We’re in contract on one side
*Our* house is in contract. It’s contingent on us getting the other house and we should know about that by the end of the business day. We’re supposed to have another showing this evening but hopefully they’ll cancel. The people are pre-approved so we don’t need a back-up.
Their offer was lower than we expected to go (we negotiated it back up a little) but we decided to risk it because if we got this other house, it would end up being a better deal to have it sell quickly than to hold out for a higher offer. That kind of thing is so hard to figure out.
We feel good about it because we know a bit about this couple. They’re young, about to be married, they will move in after their honeymoon. We like the idea of people starting their lives together here and we know that they will appreciate all the things we’ve done. We were hoping it didn’t go to a landlord, too, since it was a rental before we had it and the neighbors were so glad when we bought it.
On the other hand, the house we want is owned by a spendthrift. It’s so tempting to get your back up when you’re doing these negotiations and say, “He offered what? Well, to hell with him!” This guy is just trying to eke out every little bit of money he can get on the house (it’s paid off — it belonged to his parents who are now in a retirement home). But then we thought, heck, this is his childhood home and likely it’s got a lot of emotional baggage with it for him — good or bad. He’s trying to negotiate this from states away and likely doesn’t know much about the Columbus market or even the state of the house. He’s had someone do a lot of the cosmetic work we thought we would have to do (they pulled up the carpet in the bathrooms — there’s beautiful original tile there now and they finished the floors). And we talked to the man doing the renovations and got his take on the house. (He also flips houses himself so he was telling us a bit more about the floors and things.) And ultimately, we want the house. We want the neighborhood and we like the house a lot so heck, we’ll pay what he’s asking. (He basically said he’d take asking plus he tacked on closing so he’ll pay closing but we’ll pay more on the mortgage and we’ve bargained him down quite a bit from there but not as much as we were hoping.)
This is what’s strange about real estate. It’s not like you can go price match at Best Buy or bring in an ad and make them meet their competitor’s sale price. This guy has a monopoly on *that* house. If we want it, we’re going to have to bite the bullet.
It’s ok though. It’s still less than we expected to have to spend to get into the neighborhood. And again, we like it. I’m a little worried that our king-size bed won’t fit into any of the bedrooms. We bought the mattress just a couple of years ago so I’d hate to have to get rid of it just yet.
About the offer on your house- we priced our house 5k less than we knew other houses were going in our area. We made it a good deal. It paid off we had a full price offer first day on the market. Now tons of people said “oh you should have asked more.” But to us it was worth the 5 to 15K to have it sell quickly and be done with it.
We spent years with our bed basically being the only thing in a room because it was king size. You can do it I bet, but you may end up putting a dresser in a closet.
Good luck today.
You have a king size bed?!? Oh, the jealousy.
Hurray on the contract! The people we bought our house from were also so happy to see a young couple come in and buy it (i.e. us). It was their first home, and they were happy it was our first home, so they accepted our offer within the first hour.
We were so grateful and it made for such a nice process. Everything was quick and painfree and we all hugged and cried, lovely story.
I agree that the hassle and lack of stress is probably worth that extra little bit of money.
It’s all moving fast! Fingers crossed…especially for the bed!
I’m so excited for you. Are the kids excited about moving? I’ll keep everything crossed for you. Won’t I look cute walking down the street with my fingers and eyes crossed. LOL
Oh, man! Good luck!!! Crossing everything twice; I look like a pretzel over here!
We stuffed a king-size bed into a tiny bedroom. In my opinion, the enormous bed and comfortable sleeping arrangement totally makes up for the lack of bedroom furniture.
Especially since most nights we’re sharing our bed with a little person.:)
I hope it works out for you! We moved earlier this year, one week before my scheduled c-section. Looking back, I don’t think I’ll ever do that again, but boy do we love the house!
Yay! I’m very happy for you! Well, I’ll be anxiously waiting to hear whether the thrifty guy decides to “let you have” his house on the terms you’re asking. Good luck!