Day 77 - Two weeks to go! Wow! That’s soon!
As you know we put an offer in on “the-house-with-the-view”…
Our overall objective in this battle of life’s financial snags was to start over in a new house on a economic scale that would allow us to actually save money and maybe be able to someday send our children to college. We feel this is important so they could grow up, get good jobs and when we are old, support their parents. During the house hunting process, our mission was not to find the most fabulous house no matter the cost… we did that last time, but simply to keep our mortgage payment under a certain amount each month. This, my friends in the state of Maryland, in the areas we want to live in, is not an easy thing to accomplish! But it was our goal, and damn it… we feel we deserve it and we were going to achieve it. My husband and I have been screwed over more times lately than most people we know. We think it’s because we are just too nice. Well, we are sick of being nice! We have decided to start being mean! We have pledged to say “NO” more often, fight a bit harder for what we feel is right, and take this world by storm! It’s time things took a turn for the better. Our plan now was to lowball a bunch of offers around town til we got what we wanted.
So, “the-house-with-the-view” was listed at, not using real numbers here, so lets just say for argument’s sake… $479,000, and it really needed a loving touch and bit of updating. First of all, the entire house was peach, with the exception of the exterior which was baby shit brown. It need a new kitchen, new bathrooms, and it has never seen an inch of hardwood in it’s life. But it has good bones, a great blank canvas I must say, and of course that view. We offered $419. The comps in the area went both ways. Some were more, some less, depending on the house. We were kind of expecting a counter of about $449, because these people were motivated. We were utterly shocked when the counter came back at $469. What kind of motivation is that? “Just make an offer,” was what their agent had said to ours… So what do we do now?.. This was not the plan I had concocted in my head. AARRGHH! Animosity mounting.
We thought about it long and hard and decided… Screw this whole real estate game! I’m not in the mood to play! Games went out of style in my 20’s. I’m now a down to business, just tell me what’s what, 40 year old. So let’s just tell them our final offer… so we did. We told them $430. This number would allow us to keep our mortgage under a certain amount and allow for some minor improvements. Roxie told their agent that was all we could do and it was our final offer. Take it, or leave it. We actually expected them to just say NO. I started scanning the internet for our next conquest. That night we received a phone call from Roxie. She said they had countered again, even though she was clear that it was our final offer. They countered at $450. What seriously! We were convinced it was over and done. There was no way we could keep our monthly bills down with a $450 purchase price. We were considering moving on!
We thought about it a while, made some drinks and tried to contemplate different ways to make this happen. I really wasn’t looking forward to spending time looking at more houses. Were they concerned with the property values of the neighborhood? Was that it? Maybe we should say $440 and have them pay closing costs, which would bring us back, in actuality to $430. Our creative juices were flowing.
As we were weighing our options, my brother came through the door. We sat down, talked about his new job, his wife, daughter and the daughter he was expecting. Talked a bit of politics regarding the guy my mother single handedly got elected to congress who was now resigning. Then finally, about our house hunting prospects. He joined us in our drunken state as we filled him in. He then told us about my brother-in-law who when buying his current house, which was a foreclosure, went through the same thing… and how he stood his ground with the bank. “I told you… This was all I could afford, quit playing games, accept it or just don’t call me back.” Wow! You know what! He’s right. Screw this! We told them our final was $430, well… our final it shall be! If they don’t take it, and I’m sure they won’t we’ll drag Roxie to another 20 houses, we are getting what we want no matter how long it takes! Stick’n to our Guns!
So, we told Roxie $430 was our final and we weren’t budging. Not 30 minutes later she emailed and said “Their agent wants to know if you’ll take $435.”
What!?! Really!!!! Whoo, hoo! That’s fantastic!. You see what no one knew, not even Roxie was that $435 was always our top number! Kept that one in the vault. I was flabbergasted! Are you serious? That really worked? You’ve got to be kidding me…
Well, we asked for one more day to think about it and take another walk around the house. This time with the in-laws and our contractor, to see if he can pull us out of the peach grove with the budgeted amount of cash. So, we just resubmitted the papers for an offer of $435. Which was what we wanted all along. :) We feel we are getting a great deal for the house and it’s property. And my friends… once I’m done with it, it’s going to be fabulous! Overall, a great investment. High fivin’ myself right now! Slight right turn towards Deservingville up ahead!
As we were taking our final pre-purchase tour of the house, my husband filled Roxie in on our little secret of what our final price actually was. Damn him! Can’t keep a secret! Did we loose a little trust in our friend Roxie? Hope not… Hope she just thought us clever, and liked us just a little bit more! Especially because she won’t have to loose her shoes in the snow anymore at mold ridden homes. Now let’s just hope these people sign on the dotted line and not rethink things… That would suck.
And I have to say thanks to my brother for sharing, and my brother in-law for sticking to his paintball guns! :)
