House Hunting: House 4 of Round 1

As we started for the last house, our idea of moving into a nice, relatively new home had moved far from our minds. At this point we were wondering how long it would take before our new home would be in a livable condition. Luckily, the last house of the day gave promise and hope. It was relatively clean, just a few pet stains on the carpet that could be steamed cleaned out and some insulation on the floor that has fallen from where the surround sound speakers had been.

It was also nicely painted and had some great upgrades. The kitchen had cherry wood cabinets and black granite counters, plus the master closet was almost the size of a small bedroom. The house also had a three-car tandem garage. This is where it appears to be a two-car garage on the outside but one side allows for one car to be parked in front of another inside the garage.

The only drawbacks to this place were that it only had 3 bedrooms (we’d prefer 4) and a smallish backyard that isn’t landscaped. Other than that, we liked it and it was priced right. We planned to make an offer, so we asked Kim to call the other realtor to insure it was a good buy. Come to find out Sunday that there were 10 other offers on the house – the house was only just listed last week!

So now began a bidding war – every one was allowed to put in 1 offer blindly. Whoever put in a bid closest to the house’s appraisal price, which can be upwards of 20% above the asking price, got the house, unless someone with a higher bid could pay in full, in cash. We’d decided it didn’t hurt to put in a bid, but we put in a bid we thought the house was worth – not above what we know we could get a larger house for at the same price. We put the bid in Monday. We found out yesterday that someone offered at a higher price, cash in full, so we’re still on the house hunt and now know we are competing with the 9 others looking for the same things we are. So, we’ve also expanded our search parameters. Because we need to find a place sooner rather than later and because our weekends are pretty booked for the next month, Cameron is continuing the house hunt without me when he can, including today during work and this weekend while I’m in Disneyland for my Bachelorette party.

I know he has good judgment and he knows my main needs (specifically, a large tub that I can take comfortable, leisurely bubble baths in) and if he puts in an offer without my input, we’ll make the extra effort to go back and look at it if the offer is being considered or accepted. We’ll have a few days grace period to rescind our offer if I absolutely hate the place, but that likelihood is miniscule.

Keep you fingers crossed for us though!

Love always,
Sarah