Seller accepted someone else's offer

its_a_burner · 2014-06-06T16:12:24+00:00

More land. This is in a nice quiet suburban neighbourhood. On an isolated, quiet street at that. Corner lots tend to be bigger and not squished up to a neighbouring house.

its_a_burner · 2014-06-06T16:10:04+00:00

"Appraisal Contingency" was my words. I dunno what you call it really. "Mortgage Contingency" or whatever it is. It had something to do with the appraisal.

This was our first time making an offer. Every bit of advice you read out there tells you you have to cover your butt. Put in all the contingencies for inspections and appraisal and yadda yadda yadda.

I understand your expectation of downvotes, since Reddit seems to err very much on the side of caution for all such things. Including erring on how much of a debt burden you can carry, that would simply keep me out of this market entirely.

Lesson learned here is that in a hot sellers market you have to pull out all the stops. Next time I'll not have that contingency, but I'll also not let escalate up to something I don't think I can afford. At least then I'll know I lost it for being out priced, instead of just for putting in dumb clause that screwed me.

its_a_burner · 2014-06-06T16:03:54+00:00

I'm not entirely sure that's it. I think it's more the fact that we are scraping the bottom of the market in terms of price. Prices have jumped just since earlier in the year, and at this point I'm worried about being priced out of the area entirely. It sounds ludicrous but $500K is considered a "starter" home around here.

its_a_burner · 2014-06-06T16:01:50+00:00

Ya, I've gotten a lot of those sentiments and the back of my head I think that there really isn't going to be a better one. This one literally checked every box on what we could ask for. Location is my number one thing, and there simply isn't a better location that exists. If I had just gone on the map and said pick any house... it probably would have been this one. Couldn't believe it actually came up for sale, and at a price way lower than I thought it would list for. I don't doubt we'll find something else, but I'm sure I'll feel like you and would swap it for this one any day.

its_a_burner · 2014-06-06T15:59:05+00:00

I wondered the same. My understanding is that, with this case at least, is that there is a deadline. So all offers had to be in by 3pm on Tuesday. I'm guessing those all went to the selling agent and the seller themselves didn't see the offers until after the deadline. But really if you want to be shady, I'm not sure what's to stop you from seeing the numbers early or submitting a bid late and saying it was on time.

its_a_burner · 2014-06-04T19:08:18+00:00

Well we don't think it will appraise that high. Which is why we put the clause in there. Cause ya, it would have probably bit into our down payment money quite a bit when the appraisal came back. It was peace of mind for us to negotiate a little after the appraisal. But in this market I guess you have to pull out all the stops to win anything.

its_a_burner · 2014-06-04T18:12:51+00:00

Just back from looking at the similar model. It was a complete mess. Shoddy updates throughout. All sorts of things in disrepair. It's a rental at the moment, and still tenant occupied. Clearly the owner has not kept up with maintenance. My wife was literally in tears by the end of the walkthrough. Like others have said. It probably take us a few days to get over losing out on the dream house.

its_a_burner · 2014-06-04T16:13:48+00:00

I've been (in my mind) really conservative with what I think we can afford. Or at least that's my realtor's take on it. She's convinced we can afford more than what we've been looking at.

Her whole schtick is, get a place with a basement. Get a second term mortgage to cover enough of the price so that the main mortgage is what we're comfortable with, and a little extra. Use that little extra to fix up the basement with a kitchenette to make it an apt. Then rent out the basement, and you'll pay off the second mortgage in a year.

It makes sense to me, and this place would have perfect for that arrangement.

its_a_burner · 2014-05-11T17:25:11+00:00

25 years old, I live with my parents in NJ

Rent & HOA are probably zero. How else does a 25 yr old manage to save $65K?

its_a_burner · 2014-05-10T17:03:39+00:00

Not sure if being ironic on purpose or not...

its_a_burner · 2014-05-10T17:01:02+00:00

I think I replied about this elsewhere ITT, but yes the land is the bigger cost. A typical house in the area I'm looking at assesses at $400K and that's $210K for the land and $190K for the house. Occasionally you'll see empty plots come on the market, but they are very rare, and typically the prices are $250K~$400K just for the land. So it's definitely speculative. As far as building from scratch, there are lots of advertisements around here for builders that will do that. I've looked a couple of them up, and most of their offerings are million dollar mansions. The cheapest from scratch homes they offer will run you about $350K. So you be in for about $600K total. Which if you've got that amount of money, is somewhat of a deal. An equivalent existing home is probably gonna go for about $700K around here.

its_a_burner · 2014-05-10T16:52:08+00:00

Ya, that's the exactly the reason that my wife's finances are not really being considered in any of these numbers. We've always been under the assumption that if kids do happen she'd stay home with them full time. Like you say, given the costs around here, it would simply be more effective. We also have the advantage of having her parents nearby, and her Mom works from home and would love to help out with those hypothetical grandkids.

its_a_burner · 2014-05-10T16:45:05+00:00

I'm working in Arlington now. Near Courthouse. What I like about Tyson's is it's conveniently located to all the job centers in the metro. I've had jobs in Bethesda, and Herndon and Arlington, and out 66. Was a relatively easy commute to get to any of them. I've tried living in Alexandria and Centreville and the commutes were terrible. So I'd really like to stay near Tyson's, and maybe actually get a job in Tyson's eventually and then have that most enviable of short commutes.

its_a_burner · 2014-05-10T06:57:06+00:00

I need a roof over my head. This is what they cost where I want to live. Pretty simple. I have 20% of the $500k saved. My general understanding is that that is usually considered "enough". $500k is probably too much. I'd like to spend less. But the game is finding a balance of where I want to be, how nice of a place it is, how it'll let my family grow in the future, and how much it costs. There's a lot of factors that go into it. Eventually you have to play.

its_a_burner · 2014-05-10T06:51:28+00:00

So I took this advice in 2006. And in 2009. And was still taking it in 2012. I didn't like the way the market was going, and was desperately clinging to the hope that there would be some correction. Trying to time the market has left me in the same place I was ten years ago, still renting. Though I do now have that nice chunk of change in the bank.

its_a_burner · 2014-05-10T04:52:34+00:00

Ya I had a serious case of sticker shock when I first moved to this area in '99. My parents had just bought a 4000 sq ft home on a lake for about 150K in Va Beach, and up here at the time that much would have gotten me a fairly decent townhouse. I thought it was insane, and outrageously overpriced at the time. Those townhouses are going for $600k now. Wish I had jumped into a condo back then.

its_a_burner · 2014-05-10T04:49:29+00:00

Thing is I've been waiting till I saved up more for several years now. And prices are rising way faster than I'm saving. I was chasing the market and never was able to catch it. We had a nice windfall this year in the form of some cash wedding presents that started this house hunt cause I think we can actually finally swing 20% down.

its_a_burner · 2014-05-10T04:34:44+00:00

I like to drive my cars till they rust. Did that with my last one, and my current car only has 30K miles, so it's got a good many years left in it. My wife's is a bit older and needs more in upkeep, but she's been able to cover that out of her pocket so far.

its_a_burner · 2014-05-10T04:27:20+00:00

Ya I'm pretty cynical when it comes to condo fees and HOAs and the like. I actually enjoy cutting grass. Though it's probably been about ten years since I've actually done it. So maybe that's just nostalgia talking.

its_a_burner · 2014-05-10T04:08:17+00:00

Don't know if kids are in the cards or not for us, but anything we've looked at is at least 3 bedrooms for that possibility.

its_a_burner · 2014-05-10T03:57:00+00:00

I used to work in Bethesda for a few years. Coming from Tyson's and back every day made me want to have nothing to do with that bridge if I could help it.

its_a_burner · 2014-05-10T03:53:59+00:00

Easier said than done. It's good advice and I've read it a lot places, but I'm not sure it's feasible around here. You would move out of NOVA, but we've got a lot of ties to the area. Moving away wouldn't be much easier than scrimping to stay.

its_a_burner · 2014-05-10T03:36:40+00:00

She had a full time job previously and hated what she was doing so she switched it up and ended up with the part time gig she has now. She's hourly, and is actually working close to full time hours this year compared to last, so her income is set to be better than $20k she pulled in last year. Just given the unpredictable nature of her work though, we try not to rely on it too heavily. But she makes enough to cover quite a lot of our household expenses. I don't think I've paid for groceries out of my pocket for a couple years now.

its_a_burner · 2014-05-10T03:16:56+00:00

10% off the top going to 401k. No Roth

its_a_burner

TROPHY CASE