Our Home Buying Misadventures - The Final Chapter?

Well folks, this may be the final chapter of our home buying misadventures.  We have spent almost two years looking for our first home in our local community.  We have been on the fence about buying a home and we finally just had to make a decision.  It was hard to decide if renting or buying would be the best option for us.  Renting can be a hassle when it comes to dealing with neighbors, landlords, pet deposits, etc BUT if something happens...they fix it.  Infestation problem...they spray.  You don't like where you live?  You can move out when your lease is up.  When you buy...you have all of the responsibilities.  Are we ready for it?

Yes!  I mentioned earlier that we saw a house that could be a top contender...well, we put an offer in on Tuesday and it was accepted this morning.  We knew that this was the best option for us after we saw one more rental this morning.  This rental had carpet from the 1970's, bedrooms the size of bathrooms, no backyard, and SMELLED of cat urine.  For just $17 more a month than that property we can have our own home.  Sure, we'll have to deal with the broken toilet ourselves and cut the grass, but I can control the smell and I can paint the walls!!!

The last three days were a bit stressful but we made it through.  We saw the house on Monday and talked about what we liked and didn't like about it.  We saw a few more houses on Tuesday and decided to go back to this house one more time.  We put our offer in that afternoon.  A few hours later our agent told us there was at least one other offer in at the moment.  She didn't know the exact offer but was told it was within $1,000 of the original asking price.  We thought hard about how much we wanted this house.  Were we willing to up our offer to compete against this other one?  Was there even another offer or was this a way for the seller's agent to up the price?  We went ahead and added more to our offer and waited, and waited, and waited.  This morning we received a call that said there were now "multiple offers on the table."  What?!  Seriously?!  Hmmm...did we really want to up our offer again?  How could this house be listed for almost 90 days with no major activity and now all of a sudden there are all of these offers?  We decided to add an additional $1,000 to our offer.  Enough for them to know that we were seriously interested but that was it.  No more.  This afternoon we received the call from our agent that our offer was accepted.  We went just above the asking price, asked for help with closing costs, asked for a refrigerator and removal of some items from the backyard (mainly a rotted out shed and a broken chain link fence). 

So how does it fare to our needs and wants list?  It meets seven out of our eight NEEDS and meets five out of our six WANTS.  Not too shabby I think.

We hope this is the end of our home buying misadventures, however, we aren't finished yet.  With inspections, insurance, and all of the other little things that need to be done...we know a hiccup could come our way.   

So, check it out.  These are the photos that the listing agent took.  Enjoy!



The color is not my favorite but I'm sure it helps to hide some of the cosmetic flaws and it will be easy to find.

Fireplace...it doesn't work though.  Again, not my favorite color
but that can be changed.  Suggestions for what to do with it?

The only full bathroom in the house.  Has a great storage nook beside the tub.

A half bath in the master bedroom.  It would have been nice to have
two full baths, but I'll take two toilets over one any day.

 

One of three bedrooms...they all look the same.

Dining room.  Great light from the windows.

Kitchen.  Nice looking cabinets and counter tops.  New appliances
and we'll get a new refrigerator out of the seller too.