We put in an offer on another house yesterday. (Hopefully they'll get around to adding pictures to their listing later today so that all of you can see what it looks like.) It's only about fifty square feet larger than the Birch Street house, but it feels a lot bigger -- it's got a very open, airy plan with a lot of windows. It's in a better neighborhood. It's got all of the niceties -- hardwood floors, a fireplace, a pleasant back yard -- along with a kitchen to die for, featuring the latest in yupscale appliances (the range hood alone costs ~$800 on the street).
However, there's a big chance that they'll turn around and laugh in our face, as our offer is $50,000 below their asking price (although we're still offering about $20K over what comparable homes in the neighborhood have sold for), and this house went on the market just last week. Their agent encouraged us to submit our below-asking-price offer, and said that the sellers were very motivated (they've already purchased another house), but all of us (Shelby, myself, and our agent) are getting a strange vibe from her -- are we being gamed here? Does she just want us to put in an offer so that she can turn around to the sellers and say "See? I'm working hard! Look how quickly I've started to get you offers!" Either way, they have until tomorrow to reply. Keep your fingers crossed.
Yesterday I felt pretty confident that if this offer didn't go through, and if we didn't find something else we liked, we'd have another crack at the Birch Street house -- but well, maybe not. I noticed this morning that the listing status of the house has changed from "Active" to "Backup Offers Accepted". Looks like they found someone else to make a full-price offer. Will this person have the same problems that we did? Or will they manage to get a "better" appraisal, or will they just have a large enough stack of cash off to the side that any potential appraisal problems won't be an issue?
Shelby and I were observing earlier how the failure of the house deal felt a lot like the end of a relationship. There were the no-way-this-is-happening feelings of denial and depression. There was the frenzied "I'll make them see reason!" phase -- I'll write a letter! I'll make a phone call! I'll say exactly the one perfect irrefutable thing that makes them see reason and puts everything right back like it was before! There was the rebound "I'll go see twenty other better houses! In just one day!" period. There was the compulsive looking back to a calendar that no longer existed -- "if only it hadn't happened, we'd be doing (Thing X) today ... (sigh) ..." There are the people who want to be consoling but Just Don't Get It, patting you on the knee and saying "well, if it was meant to be, it would have happened -- obviously God is saving you for your one perfect house!"
I guess, then, that this is like going to the department store while you're still feeling vulnerable and seeing your ex with the New Person . . . smiling as they fill out their wedding registry together.
Posted by Kevin at September 7, 2004 09:43 AM