]

Finally heard back from the realtor and we are looking at two houses Friday night starting at 6pm. Maybe one of these will be "the one"!

[August2005Bride]

Lindzee Good luck seeing the houses and hope you like on of them :)

[August2005Bride]

Well we got our answer...The bank accepted an all cash offer with no financing! Our realtor is not surprised as maybe thats why it took long for them to get back to us as maybe they were just buying time until they got what they needed.

On to the next one.

[Lindzee82]

Candice - Thank you. I will let you all know how it goes. I am sorry that things didn't work out for you. That sucks.

[Lindzee82]

Okay, so we went and looked at the two houses tonight.

The first house was nice. It had the features that it said it did, but the location is a big negative. We like the secludedness of it, but it is on a busy dumptruck road because there are a ton of dirt pits beyond. There was also some moisture spots in the basement that concerned us. But, it was a really nice house.

The second house was the one that we had the most hope for. And we loved it! However, there are quite a few things that concern us with the construction and it would also need some fixing up, which we could totally do. We have a lot of questions about the construction, that could most likely only be answered through a thorough home inspection. We would most certainly do an inspection on any house we wanted to buy. However, DH is very concerned about the inspection and making an offer. The realtor explained to us that we can make our offer contingent on the home inspection. DH's concern is what would make the inspection a deal breaker? Do we get to decide that? He is very worried about getting into a situation that we cannot get out of should something come up in the inspection that we end up not wanting the house. I think that what we might do before making an offer is having a construction worker friend come look at the house on our second showing and see what they have to say. Apparently the listing agent called our agent and told him that the sellers would not be offended with any offer - that they are very motivated to sell. The sellers have also only been living there a year. So, we are worried as to why they are selling so quickly. Did they have problems? And we really have no way of finding out. We are going to take the weekend to think about things, but hopefully we will pursue this house further because we both really loved it!

[ManteoChik]

Okay, so we went and looked at the two houses tonight.

The first house was nice. It had the features that it said it did, but the location is a big negative. We like the secludedness of it, but it is on a busy dumptruck road because there are a ton of dirt pits beyond. There was also some moisture spots in the basement that concerned us. But, it was a really nice house.

The second house was the one that we had the most hope for. And we loved it! However, there are quite a few things that concern us with the construction and it would also need some fixing up, which we could totally do. We have a lot of questions about the construction, that could most likely only be answered through a thorough home inspection. We would most certainly do an inspection on any house we wanted to buy. However, DH is very concerned about the inspection and making an offer. The realtor explained to us that we can make our offer contingent on the home inspection. DH's concern is what would make the inspection a deal breaker? Do we get to decide that? He is very worried about getting into a situation that we cannot get out of should something come up in the inspection that we end up not wanting the house. I think that what we might do before making an offer is having a construction worker friend come look at the house on our second showing and see what they have to say. Apparently the listing agent called our agent and told him that the sellers would not be offended with any offer - that they are very motivated to sell. The sellers have also only been living there a year. So, we are worried as to why they are selling so quickly. Did they have problems? And we really have no way of finding out. We are going to take the weekend to think about things, but hopefully we will pursue this house further because we both really loved it!

Our contract was set up so that we could get out if anything was found in the home inspection - even if the sellers were offering to fix it. Mostly it meant that if we found something really serious (like severe water damage or mole) we could back out even if the sellers fixed it - because a lot of people don't even want to get into a property thats had those problems. Luckily we had only a few minor problems that the sellers fixed without us even having to "negotiate" it.

[Lindzee82]

Courtney - I guess DH's concern is that something we think is bad, might not be thought of as bad by the seller and then we can't get out of the contract. That is great that you only had a few minor problems.

***

Not sure where we stand right now. DH leaves for Afghanistan in January for a year. He is worried about getting this house with so many things that need fixing and not being able to fix them before he leaves. So, at this point, we may not even pursue this house...even though we both really, really like it. This whole thing is just so frustrating.

[August2005Bride]

Well talk about our surprise

Our realtor looked at who bought the house that we wanted and turns outs out the realtor selling the house had the cash offer and it selling it to their buyer UGH!! Talk about depressing right!!

We are going to see another house tonight so hope that goes well We shall see.

[WisWis]

Courtney - I guess DH's concern is that something we think is bad, might not be thought of as bad by the seller and then we can't get out of the contract. That is great that you only had a few minor problems.

***

Not sure where we stand right now. DH leaves for Afghanistan in January for a year. He is worried about getting this house with so many things that need fixing and not being able to fix them before he leaves. So, at this point, we may not even pursue this house...even though we both really, really like it. This whole thing is just so frustrating.
The opinion of the sellers has nothing to do with you being about to get out of the contract after you have an inspection. If you don't like something that comes up you can get out of the contract. The seller doesn't have to okay it or agree.

[Lindzee82]

Good to know, thank you, WisWis.

[DnJ2002]

Okay, so we're officially house-hunting (or maybe we're done??). We are relocating to NC from Chicago and just got back from our 5 day house-hunting trip. We saw 25 houses. It was crazy but we did do a lot of research before going so that meant that the houses we looked at had a lot of potential. We have narrowed it down to 2 (we think). But we're home now with no decision as we keep going in circles on which house to pick.

I'd love input.
House A is 6yrs old and well lived in (needs lots of paint touchup and a few minor fixes but all cosmetic as far as we know). It has more than enough rooms: living (a room I don't really need), dining, 2story family, lots of bedrooms, nice deck and a finished basement (any basement is unusual for the area). Downsides: smaller kitchen, not a great yard as it has steep slopes, neighborhood has no sidewalks or parks (or community pool, which is unusual for the area as well). I'm worry its a hard place to have my 3 kids (will all be under 4) play. The neighborhood seems nice though and we like the overall location.

House B is 1 yr old (or less). Great kitchen, love the cabinets and floors throughout. Nice bedrooms upstairs with two baths for kids to share. GREAT lot - very flat, very private (but still with neighbors), on court which is great for kids and less that a block to the pool and playground. Sidewalks through the entire neighborhood. Downside: no basement and little storage; newer neighborhood so not sure what it will be like when its done and area around it is being built up so has lot of potential but not sure what it will be like when done (too busy with lots of shops or more quiet).

Any insight on the features you'd want with three kids? Its my first home purchase and I feel inexperienced in knowing how to pick a house I could be in for 20 yrs! Ugh.

[Lindzee82]

Wow, 25 houses!

House A sounds nice and spacious, but I would be worried about not having any place for the kids to play. If there was a park close by, that would be one thing. Is the yard large enough for a swingset or anything?

House B would be my choice of the two. Having little storage is something you can work around - have a yard sale! Ha! Having the sidewalks, the nice yard, and access to a pool and playground would be the main selling points for me!

Good luck!

[Niko&Troi]

Hi ladies :)

So things are going smoothly with our house, but I'm just hoping it stays that way. The mortgage company has all of our paperwork in order and we should be able to close on the 1st as opposed to the 15th. I'm not getting excited just yet, the people who bought my house had all of their paperwork and they closed a month late, so no party yet.


August I'm sorry you didn't get the house. You really have to believe that something better will come along for you, and it will!

Lindzee I'm in agreement with what everyone said, all you need to do is put a contigency on the offer in regards to the inspection. Ours was anything over $1 to repair. Get the inspection done and then you can go from there. I know what you mean about DH not wanting a house full of repairs. He's trying to go over to Iraq for a year w/his company and he didn't want to leave me with a house that needs repairs.

DnJ I would go with house 2. Our house in Delaware had a slope in the yard and although the boys were ok out there, I couldn't see them when they were down at the bottom of the slope. IMO, a flat yard is the best way to go when you have kids. We also had to cram our yard toys in one corner due to the slope it was so bad. As for storage, you can always figure something out with that, but you can't change the ground. You could have a yard sale and get rid of things you don't really use. You're also going to be happy with the pool and playground. If the pool is part of your community, you won't need to join one. Growth in an area around the house is always good for resale value too. Best of luck and let us know what you decide!

[Red'sGirl]

Joining in.

DH and I are finally in serious house-hunting mode. Which is funny because we managed to wait until I was 9+ mos pregnant - smart people that we are. BUT we had our reasons: one being that I had to spend most of May in France for my job. But in June, we had to beg my accountant to actually finish my tax returns (:eek:) - he's a corporate acct. and it was all a PITA. Now, in July, it took 3 weeks or more for our mortgage co. to figure out our pre-approval amount! Our problem is that I bought the company that I once just worked for. It doubled my salary, so it seems like a great thing, right? But no, a mortgage loan company would rather you work FOR a company and make a modest wage, than OWN the company and make a "good" wage. All about risk. I get it, but............. give me a break. It was also hard because I'm just shy of 2 yrs in owning the company, so they averaged my salary out, instead of taking my newer, bigger salary.

Anyhow, we got our pre-approval letter today. Sadly, it's for a very low amount (by our area's standards) thanks to the 2 yr problem stated above. However, we're making lemonade. ONE, the houses are definitely dropping in price, so we might actually find a house in the range. And while we're looking, we know that come November, we can go back and do it again (which we'd have to if we don't find a house we'd like) and because that will be 2 yrs for me, the amount is likely to be significantly greater.

So this weekend, assuming no baby arrives, we have 4 houses to see. I'm looking forward to them, especially two of them that seem very promising. We'll see how it all works out.

[Niko&Troi]

Welcome Red's :D

Make sure your house is big enough to host a double birthday party with both of those babies so close together :D My anniversary is the 7th ;)

[Red'sGirl]

LOL! We need a house big enough to host two parties on different floors. I do NOT see my DD sharing her birthday spotlight with anyone, let alone a little brother. :D

[Photobug]

We are now homeowners!!!

We finally closed yesterday! Whoo-hoo!!!!! :D

It was a real PITA, but we finally got all our t's crossed and our i's dotted and the seller's lawyer finally signed the papers that he forgot to sign. We got the key yesterday after work! I am so excited, and exhausted right now. We spent the night cleaning in the new house (it was previously occupied by a bachelor - it was "man clean" in some places, and in some places he had given up all together. It needs a lot of work, but it's ours, ours, ours!!!

Good luck to everyone who is still hunting. The process is a pain, but the end result feels so good!

I'm off to the remodeling threads! :)

[2 Crazy Pugs]

Niko&Troi- You are better off to close closer to the end of the month. If you close on the first, you have to pay a whole month of interest on your mortgage loan at closing. If you close on the 15th, you will pay from the 15th through the end of the month. Depending on your mortgage amount, it could add up to a couple thousand dollars difference in what you have to bring to closing.

[Niko&Troi]

Congrats Photobug :) You must be so happy and excited! Post some pictures when you can.

2 crazy, we really need to close on the first. Our rental lease is month to month, and if we don't close on the first, then it would get pushed back to the 15th so we'd have to pay here, and not save any $$. Plus my husbands company is paying all of our closing costs, so we won't have any out of pocket expense. They even paid for all of our inspections, all of our lawyer fees, everything. If they didn't, we'd be doing things so much differently.


So we're waiting on the appraisal to come in today. I'm hoping it will be sometime this morning before I leave the house. I just want to know :)

[August2005Bride]

Red'sGirl Good luck on the hosue hunting and lots of luck.

Photobug YAY congrats on teh house. :)

Niko Good luck on the appraisal and keep us posted.

We looked at another house Fri night and it waas pretty nice but Im still not 100%. Seems like I never am. I like alot about the house as the owners now made one of the bedrooms into the Dining room since there really isn't a formal one and that was pretty cool. The backyard was decent and did have a pool with a deck but seemed kind of boxed in. Nothing too small but not too big either. Ill have to keep thinking about it though.

[Niko&Troi]

Candice, I believe you are unconsciously comparing this house to the house you really wanted. I did it too, with almost every house I saw. Even the house we got. When we went back a second time to see it while we were waiting for the bank to get back to us on our first offer, I hated it. I walked outside and was very overwhelmed by the number of cars around me. I felt so boxed in. I didn't want it but I didn't dare tell Brian, he liked it. Shortly after that I drove through the neighborhood one day and started to like it. When we went for the inspection, I started to like it even more. Now I'm ready for it.

Drive by it a few times by yourself and just don't think about the house you wanted. Good luck :)

[August2005Bride]

Niko That is prob a part of it and sucks but you aer right But after I posted I found out what the sellers pretty much need to sell and it is pretty high of what we were goign to offer so no luck. We just couldnt make teh payments and it sucks.

Something has to be out there for us and I guess all we need is patience. :)

[Niko&Troi]

Candice, you will find the right house, and it will make the other one seem like nothing. This is a major decision and full of a lot of emotions.

[August2005Bride]

Niko You are so right. It is also a long process but I kindof expected it. I just hope something comes along sooner rather than later.

Thanks for the advice adn kind words :)

[Niko&Troi]

So we got the appraisal in today from the V.A.

We paid $14k less than asking price for the house and got the bank to give us $5k closing cost assistance. The V.A. appraised the house for $39k over what we paid for it. Instant equity :D :D :D We are super happy about that :D

Bank houses are the way to go!!!

[August2005Bride]

Niko That is so awesome :) Lots of luck and so far soo good :D

[Niko&Troi]

Well there is no way the bank will let us close tomorrow, for whatever reason, so we're closing on Friday at 11AM. And I called to have our furniture delivered and thought it would be weeks. Well they will be able to deliver on the 6th :D We thought we'd have to live w/o chairs and sleep on air matresses but we don't have to do that now :)

I think we're having good karma for something else that is going on in our lives. We shall see :)

[August2005Bride]

Niko Seems like things are falling into place :) This is an exciting time ;)

[ManteoChik]

It's official.....WE'RE HOMEOWNERS!!!!!

We closed today at 3pm. The (old...lol) owners will be out by Thursday and then we'll get going on moving in. Our furniture is being delivered the 13th!

[August2005Bride]

Manteochik Congrats! That is great news and lots of luck. :D

[Niko&Troi]

Congrats ManteoChik :D :D :D They are getting out next Thur? You are charnging them rent right??


So we may not be closing tomorrow afterall. The VA needed a second inspection to make sure the stove was in place and working. Well the guy went over there today but the report may not be in in time tomorrow for us to close. Plus the title company hasn't gotten the HUD statement to the mortgage company :(
I'm trying to stay positive about all of this but my stomach is in knots right now. If we don't close tomorrow it will be on Monday probably, but then we loose 3 good days of painting, etc.

[ManteoChik]

Thank you to everyone! We're super excited!!!

[emmasart]

OMG! We just made an offer on a home & after some heated negotions we got them to drop the price over $50,000 and they accepted! Next step is home inspection... Our first home... So terrified!

[Adaya]

I'm chiming in as we are house hunting too. Actually, I think we found the one, but we are going out again tomorrow for good measure.

[emmasart]

We just had our home inspection. A bunch of little things that we were mostly expecting as the home hasn't been occupied for 2 years. There's also a minor leak and some old valves that were found that the seller offered to replace/fix. All in all we're pretty happy with it and it was really nice to have someone give us basically a tutorial on our home. We're basically happy with the home as is, our only concern is a bunch of stuff that's still in the home that we don't want to be there when we take ownership...(lots of plastic flowers, an old moldy extra fridge, an ancient trash compacter & a bunch of decade old paint in the garage. I imagine we can get it written into our offer that that kind of stuff needs to be tossed before we take ownership, right?

We're set to close October 15th, but may move that earlier if we're able to pull off a cross country move earlier than expected.

Good luck to everyone on their house hunt!

[emmasart]

Anyone else still house hunting?

We're scheduled for closing next Friday! The mortgage process is going smoothly & on schedule. Moving companies have been reserved!

My parent's met with the sellers today. (We're in Seattle & the house we're buying is in the Boston area, so luckily my parents have been helping us out with some of the on site stuff. The sellers were really nice apparently & gave a tour of the house mentioning how various gadgets worked, & talked about the neighbors & their various home-maintenance companies of choice. They're selling because of some serious health problems & I think that they're happy that the home is going to a young couple that wants to make the house gorgeous again. I'm very pleasantly surprised that our sellers wanted to show us the house & tell us some of the stories behind it... Who's lived in the house since it was built. I'm kinda a history buff, so it's kinda cool to hear that sort of stuff... even though the home is only about 30 years old. :)

Only 7 more days till we have our first house! And 12 days till we move across country! So much to do!

[Niko&Troi]

Congrats emmasart :D A piece of advice on a long move. I'm not sure if you're moving company is offering insurance, but when you unpack and something is broken, make sure you keep a list, and also note what box # it was in. We are in the process of making our claim, but no one ever told me I had to write down what box number the items were in. So now I have to go through my list of over 100 boxes, and try to figure out what box they were in.

Oh yeah, my other piece of advice, if you can watch them pack, make sure they put the heavy things on the bottom of the box. They put my boys lamp shade on the bottom of the box and then put heavy things on top of it. So of course it got smashed in the move :mad: They did a couple of boxes like that :mad: I have a list of about 15 things that got broken and the majority are my dishes, and of course they don't make them anymore so I can't get replacements for them :(

~~~~~~

I just realized I never posted that we did in fact close on the 1st!! It was not 100% smooth but we did close about 4 in the afternoon. We immediately started cleaning and painting the boys bedroom and playroom. Our things were delivered on the 6th and I was 95% done unpacking on the 13th. We were without our things waaayyyyyy too long for me to slack on it.

So with the exception of hanging our curtains, we're pretty much done setting up the house. Brian is cleaning the garage today so we can actually park our cars in there, or at least mine :p We'll take next weekend and relax and then we'll start painting the rest of the rooms. We need to get the house in order cause Brian has already mentioned our next move :eek: As soon as he finishes his master's he's looking to move back to VA. I'm happy about that, but I can't believe we've been in this house 6 weeks and he's talking about the next move :/

[emmasart]

We closed on our home today! We're officially homeowners!
Now all we have to do is move 3000 miles so we can move in & we're all set. :)
I'll post some pics of our home in the "Post your home" thread. :)

Niko&Troi: Thanks for the advice. I'll definitely have to look into that further. We're not doing a full service moving company. Instead we're hiring local packers to pack a truck that a national shipping company will then drive across the country. So i'm not sure what sort of insurance policies they offer when there are multiple companies involved in handling our stuff.

[Red'sGirl]

Well, I haven't been back here since late July - but in my defense, I had a bab on August 1st(!) So house hunting was put on hold. But in the last few weeks, we've started going out again. We found two houses that were great houses, but we didn't like the neighborhood. One went into escrow, so that was that, and the other is still available. BUT, we finally decided that we have to listen to our gut and if it says that this isn't the neighborhood, then it's not the neighborhood.

Today, we saw another house. I'm tired of listings that say 3bd and then finding the 3rd bd is really a den, or has been converted to a family room, or IS a family room that can be converted to a bedroom. Just give me three bedrooms, please! So today's is off the list. However, we plan to see a promising one tomorrow. It's a true 3 bd (we've "seen" it online) and has everything we really want. The backyard isn't huge, but it has a decent amount of grass, so we could work with it. We drove by it and it's on a busier type street - a pass through of a neighborhood, but it's not horrible. The main thing is, it's a short sale. We've been trying to avoid those, but this might be worth it. Especially since it's been a short sale for months, but the asking price just came down $100K! :eek: It's still pricey, but I have to believe that, even with a short sale, with the economy what it is, that a bank has to consider seriously every offer. So we'll see.

Glad to see so many of you have found houses and have moved in. Congratulations!

[Adaya]

I forgot I posted here. Silly me. Anyhoosy, I posted about "the one" earlier and that one already had 4 offers and the seller refused to take anymore. So I was pretty dejected and a tad sad. We found another house, made an offer and got it accepted. The offer was accepted the same day we found out that "the one" was back on the market.

Long story short, we quickly submitted an offer on the one I wanted all along. After one counter offer, we had a deal. It took a while to get all the paperwork signed, so that was nervewracking, but it's done and the closing is set for 11/21. Just had the inspection on Friday and we are moving right along.

[Red'sGirl]

Hey Adaya! Congratulations!

[Sposa06]

I wish I'd known about this thread earlier this summer, when DH and I were actively house hunting! But we made it through and found a house we love in a great neighborhood. 3 bedrooms, 1 bath, big yard, great floorplan, newly remodeled kitchen, nice hardwoods, etc. We close this Wednesday and move in this weekend! Our house hunting journey began back with our first outing in early August, and now here we are! This is our first house, so we are super excited. :)

[Adaya]

Hey Adaya! Congratulations!

Thanks D. Good luck to you in finding a house. I'm sure things are busy for you especially with a newborn.

[August2005Bride]

Congrats to everyone who has foudn their house :)

We have kind of put our hunting on hold due to the economy and all and have been even told to wait until nextyear as alot more houses should be going down. Hopefully we will get lucky Im kind of impatient and sad about it but hope it pays off and is worth it in the long run.

[emmasart]

Congrats Adaya!

[Adaya]

Congrats Adaya!

Thank you. How are things going in your new home? It's so beautiful.

I'm so excited on one hand and nervous as heck on the other. This is my first house, so my nerves are a wreck.

[uwsweet]

I'm so excited on one hand and nervous as heck on the other. This is my first house, so my nerves are a wreck.

Congrats!! And I'm with you. We just went through the same process. So I'm excited and scared at the same time about the first house. When will my head stop spinning??

We had our inspection this weekend and it went really well. 3 minor minor things that we'll take care of ourselves. Now just locking in our financing, insurance....... and waiting until we close Dec 1st.

Candy

[Michelle]

Now just locking in our financing, insurance.......

Yeah, we're finally at the point where we are close to being able to lock and have you seen how rates skyrocked? Yikes, I'm starting to freak out a little bit here!

[emmasart]

Thank you. How are things going in your new home? It's so beautiful.


Thanks Adaya! We've been in our new home for about 2.5 weeks & things are going well. It's great to finally not be renting anymore & being able to paint a wall any color & drill as many holes as we want. We're probably 75% unpacked, but are waiting a bit longer to do most of that as we want to do some improvements (new flooring in the office) before we start unpacking & assembling the complicated stuff. We've painted 2 rooms & ripped down a ton of plastic flowers, heinous wallpapers, nasty curtains, etc...
So we're getting there, but we still have miles to go. Some day we'll have to tackle the master bathroom that has shag carpeting, chocolate color toilet & tub w/ no shower & a vine motif painted on the wall. :eek:

[smittee]

Congrats Adaya!

[Adaya]

Congrats Adaya!

Thanks lady. How are you? Haven't seen you here or on AAB in a bit.

[Red'sGirl]

I think we've found it.

We saw a house today that I think might be our house. Of course, Cautious Carl (DH) is less impressed. First, the house. In a great neighborhood. It's 3bd/3ba with a family room as well as a living room (fam. room looks to be a converted patio, but it has a fireplace, etc. so....). They also added the master suite, with a great walk-in closet. The other two bedrooms are a good size. The kitchen would have to be redone. The cupboards are ugh. There is the world's tiniest dishwasher in place, but no other appliances. There is a kitchen nook that is too small for a family of 4. SO, we think we could re-do the kitchen, taking out a wall to open it up to the dining room (which otherwise is a bit small), and just get rid of the nook and use it as kitchen space.

Also, there's a pool. We're not wild about pools because of the kids. Mainly, I look to see if it can be easily gated. It can. And there is still a small patch of grass. In addition to that, the garage has been converted to a 1 bd/1 ba guesthouse. Now, it's not listed, so we think it might not be permitted. But it doesn't look like shoddy work, so we would just need to make sure it's up to code. My sister is a construction expert, and says that it's not difficult to do. Still, the inspection would be paramount.

It's more expensive than we want to spend, of course. BUT, our price is less than 10% under what is being asked - and it's a foreclosure. So, all they can say is NO to our offer.

BUT, we have to make an offer, and I'm waiting to see what DH ultimately thinks. He can always come up with reasons why we won't get it - and he might be right, but we won't know unless we try. We've already turned down two great houses because the neighborhoods weren't right. Now we're going to turn down a house because the neighborhood IS right so we probably can't afford it?! Aargh. As long as we offer what we can afford, nothing else matters to me. I would be o.k. if we make an offer and they don't accept. I just don't want to NOT even try. And he'll wait and wait until it's off the market and then say how we should have tried. And that drives me crazy.

Wish me luck! (if anyone is even still reading this thread).

[Niko&Troi]

Red'sGirl, just cause the house is listed high, doesn't mean you'll get it for that. We paid $15k less than what ours was listed for. There was an identical house around the corner from me listed for $248k when we first started looking, they paid $171k for theirs :mad: I'm upset about that one, cause that's the one I really wanted :(

Anyway, my point is, just try. You never know. If you don't, you may see in a month or two someone else got it, at lower than what you were willing to pay.

[Adaya]

Wish me luck! (if anyone is even still reading this thread).

Wishing you luck! Hope DH thinks it's a go and I hope your offer will be accepted. Let's think positive!

[Renrel]

Good luck Red's Girl! It sounds wonderful and the pool can be a blessing with kids in time. They learn to swim and your home can be the hang out place for friends which means you know more about what your kid is up to when he/she reaches the age of not wanting parents to be around much.

[Red'sGirl]

Eh, DH isn't having the house. Oh well, it wasn't perfect, so I cannot invest too much emotion in it. I just fear that he'll find something wrong with every place until the housing market goes back up. He's a slow decider, and GOOD houses still don't last very long in our market (Los Angeles).

I'm just trying to keep the faith. More houses to see this weekend.

[Adaya]

Yipppeee! We closed today. Now I can breathe again. After a change in the original closing date and some unforeseen repairs that had to be done before closing, it's done! You can see pictures of it here (http://tdawn316.blogspot.com/2008/09/safari-circle.html) on my blog.

It's an older home and I love it! It needs some updating and a few other special touches and we should be good to go.

[smittee]

Congrats Adaya! :)

[emmasart]

Congrats, Adaya! I love those high ceilings and the tall windows in the dining (or living?)room!

[Adaya]

Thanks smittee.

emmasart, thank you as well. The high ceilings grabbed my attention when I first saw the house.

[Red'sGirl]

Well, we've made an offer on a house ..................... sorta. We finally decided that the house we've been looking at and looking at, is it. It's not perfect, but it won't take that much to make it so. AND it's been redone, so we don't have to do anything (but paint and that's still optional) in order to move in.

But the seller's agent hasn't returned our agent's calls! WTF?! I doubt that she has other offers because she still hasn't put the pictures she took on the website, the family is still IN the house, and they didn't have an open house this weekend. So we're waiting for her to just respond so we can GIVE her the offer. I don't understand it. Our agent started calling her on Sunday. Does she want to sell this house or not?

[Niko&Troi]

Well, we've made an offer on a house ..................... sorta. We finally decided that the house we've been looking at and looking at, is it. It's not perfect, but it won't take that much to make it so. AND it's been redone, so we don't have to do anything (but paint and that's still optional) in order to move in.

But the seller's agent hasn't returned our agent's calls! WTF?! I doubt that she has other offers because she still hasn't put the pictures she took on the website, the family is still IN the house, and they didn't have an open house this weekend. So we're waiting for her to just respond so we can GIVE her the offer. I don't understand it. Our agent started calling her on Sunday. Does she want to sell this house or not?


Tell your agent to call the seller's broker if they don't get back to you by EOB tomorrow. If the broker has to get involved, they will return your calls.

[Red'sGirl]

The realtor finally called back (and yes, our agent said she was calling the broker if she didn't call today). Suddenly, she's waiting for another offer that could come in any minute. Whatever. We have an offer (that she would have had days ago, if she had returned). I'm not concerned. We'll give our offer and they are free to deal with it or not.

[August2005Bride]

red'sgirl I wouldnt be surprised if the realtory doesnt want to share the commission with anyone else, maybe that is why she took so long to call you back. I had that happen to me a while back.

[Adaya]

Red'sGirl, good luck with the house. I am sure it will all work out. Btw, love the adorable pic of Julian. How sweet! He looks just like Arrena.

[SiValleySteph]

The realtor finally called back (and yes, our agent said she was calling the broker if she didn't call today). Suddenly, she's waiting for another offer that could come in any minute. Whatever. We have an offer (that she would have had days ago, if she had returned). I'm not concerned. We'll give our offer and they are free to deal with it or not.

Red'sGirl, We had a similar situation. We didn't end up with the house b/c the seller's RE agent was also representing the other buyer and had them match our offer and did not come back to us for another offer. The actual seller didn't have any knowledge of how it went down. We know because we went and talked to them about it the next day. It was really annoying. In the end, we just had to move on. I hope your situation works out better! :) Our realtor did end up calling the other realtor's broker, I believe.

[Red'sGirl]

Thanks all for your comments and well wishes.

Our offer went in today, so we'll hear something soon - a counter maybe tomorrow. We used Redfin, so we did it all via email and, as it happens, we were able to meet our realtor tonight as they were having a house buying seminar near our home. She was cool, but she really only had to do the job. We did all the legwork and really knew what we wanted for our offer. She did lend some expertise, though.

None of us really believe the woman has another offer - but you never know. :rolleyes: We just think that it is fairly out of our hands now. We'll either get it or not.

A completely different issue is that my sister is angry because we didn't buy the house through her husband. Ugh. Mind you, her husband "dabbles" in real estate (as well as other schemes). And he has never found us a home to see that we haven't already found. In fact, he's usually a couple of days behind. Everyone in my family thinks he's ......... lazy and not detail orented. So no one (my mom, dad, etc) thinks it's a particularly good idea to use him, so I'm not worried. Plus, Redfin gives you back 50% of the closing costs they collect (since they have no overhead, etc. they can do that). So it was financially better to use them. My sister just wanted to motivate her husband to work by me basically giving him a commission. No thank you. So she'll have an attitude for a while, but I can't help that. Her marriage cannot cost me money.

[bostonbride06]

If you don't mind my asking, what is Redfin? Is it available in all areas?

[Red'sGirl]

If you don't mind my asking, what is Redfin? Is it available in all areas?

Redfin.com It's a listing company that shows houses for sale in all areas (I think it's everywhere). The deal is, because they are basically an online company, and so they have no offices (overhead), you can find a house through them, contact them to arrange a tour of the house(s), and if you choose to buy - they handle the offer and paperwork. After, from the closing costs they receive, they give you back about 25-50%.

They do require that you be pre-approved by a lender first. Give it a try, nothing really to lose.

[Red'sGirl]

By the way, they haven't responded to our offer yet. There is anther offer, so both were presented last night. We're waiting for their counter.

We'll see - if it's meant to be.............. right?

[tenofcups]

I haven't posted before because we weren't actively looking, but we found a house we love, put an offer in today, they countered this afternoon, and we accepted!

We're buying a house!!

I've posted in other threads how much I wanted to move out of our current house for a few years now, but we had to finish renovating our house AND we had such different ideas about where we wanted to move. I just can't believe we found a house we both love in a neighborhood we both love at a price we can afford. We actually saw it in casual looking this spring, but it was too expensive and we figured it would be long gone by the time we were ready.

Then last week, we decided it was time to start at least getting some ideas of what's available -- the house was still there and now 35K less! So we jumped.

We still have to sell our current house, which is a scary thought, but we can swing both for a while if we have to (with a little help from Dh's parents).

Hope that's not too much rambling -- I'm just incredibly excited! :D

[August2005Bride]

tenopcups Congrats and much luck to you :) That is exciting and great that you waited You just never know

Well hopefully after the holidays me and DH will start looking again as we held off for awhle but im ready to buckle down, save as much more $ as possible and hopefully find somethig we can afford. I will keep everyone posted.

[Red'sGirl]

A quick update.

We're letting the house we made an offer on, go. We made an offer that was a bit low, though not ridiculously so. It took 5 days to get a response from them(!). When we did, they countered. They actually countered by taking $4K off the asking price. That's it. WTF?! $4K? I could get a better deal buying a Toyota! :rolleyes: Our agent talked with theirs. They took money out of the house as late as the beginning of the year, and they owe the full asking price. They also refuse to pay any fees or closing costs.

So, as our agent advised, we backed away. I can't imagine anyone agreeing to this deal. So we're going to sit back and watch what happens. If someone buys a house with no negotiation, then good for them. If not, they'll have to try to a short sale or they'll just lose the house. I don't wish either on them, but I don't see how it works differently. In any way, we're not going to buy the house right now - it's way overpriced.

back to the drawing board.

[Red'sGirl]

A quick post, if anyone is reading along. Our house, just lowered the price! By $20K. When we first made our offer, our agent talked to their agent and (when they countered so ridiculously) said that we'd be willing to go up a certain amount. They siad that they wouldn't take anything less than asking. :confused: Now, they've had to come down, and are within $9K of our highest price ($4K if we push it). So our agent gave the other agent a call - AND HASN'T HEARD BACK YET!!! :confused::confused: It's as if she doesn't want them to sell their house. I mean, really. We're less than $10K apart, but she hasn't come back to us.

Who knows what goes through people's heads now.