1:02 p.m. - 2002-03-01
Housebuying, or: I have the worst headache..
People keep asking us about the housebuying thing so I think I am just going to go through it all here so I don't keep repeating myself. Please forgive me if this is really a disjointed and cranky entry but this whole experience has made me feel, well, disjointed and cranky.
I'm getting a headache already and I haven't even started.
Basically, Bruce and I are on our third serious housebuying negotiation, and it is not going well. The first house we wanted was really sweet, and our purchase offer was accepted, but it had a bad home inspection so we bagged out.
The second house would have been really perfect for us but it had psychotic owners who literally wanted $30,000 more than the house was worth, even though it had been on the market for over a year. "Because it's beautiful and has GOOD VIBES!" they said (to which Bruce mumbled under his breath "When I hear the words "good vibes" that's when I reach for my revolver"). We put in two purchase offers which they rejected and then they took the house off the market "because no one appreciates how really valuable it is."
This third house is an extremely well maintained cottage, about 1400 square feet, with a beautiful garden. The problem is we don't know what it is actually, really worth. And our buyer's agent, David, who has been a realtor for a long time and is very savvy, is also not sure. It is exactly on the border of a good neighborhood and a really really good neighborhood, and so the question is - should it sell at the good neighborhood price (about $80 a square foot) or the really really good neighborhood price (about $86 a square foot).
The owners started out with us asking $125,000. We offered $113,500 and half closing costs based on the top of the good neighborhood price. They rejected that, but implied that they might go to $118,000 and we pay all closing. We put in an offer of $115,000 and half closing and we are now waiting to hear on that but I think they are going to reject it. And then what do we do? Do we go to $118,000 and half closing and take a chance that we are paying too much for the house?
To make this all more complicated, I love this house. It has a great huge front porch and a beautiful back deck which is very important in Southern culture where you live outdoors nine months of the year. It also has an office for Bruce and the room which would be my studio is more like a sunroom with a row of windows looking out onto the back garden. And there is a garage to put a kiln in and a watergarden for Bruce's native fish to live in and raspberry bushes and a circular herb garden. And the house is in really great condition - David was a structural engineer before he became a realtor and couldn't find anything wrong with it except that the hot water heater was maybe a bit old. Of course we will get a home inspection anyway but I would be very surprised if anything turns up wrong.
But is it worth $118,000?
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