House #1 Details

Sometimes I feel like I'm on "House Hunters" with the decisions we have to come across.  Give-and-take for different things in houses; bidding wars; becoming emotionally attached to a home that is out of reach.  Ugh!

So with Ridgefield house we heard Monday night that the realtor/owner got another offer and there was another one being written up.  So he told our agent to give him our best offer.  We said a quick prayer before we filled out the paper and felt good about going $3k over his asking, but still making him pay closing.  I wasn't super confident and didn't want to be crushed so I kept a pretty level mind about it.  Craig and our agent thought for sure we'd get it.  I wasn't so confident although we prayed about a number to put in.  We found out Tuesday that we had been outbid!  We were the #2 offer and if the first people back out, then it's ours.  But I highly doubt that.  Oh man we were crushed!  What about that feeling I got in the house?  How do I interpret those?  I guess on to the other homes.  Our agent called the agent of both the #2 & #3 house in the meantime.

House #2 the agent had told us that his owners are confident in their asking price and will NOT budge.  Also they will only pay their own closing costs, not ours.  So pretty much if we want this house we have to come in $3k above their asking price, which we felt was already overpriced anyway.  And everyone knows you don't want to over-buy and be the most expensive house in the neighborhood and if the value isn't there why spend 20k more than house #3!!!  I was a little crushed because this was the house I quickly became emotionally attached to and pictured my family in it.  Although when we walked through it I wasn't as impressed as the pictures.  And the owners are ticking me off!

House #3 the agent told us that his owner is deperate and needs to get out of the house.  We quickly gathered after walking through it that the guy lives alone although he does have 2 kids because of things in the bedroom.  The agent also told us that this price was nearly a short-sale price and was about to go that route very soon.  We didn't want to go that route as it can be complicated and take a lot of time.  This house had 2415 sq ft compared to house #2 that had 2459 and was 20k cheaper!  Why would we over buy for the same sq footage?!  I did like the #2 house floor plan better but #3 had "all the bells & whistles" as Craig says it.  We looked online at some other homes we had looked at and out of 9 houses we saw in a week 3 were pending!  We needed to make our decision fast.  It just made sense to offer on house #3.  I was a little bummed but I'm still excited to make the house mine.  It does need a woman's touch, and I really want to paint the door red like the Ridgefield house.  Oh and the agent also said since it's this cheap and they just lowered it 10k 3 weeks ago that the owner can't afford much closing costs.  We decided to make an offer at $4k above his asking price and he pays closing.  So technically we're getting it $2k less than his asking.  Also we want him to include his nice white wood blinds he has throughout the house, a shed in the back and his fridge.  We quickly learned last night after our agent called their agent that the couple is separated and that's why they are selling it.  We're pretty good at guessing that when looking through the house.  You can even tell in the pics.  So we are really excited!  It also makes it nice that this house will be $50 cheaper a month then we've budgeted where house #2 would $50 more than budgeted.  That's always nice.  Here's a link to the virtual tour.  The first pic of the house makes it look gray exterior but it's a brown/cream. 

http://www.visualtour.com/shownp.asp?sk=202&t=2677278

We should hear back sometime today.  The waiting game is not fun, but it's worth it.