First Offer

not our first offer, but a top contender

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Back to the house hunt postings!

 After going to about 20 open houses we found a house that we wanted to offer on. It had lots of charm and was owned by an older couple. They kept it up well, but had not done much updating. There were arched doorways, original hardwood floors and some crown molding. I loved the exterior - almost entirely brick, well maintained yard, and a fairly new wooden fence in the back. The street was very nice as well. The neighborhood is in an older part of town and sits between two busy roadways. I was worried about some riff raff coming off of those roads on foot, but not worried enough to not buy the place.

We took my parents to see the house and they liked it enough to give us the go ahead. I think we would have offered regardless of their opinion as long as there were no red flags. The home needed work - in our opinion. The kitchen was closed off and small with no dishwasher. It sat next to the dining room and small living area. We had planned to knock out the kitchen wall and make a large open concept kitchen and living area. The full bath and the half bath (both on the first floor) needed help as well. There were 4 bedrooms, 1.5 bath, a large unfinished basement, and a shed.

We offered the day that we brought my parents to see it. We had seen it twice before. We put in our offer under the asking price, but not ridiculously under. We gave the owners til the next evening to respond. As we were going through the offer process our real estate agent said that the house is in a flood plain and that if we do purchase the house, we must have flood insurance. We figured that was normal and turned in the offer.

Matt and I go home and look into flood insurance and found out that it is not cheap. Not to mention another bill to add to the pile. We decided if we could get the house for what we wanted that it would not be a huge deal. WELL, the owners did not respond within the time frame we gave them and when they did respond they counter offered at the asking price. They did not budge at all! The house had been on the market for quite some time and did not have any other activity. We were stumped. We thought that we would maybe go back and forth and finally settle on an agreement.

 Matt and I ultimately decided to walk away. I told myself in the beginning of all of this that I would not get emotional or attached. Well, I got a little sad. The house had character and a lot of potential. After some time I realized that it was not meant to be and it would have taken quite some time (and major budgeting) for us to get the house the way we wanted.

Our first offer

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Matt and I took about a week or two off from house hunting and thought about waiting a little longer and saving up some more money to put down.  Well, we did not waste too much time considering that we made our first offer in mid October and found, offered and moved into our new home by the first week of December.  We were very pleased with the way everything went with the purchasing of our new home and have already been busy making it ours.  

 Since the first offer the owners reduced the price to what we offered and from what I have researched, I believe that they have taken it off the market.  We are happy with our decision regardless!

Stay tuned for pictures, projects and some hiccups along the way!