we've been seriously looking for 2 weeks. of the 5 houses i've really liked, only 2 have been on the market when we got there. 1 is pretty risky (BAD STEEP HILL) and the other is a bit more then i wanted to spend but we could swing it and it's not in the neighborhood where they show up to steal your tv - this neighborhood is upper crunch where they show up with a semi truck to take everything in your house and load your bmw up on the way out.
the mls for a house across the street from the 1 we just signed an offer on: mls 25017229
the house we just signed an offer on: mls 25017054
windermere link
the shake roof has about 4 years left on it (we'll verify this in the ispection) and the gates and fence post caps on the deck are leaving with the current owners. that is the ONLY thing bad i found about the house. open floor plan, valted ceilings, nice master with jetted tub and seperate shower next to the crapper. Awesome yard that meets alodia's desires (the selling point) and 11.1 miles from work with about 8 of those miles on the interstate - and less then 1.5 miles to church. end of a culdesac with LOW traffic neighborhood in the elite neighberhood of spokane 'south hill' where stuff has always been selling at a premium. i view it as a safe investment even if I don't end up there forever, but someplace that would meet my needs and desires if I were there longer.
our agent put up with us reading ALL the paperwork we signed for the offer. I don't think anyone has done that to him before. I asked him if he'd be comfortable not understanding the fine print when 1/4 of a million $ was at stake. he said he was. i was not.
we offered them about 2% less then the just reduced asking price, possible pushing us out of the running. We stenciled in some more stuff we wanted them to leave in the house (fridge, washer dryer, window blinds) - we'll see how it goes. IF God want's us to have it, it should be a shoe-in.; if not, there is still plenty of places this could get dropped and we're happy to move on.
Friday, July 08, 2005
house update
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35 comments:
NICE HOUSE! I hope everything goes through. whats the sq feet? with 4bed 3 bath it must be in the 2300 sq foot like the one were getting into. difference is yours is 200k less, how fortunate.
I can't believe he wasn't leaving the fridge, washer dryer, etc.. and wanted to take his gate? weird. well even though you've made an offer, the offer/counteroffer can often take 2 or 3 itterations so if you really want to get in you'll have to make at least one or two sacrafices on the offer. thats my guess anyway.
keep us updated on how things go! today we go to pick out the upgrades for the new house. i'm thinking we won't be picking much. possibly granite kitchen counter tops, but that could be 5k or more. so we'll have to see when we get ther.
we rebarked most of our house in prepeeratino for our aug1 listing. the 230$ worth of shredded ceader made like $1k worth of improvement (in our eyes) so we are very happy with it!
it looks like the house that sold across the street sold for about your offer price, which is strange because it looks like a MUCH larger house (by as much as 1000sq feet?) its an older home 85. i'm guesing yours is newer, and that deck is AWESOME. the yard shows really well too (what doesn't in the pacific north west)
it just seems like there either must have been something minorly wrong with the house across the street (besides the fact it is WAY UGLY compared to yours) or your house is a bit high. give a little detail... compare and contrast the price simlarities and how the houses look totally different.
i was describing in the post how we WROTE IN that we were asking for the fridge, washer/dryer and blinds. if they accepted our offer these would remain.
i'm not a huge fan of decks, but that deck is awesome, and place below it for a hottub. landscaping is awesome and lower maintance.
the house is 2700 sqft and built in 1986. i'm excited about the master bath and the fireplaces. I would like to improve and put granite countertops in if we get it, but we'll see how it goes.
here's a tip of what makes a difference for alodia and I that is purely cosmetic but catches our eye
condition of the yard
new paint
newer carpet /looks good
condition of the roof
effecient windows
bathroooms (are we gonig to have to fix anything and is it nice)
is the house CLEAN (you'd be appalled at stuff we've walked through.) and does it SMELL ok.
is there trim that is cracked and heavily worn like people banging vacuums into it.
if you clean and water the lawn, your in the top 50%
if you freshen the paint on ANYTHING your in the top 10% of stuff we've seen. IF you write a note talking about your utilities, taxes, and reason's for selling you'd be in the top 2%.
one place we walked through had some repair history written down. IF you are upfront about stuff that needs attention I view that as a huge bonus as i don't feel like the seller is trying to hide anything (even though it may come out in the inspection) we looked at a huge house on a hill and NOWHERE did the owner describe a HUGE erosion problem (do you want a 6000lb bolder rolling into you house and ending up in the basement? it's no wonder it's dropped from 270k to 225k in a nice neighborhood with it's 4200sqft from 1972 and we're still not going to buy it. why? who are we going to sell it to in 5 years when we want kids and a yard? it's on such a nasty hill with the driveway no older person would buy it)
it's almost 4pm and no calls yet, so maybe there will be no counter offer.
oh yeah, i was gong to say we signed a legal document with the word 'smut' in it.
it was in their list of 'fungus includes all funges including but not limited to black mold ..., smut, ....
pretty funny. i'm not sure what the smut mold/funges is. we have to say we won't hold the realtor liable if there is mold as that can be a problem. and if we want to know our property line? we pay for the assessment. radon gas in the basement? bring in ANOTHER inspector. pretty inturesting.
the counter:
they keep the washer dryer and the price droppes 1k to 258.5k (not the 252.5k we wanted)
we get the blinds, fridge, microwave
oh yeah, and the 20% Reg gave us confused them (you can't reason with the unreasonable) as the ONLY way to stencil it in pretax is to show it as what the seller is going to cover and then only put 80% of the realtor's fee in the relators fee area = 100% of realator's 3%.
Well, they blew that out of the water, and i'm not going to fight it, but our realtor will still give us a kickback after taxes and stuff - so i'm expecting 6 or 700$ in the form of a gift card somewhere but it's ok if it falls through.
We view it as paying full price and getting a bonus 1000 off the price. we'd of been willing to pay full, so we're ok with that. i'm actually inturested enough in the house and want to buy it enough that 8000$ doesn't bother me too much and it would be a HUGE gamble in this market to pry more money from the seller as they could receive a full price offer Tomarrow. i'm confident that it would sell in 1 week at the asking price after watching stuff move; so if we want it, we should buy it. i'm up for that.
to the tune of the wizard of oz::
'we're off to sign the counter...'
congrats!
jen is gone to rhode island for some chem conference so i'm just sitting on my todo list.
i LOVE your idea about disclosing things about the house with a letter on the counter. some people may not need or want it but for the type of buyers we are I know it makes a difference.
congrats on the house! very awesome!
i can't believe the realtor's haven't figured out how to deal with the whole kickback from my dad. i would actually talk to the escrow company that is handling your stuff, they can put it in as a line item on your closing costs.
re keith: we should disclose the cost of taxes and utilities, but i am not sure what i would put on the needs fixing list...
i wasn't going to put a needs fixing list as much as a features of the property. if there isn't an MLS listing yet, then we should still have the info available to them. size of house, lot size, shed, dog run, etc... just so they konw what to look for hwen they tour the property.
our disclosure was pretty sketchy and i cooked up about 5 points that need clarification. i'm suspose to respond today and have not heard back about the clarification points.
how much are you guys going to START listing your house at? i heard 330k - and then i pulled the carrot out of my throat i chocked on. is that true?
330k is correct. you can put the carrot back in when you come to terms with the new house being over 400k.
yeah, i knew that, and can stomach a nice new house for two doctors... with no kids.
but WHO ON EARTH would pay 330 for your PILE?! ok, it's a pile with horseshoes. and i've found the pile very accomodating. i just feel like i got a steel for 259k compared to what stuff is selling for in baby sin city.
Ok, I do realize the new house is over 400K, and you need a huge chunk of change to pay for it, but is $330k really comparable for a house and lot that size in that area?
It seems quite high to me, but what do I know...
ah, not much.
yup.. its comporable. we may not get 330, but i'll be VERY suprised if we don't get at least 310. its possible it may get bid to 340. only about 15 days until we'll all know (we list at the beginning of august) and the todo list is going down just a little, thanks to me painting the porch, painting the front of the house, replacing the kitchen cabinet door, replacing window molding, fixing a drywall crack.. etc..... i've got a lot under my belt as completed. jen gets back tonight so I'm sure she'll get her chance to nock some off the list.
according to bank of americas homeworth calculator HERE the house is worth 244-284k but their comps are up to 2 years old. I think our region saw as much as 30% growth in just the last few years so 2 year old numbers are worthless.
for our house that calc said:
Valuation Range Highest - $249,000 Lowest - $226,000
based on what i have seen for house prices around here our house will get at least 330k. i know that is a heap compared to what you can get for your money in spokane. look at this growth ranking and see that we are ranked #3 while spokane is #90.
i'm not calling yours a heap to be mean, i'm just HAPPY that you guys can get an awesome upgrade for only 70k!
that's a no-brainer decision.
its not over till the fat lady sings. you got me worried now....
kev: when do you guys close on your house?
we had the inspection today.
$245.00, and the dude ENCOURAGED me to follow him around and ask questions. (he said that way there would be less to explain later).
the inspectin for my used car cost 100$
i'll let you decide where the deal was.
the inspection went well and we're well on the track to having this wrapped up by August 10, 20005 before 5pm. the plan is, somewhere on the 10th the house becomes ours.
pics of house during inspection
i forgot to mention, during the inspecetion the inspector was turing on all appliances and stuff.
we come in a few minutes later and look in the microwave and it's got a dish of brownies with a metal knife in it. we pointed it out to the inspecctor and he laughed and admitted to ONLY running it 10 seconds.
huh, that is funny. i think our inspector put a glass of water in or something to make sure it was actually microwaving.
mmm brownies sound really good... ooo and i have ice cream for the top!
the sellers have signed the ammendment to the sale getting us another 1500$ covered in closing costs, and we spent about an hour last night reading the fine print (as much as we could stand) as i requested to take home the docs early to read them. we sign today at 11am, and the seller should signn tomarrow around 9am. as soon as the loans fund (wednesday as the lender table funds) the house is OURS. we'll keep you posted, and you are all invited to our first anual sleep over (which looks a lot like moving)
we have a tentaive closure on our house for aug31. we have countered the counter several times but we think were finally closed.
and to semi quote kev, yes we are getting that much for the 'hole'
wow crap!
how long was it on the market? 6 days?
it was in MLS for 5 days. they were the 3rd people to walk the property. since they have walked the property, there has been only one other showing (on sunday afternoon). we have done 4 counters and are agreeing to agree at 327k. here are a few misc. fees as well, really minor stuff. 20k to the realtors and closing and we almost doubled our property value in 3.5 yrs.
oh yeah.. one more thing. as we wait for the new house to finish, we make 425$ per month on interest as our money sits in the bank.
so, since you get to move out, and the new house isn't ready, where are you going to live? with "the mama" and the papa?
yup.. with "the mama" it will be a um growing experience. but cheap =). and we are into cheap.
cheep and crazy! you can live in the bunker.
we got the keys last night from under the map. droped off a carload of junk and walked the house.
during closing i found that i THINK we have another 30 feet beyond the fence in the form of an easement for drainage. gardan space, anyone?
err, under the MAT
near jens dads place in louisville in Colorado, the next door neighbors to be exact...
ok.. if that made any sense, continue reading...
enroached on the open space behind their house. over half of their garden was in the field behind them
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