House Shopping

nysportsfan

First time buyer with my soon-to-be fiance, and we put a pretty aggressive bid on Thursday night. The house is on a nice lot in a great town on a quiet street. We are very excited, but we may not get it. The owners have priced it aggressively and there's been a lot of action on the property already and they have an open house tomorrow 12-4.

My gf wrote a really heartfelt letter to the home owners that is part of the sealed envelope (that's how they wanted the offers, opening all envelopes after the open house) package. We kind of felt "this is the one" when we pulled up to the house. We've put a bid in before on a house but it was a short sale, so we knew it wouldn't materialize. After seeing so many houses, I am hoping to have a place sometime soon. At the same time, I am terrified at the prospect of home ownership/costs. We can do it, and I'm excited, but it's a daunting purchase.

At least I will have a permanent place for my egg

Dimple's Mom

Good luck on the house. If you get it, please post photos!

We wrote a letter to the owners of the house we currently live in as well. We saw it the first day it went on the market (we had been house hunting for well over 6 months), put the bid on it that evening, and there was one other bid as well, from an out of state couple that had not seen the place.

The owners had two dogs. We had one dog. We wrote the letter from the point of view of our dogs, our dog writing a letter to their dogs. Basically saying how much she loved the property, couldn't wait to run about sniffing everything out, having so much land to play on with her three boys (we have three sons), etc etc. It was accompanied with dog treats. :P

A friend of mine told me we went about it all wrong, that money talks, we should have just offered a lot of money (we offered the asking price). I said not for animal lovers. But our real estate agent did put in what she called an 'escalation clause,' which I had never heard of. It basically means you'll beat any offer by $1000. It's not binding. If someone puts in an offer you don't want to pay, you can back out. I don't know the details, but it seems like a clause that everyone should put in!

Our real estate agent also wrote a short note to the owners mentioning how long we had lived in the area, all the volunteer work we did (and believe me when I say I do a lot of volunteer work) which contributed to the community, bla bla bla.

Needless to say, we got the house. There wasn't much competition, but still....we got it.

As home sellers, we did not take the highest offer on our house we sold before we bought this one. Our real estate agent for that house suggested we take a slightly less offer as he felt that buyer had strong financials.

So you may have more of a chance than you think. You are the first person I've ever heard of besides us that thought to write a letter. Great eggminds think alike. :laugh:

fishlessman

im glad i wasnt bidding against you when i bought my house i dont find anything about the buying experience fun, and it really shows, im sure the prior owners still hate me :laugh:

Carolina Q

good luck on the house!! you didn't tell 'em you're a Mets fan did you? :laugh:

nysportsfan

Well, we fell in love with the place but didn't get it :( I think there were at least 12 bids, but all the seller's agent told us was that they accepted another offer. No other details. Upsetting, but we are in a good position as first-time buyers, and are in no rush. I bid what I thought was appropriate and reasonable, and figured they might counter. Maybe we played it wrong, but I'm sure we will find something nice.

We are going to see more houses starting Thursday, so we will see.

Bummed, but life goes on.

Dimple's Mom

That just means there is something better out there waiting for you!

nysportsfan

I hope so :(

fishlessman

you never know, they still have to get it past the bank, banks are insane right now. i think the stat i heard was 13 percent of all homes were vacant right now, lots to choose from.