The House Hunters Thread

[rhbgirl24]

No news yet.......... so anxious my stomach is upset!

Steal - your living room looks great!

 

[NewEnglandLady]

rhb, I can''t believe you''re having to wait five days for a response!! That would be enough suspense to give anybody an ulcer. In my mind, no repsonse is good. It means they''re thinking about it!

 

[meresal]

I drove by our house yesterday and after two gorgeous weather days, it literally looked like nothing had been done since we were there on Monday. That was very disappointing. I''m *hoping* that they have been working on the inside, where I couldn''t see from my car.

Jcrow- Welcome! Good luck finding a place that you love. There are some really nice, and NEW, neighborhoods around ATX. I''m sure you''ll find something you love!

Amandine- Welcome as well! I hope you hear good news for the mortgage guy! Holding patterns are the worst...

Lynnie- My rate hasn''t changed at all since he originally quoted us back in October. I was upset that it was still a bit over 5%, UNTIL I talked with my mom who informed me that when they bought our childhood home in 82'' their rate was 12.5%

!! They refinanced down to 9% at one point, and when the rates made the "big drop" the house was only a few years from being paid off, so no benefit. LOL! I stopped complaining after that conversation!

Rhb- That has been our rate for almost 5 months now. I hope you hear something soon!!

Steal- Can''t wait to see the finished product! It looks awesome so far! Are you all only doing the kitchen?

Pilsn- Yay for things flying by and having them accept all of your requests!!!!

 

[PilsnPinkysMom]

Date: 2/18/2010 1:36:16 PM
Author: rhbgirl24
No news yet.......... so anxious my stomach is upset!


Steal - your living room looks great!

BOOOOO!!!!! How much time do they have to respond? Is there a limit? I''m thinking today is your lucky day... hoping you get a fantastic phone call in the near future!!

 

[rhbgirl24]

Thanks everyone.... well we're not out, but its not great news either.

We were notified that there are multiple bids on the house and they are asking everyone to submit their best and final offer by 5pm today. Of course we have no idea what these offers are - one could be 30K what we offered and we even offered the asking price.

So we thought long and hard about it last night and decided to put in another offer, this one almost $8,000 more than our first, so 8K more than asking. Our rationale was that if we saw this house at this asking price, we still would made an offer on it. However this is the upper limit of our "comfortable" range, so this is really it - do or die.

I found this house 3 days after it was put on the market, we toured and made an offer 6 days after it was placed on the market. I just hoped that I found it soon enough that we wouldn't have to do this, but the house really is under priced, even in this market.....

So again, fingers crossed, we're hoping to hear maybe middle of next week.....
Not really what I wanted to hear for my birthday, but we aren't out totally.

 

[Lynnie]

Oh, geez, RHB.... waiting sucks!! LOTS of dust for you!
There were 2 other offers on our house. We offered full price. Turns out they accepted ours because the other 2 had contigencies that their houses had to be sold... we found ours a few days after it went up, too.
Fingers still crossed!!!

 

[meresal]

Rhb- I''m sorry to hear about this. Yuck!

Still have my fingers crossed though!! I hate the games associated with buying a house...

I hope your offer gets you this house!!

 

[rhbgirl24]

Thanks Lynnie and Meresal! I still have hope, its hard not too. My DH is completely given up I think. Its so sad. We''ve seen more than 30 houses and this was the first one HE really liked..... so I hope, I hope I hope.

We dont have any contingencies, are paying for all appraisals, C/O, everything, and offering to close in a month, we wrote that all in our new offer, so hopefully it catches someone''s eye. But its bank-owned, so I''m not sure they look at the same things a seller does.

 

[meresal]

Date: 2/19/2010 9:41:11 AM
Author: rhbgirl24
Thanks Lynnie and Meresal! I still have hope, its hard not too. My DH is completely given up I think. Its so sad. We''ve seen more than 30 houses and this was the first one HE really liked..... so I hope, I hope I hope.

We dont have any contingencies, are paying for all appraisals, C/O, everything, and offering to close in a month, we wrote that all in our new offer, so hopefully it catches someone''s eye. But its bank-owned, so I''m not sure they look at the same things a seller does.

Is this a foreclosure? short sale?

 

[rhbgirl24]

Its a Foreclosure. Hence the price being 80K under the appraisal value, and the longer wait on hearing any answers. Urg.

 

[meresal]

Date: 2/19/2010 10:02:08 AM
Author: rhbgirl24
Its a Foreclosure. Hence the price being 80K under the appraisal value, and the longer wait on hearing any answers. Urg.

Ok. But they did say that they are definitley going to accept one of the offers?

I think that a few pages ago, NEL or someone else, gave lots of information on bank sale''s and how sometimes that bank will put the bidders thru all of these games, and then decide not to accept any offer, because they were all too low. Ridiculous

I REALLY hope you all get "GOOD NEWS" soon!

 

[rhbgirl24]

Date: 2/19/2010 10:33:17 AM
Author: meresal

Date: 2/19/2010 10:02:08 AM

Author: rhbgirl24

Its a Foreclosure. Hence the price being 80K under the appraisal value, and the longer wait on hearing any answers. Urg.

Ok. But they did say that they are definitley going to accept one of the offers?


I think that a few pages ago, NEL or someone else, gave lots of information on bank sale''s and how sometimes that bank will put the bidders thru all of these games, and then decide not to accept any offer, because they were all too low. Ridiculous

I REALLY hope you all get ''GOOD NEWS'' soon!

I have heard of this as well. Just not very good practice and its frustrating.

They did say they would choose the highest best offer after this bidding process. If that one isn''t accepted, then they would notify next best of the winning offer. I do feel like I''m being played with though, because there is actually no assurance that there ARE other bids (I can just assume there are). But we did offer full price, and now 8K above their asking... so who knows, right? They, in theory, could just be trying to drive up our offer.

So frustrating.

 

[rhbgirl24]

OK... update. So they asked for our new offer. So we fill out the offer sheet and fax that in. Midday our real estate agent gets a call from the other agent - he is asking for a full new contract with our new asking price now. They did not ask for this previously, or we would have already given it.

OK, so leave work, get everything signed, and its just faxed to him now and he''s received it. WHEW!

We have our best on the table.... hope its enough.

 

[meresal]

I''m on pins and needles for you!!!!!

 

[rhbgirl24]

Thanks! Dont hold your breath though. I was told another 3-4 business days.

 

[meresal]

Date: 2/19/2010 3:51:43 PM
Author: rhbgirl24
Thanks! Dont hold your breath though. I was told another 3-4 business days.

Thanks for the heads up! Now if I could just get comfortable on all these needles...

 

[jcrow]

we spent all afternoon looking at houses. it''s been so frustrating. we found one maybe house. it''s right near hub''s work work which is awesome. neighborhood is good and it''s a newer home. the bad? it backs up to not a nice area. the back of it is like an industrial area. lots of trucks and loading and unloading.

i hate how something''s not right about everything we''ve looked at. blah.

 

[rhbgirl24]

Date: 2/19/2010 6:58:34 PM
Author: meresal

Date: 2/19/2010 3:51:43 PM
Author: rhbgirl24
Thanks! Dont hold your breath though. I was told another 3-4 business days.

Thanks for the heads up! Now if I could just get comfortable on all these needles...

Ha.... didn''t even realized that I completely changed your analogy..... I''m not in my right mind as of late!

Any new progress this weekend?

 

[Snooper]

rhbgirl24 man you must be a wreck! (I would at least). Sounds like you''ve done everything you can, so I hope to read good news soon!

We went by our place yesterday which worked out good as our future neighbor/co-worker had invited us to his kid''s 1st bday party. So far we have all the windows installed, front porch done, roof done! YAY! Waiting for the pilars, siding, plumbing, wiring... Now the hard part comes; waiting...

 

[meresal]

Date: 2/20/2010 10:04:07 PM
Author: rhbgirl24

Date: 2/19/2010 6:58:34 PM
Author: meresal

Date: 2/19/2010 3:51:43 PM
Author: rhbgirl24
Thanks! Dont hold your breath though. I was told another 3-4 business days.

Thanks for the heads up! Now if I could just get comfortable on all these needles...

Ha.... didn't even realized that I completely changed your analogy..... I'm not in my right mind as of late!

Any new progress this weekend?

LOL! No worries!

Snooper- Glad to hear there is progress!! I can't wait to see how it is all coming together! I'm usre it's going to be beautiful!
Jcrow- I'm sorry to hear about the industrial area bahind the house. I'm sure everything will work out!

Our update:
I went by the house yesterday and almost all of the brick was up. They hadn't started on the stone around the entry yet... and until I see it up, I am currently thinking that they built up some of the brick where the stone was supposed to start. We shall see.
The brick that we chose is a dark auburn color, almost brown, but it looked SOOOOO brown yesterday. I left very dissapointed. However, after getting home and looking at the pictures, I can see the red, and am thinking that once they clean the brick and put the grass in, it will look much less brown (I feel like the mud/dirt landscaping around the house is probably not helping the situation).

All of the sheet rock is finished on the inside! Everything on the inside is looking Fabulous!

 

[rhbgirl24]

Snooper: I am a wreck! It will be all worth it if we get it tho.... haven''t figured it out if we don''t. Congrats on all the progress, sounds awesome, so happy for you!

Mere: So cool that you have brick up!!! I''m sure as soon as its cleaned off it will look less brown. I''m sure all the construction mucks everything up quite a bit. No worries! What kind of stone around the front? I''m so in love with the different types of raw, natural looking stone!

 

[meresal]

The house looked sooooo much better today! I LOVE it!

And, can I just tell you that when you are building, you are so focused on certain things being right, that you will completely overlook the MOST obvious mistakes... I ran into the builder while I was on the lot and he apologized for missing that one of the pitches was missing on the front of the house. I was clueless, until he pointed it out!

LOL! They left the front of the house over the windows completely straight and it was supposed to be a pitch! I thought it looked odd and not really like something I would pick out, but when looking at the plans, it NEVER caught my eye! Now that they have added it on, it makes the house looks like we intended! It makes me feel alot better about my decisions! Haha.

I will point it out on the next picture that I post! I don''t want to post a new pic until the brick and stone are complete, which should be by the end of the week!

Rhb- How was your birthday???

 

[PilsnPinkysMom]

Date: 2/22/2010 8:28:46 PM
Author: meresal
The house looked sooooo much better today! I LOVE it!

And, can I just tell you that when you are building, you are so focused on certain things being right, that you will completely overlook the MOST obvious mistakes... I ran into the builder while I was on the lot and he apologized for missing that one of the pitches was missing on the front of the house. I was clueless, until he pointed it out!


LOL! They left the front of the house over the windows completely straight and it was supposed to be a pitch! I thought it looked odd and not really like something I would pick out, but when looking at the plans, it NEVER caught my eye! Now that they have added it on, it makes the house looks like we intended! It makes me feel alot better about my decisions! Haha.


I will point it out on the next picture that I post! I don''t want to post a new pic until the brick and stone are complete, which should be by the end of the week!


Rhb- How was your birthday???

Mer- At least you have a very honest, up-front builder!! It''s great that he apologized without you bringing it up. Kudos to him... And building a house seems like such a crazy, crazy process that it must be near impossible to NOT overlook a detail/mistake. There are so many decisions the homeowners/builders need to make, so much to remember, that its probably quite hard to stay on top of it all. I know you''re doing a great job, though

I''m excited to see more photos!!! Wahoo brick and stone!

RHB- ::singing the jeopardy song:: That is all

(and I''m hoping for the best!!)

 

[rhbgirl24]

Congrats Mere - so glad it looks awesome and so funny about the pitch. Glad they saw their error and are fixing it.... can you imagine if you noticed it when it was done???
My birthday was great, thanks for asking. Very low key - out to lunch w/ DH, movie and dinner at home later. Just what I needed.

Thanks Pils, I''m singing that in my head too... ha! In a way I''m really nervous to know. Not sure I''m up for doing this again.... but I also want it over with, like pulling a band aid off fast!

 

[Iowa Lizzy]

I''m just jumping in to say this is all so exciting! FI and I purchased our first house about 6 months ago. I wish I had seen this thread then! I remember making the offer and then the counter-offer was so exciting and nerve-wracking all at the same time. It would have been fun to post all the photos of the seemingly endless houses we looked at!

rhb, I hope you get good news on this house! Fingers crossed for you. What a long waiting game!

 

[Amandine]

Well, off to see a couple more houses today. The one we liked is not out of the running, but we are waiting on DH''s company''s taxes to be done before we can do mortgage stuff...

Anyone have have advice on how you found your mortgage? Did you go through your bank, Lendingtree, broker, etc.?

Also, how did you find your home inspector?

Meresal, can''t wait to see the new pictures with the brick!

Rhb, I have my fingers crossed for you!

 

[rhbgirl24]

URG! Still NO news.... apparently the storm in the East coast has delayed any decision making by the bank.....

How is everyone else doing?

 

[NewEnglandLady]

Date: 2/24/2010 10:11:43 AM
Author: Amandine
Well, off to see a couple more houses today. The one we liked is not out of the running, but we are waiting on DH''s company''s taxes to be done before we can do mortgage stuff...

Anyone have have advice on how you found your mortgage? Did you go through your bank, Lendingtree, broker, etc.?

Also, how did you find your home inspector?

Meresal, can''t wait to see the new pictures with the brick!

Rhb, I have my fingers crossed for you!

Hey, Amandine, just wanted to chime in even though we never closed on our house.

We found our mortgage through a mortgage broker. In fact, I went to three mortgage brokers and also applied through individual banks (I wanted to be thorough). The mortgage broker who could give us the best deal was recommended to me through a PSer.

I did quite a bit of research on home inspectors because I wanted one who specialized in the kind of house we were buying (antique). Our broker did recommend home inspectors to us and while I liked and trusted our broker, I wanted to find mine independently--it would be advantageous for her to recommend an inspector who may not be so thorough. We also hired a structural engineer, plumber, electrician and mold specialist to look over the house after the home inspector saw it. I was very glad we did because those specialists uncovered fairly large issues that the home inspector was not qualified to address.

Rhb, I''m continuing to send you lots of dust!

Meresal, I''m so glad you ended up loving the brick, I can''t wait for pics!

We are still holding tight. The owners of the house back on page 15 are still battling legal issues with the town over the land and there have been no other offers on the house. We haven''t seen any other homes, but have recently started to wonder what we would do if the legal battle were settled and we hadn''t found something else yet. Nothing terribly exciting has come onto the market in our budget, but at the same time I''m still happy with the break we''re taking and I don''t think we''ll start looking more seriously for a while longer.

 

[audball]

Hi!! I''m new to the house hunters thread...FF and I have been looking for about 6 months and made our first offer on what we really feel is *our* (first) house on Thursday. We gave them until today at 5pm to decide. They countered over lunch, we countered back to something we''re pretty sure they''re going to accept. Just wanted to share!! If you have any PS Dust to spare....they have until tomorrow at 5pm to respond to the counter, but I''m pretty sure we''ve got a house!

 

[Lynnie]

Audball... welcome, and LOTS of dust to you!!!

And continued dust for RHB!!!

My fingers are crossed for both of you!!