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Friday, March 21, 2014

House Hunting

This is an update on my house hunting progress for those of you that are interested in how it goes. On my last post, To be... or not to be my house? out of 70 views to date, I received 4 responses, something I find disheartening, a possible sign that maybe there weren't a lot of home owners in that group. Or this just isn't a topic with a lot of interest in the nail polish world which is fine, I figure if it's not interesting to you, you just won't read it.

The responses I did get confirmed my feelings on the matter, to take my time looking around and to make an offer if I found one I felt strongly about so we made an offer on a nice brick ranch house on Wednesday with an asking price of $114,900. That's exactly what this seller wants, not a penny less and is not budging much. Apparently asking the seller to pay the closing costs is not unusual and hubby did, offering $110,000 and all closing costs; that amount was a bit higher than I would've have offered but he wanted to show that we were serious (he also left little room for negotiation and showed his eagerness which I thought was a mistake). The offer was immediately rejected and countered with $114,900 and $3500 of the closing costs and she would replace the hot water heater. We never asked her to replace it but she offered to pretty quick so I think she knew it leaked and was hoping no one would notice. Hubby's counter was that the only way she was getting full price was if she paid all the closing costs, $5000, and we're still waiting to find out if she accepts or not. Again, I wouldn't have offered that much, my offer would've been $112,000.

I don't appreciate the seller playing hardball which is what I consider this- I mean, who the hell pays the asking price? While I'm contrary and my inclination is to walk away and keep looking, hubby really wants the house and is hanging in there. There's an open house on Monday and I think, if she rejects our last offer, she'll be hoping the open house will bring in bigger offers even though it's been on the market just shy of two months and we've been the only people to go see the house.

That's the current progress. We should know today whether we can officially call it "our house", the seller has two more hours to decide. -MK

11 comments:

  1. Good luck! I hope it works out for you. :)

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  2. I don't know what kind of market you live in. But a lot of people pay asking price or more if they really want the property. So don't feel like you got the worst deal if you pay for asking price. I know many people that paid more than asking and their own closing costs. Actually the market in my area a couple years ago was quite crazy and houses were selling left and right and no one had a chance of buying unless they had all cash or offered higher than asking. When we bought our house we had to move the minute it was listed because within a day or two it was gone. Well the good ones were gone. So again, I'm not sure of the market you are in it may be completely different. Also, the prices have gone sooo high in my area that the market has changed. Houses are sitting much longer, but command a much higher price.

    If the homeowner is going the standard way of selling her home then she also owes about 6% of the selling price to her real estate agent and your real estate agent (if you have one if not then the entire 6% goes to her real estate agent). So paying over $6K for real estate fees and then $5k for your closing costs does not make it unreasonable for her to want to stick to her selling price. So essentially it is costing her 11K to sell her house. If you cut her price by $5k it is costing her $16K to sell her home. I don't know how much she paid for this house, but it is cutting into her equity a lot. Also I don't know her story, if her home is completely paid off or not. But if she didn't have a lot of equity in the first place and still owes a big chunk of principle on her mortgage I can see why she won't budge. And I don't know how urgent it is to her to sell the place, that could be why she is holding out. I wouldn't say just accept anything she gives you, but she has her side of the story too. She is not just a business trying to make a sale. She is selling her home.

    And to answer your question on why people don't comment. I personally use a blog reader to read all my favorite blog posts. I love reading your blog, but my reader makes it hard to comment. So I usually don't. But this times I felt like putting my two cents in. :) So I came onto the computer just to comment!

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    1. I live in Northern Kentucky and I'm told the current market has more buyers than available homes so they aren't lasting long although many houses I checked out 6 months ago are still sitting there. I would not do this without an agent and knew about the 6% and the closing costs which is why we offered as much as we did starting off. She paid $108,000 in 2007 and may even be paying 2 mortgages, not 1 and I'm not unsympathetic, just annoyed she isn't very negotiable. I find myself wanting to ask if she ever watches Pawn Stars.

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  3. This is interesting to read because we are just entering the market, so thank you for not only educating me about pigments and frankens, but house hunting as well! Good luck and I hope it works out for you!

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    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    2. A few too many typing errors before, had to start over. You didn't ask for any advicd but I'm going to share this anyway. I learned a lot more than a wanted to know but it has been necessary learning and my biggest lesson has still been to have that home inspection done by a reputable company, and this averages around $400 but is well worth it. Equally important was deciding what kind of home loan to apply for. In our case, we went with a USDA Rural Housing loan because for an FHA loan you need a 3.5% down payment, funds we do not have on top of breaking our lease and other moving-associated expenses. Checking your credit score never hurts either. I stalk Realtor.com and know about new listings/price reduced before my real estate agent's automated system sends the listings to me. I also go digging into property and tax records on prospective homes and go check them out on Google Earth. The newest thing I learned was a home for sale stays listed as available and won't go "pending" until an offer is agreed- which means other people may be walking through a house you've already started to think of as yours. And some sellers will accept secondary offers although our agent said making an offer on a house that already has one being considered is typically a waste of time.

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    3. Oh pardon the errors I still didn't catch. I hate that.

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  4. Out of the 70 views, only four responded? That’s tough. Well, that’s what house hunting really is, exhausting and stressful. And I think it doubles up the stress when the seller is leaning hard on you. But I’m glad that everything worked out. You have your own place now that you can call home. Congratulations! I hope the moving goes well.

    Jamie Carmouche

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  5. Sometimes, we cannot blame some seller to stick around with the price they’ve projected, especially if the house is aesthetically beautiful or there are multiple offers for the said property. But I’m glad that your offer was considered. So, how did the meeting with the seller go?

    Blair Berdusco

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    1. I was too nervous and excited to ask her any of the questions I thought I was going to but she was a nice lady. There were no problems with the closing, just a lot of paperwork to sign. And we were the only people to view the house or make an offer but it didn't matter, she wasn't budging.

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