Now, it's really done. Both parties have agreed on a contract. The final price is $229,000, at the cost of a home warranty, which, for a 4 year old house, is pretty superfluous. It was something that our agent screwed up on, but worked out to save the deal. She was supposed to report $230,000, but she slipped $229,000 in there, I think, as an accident. I suppose if we had lost the place, I'd have fired her right there, but since it all worked out in the end, I'm rather pleased. So now we get to do all of the fun things associated with buying a new house. Inspections, removing contingencies, all sorts of excitement like that. We have two weeks to get it inspected, and one week to get a landshark to look at it. We'll have to remove the contingencies on the mortgage, and then we'll have to close, and then we have to work on the house, and then we have to move in. Woo! And then I have a huge yard to mow. Yikes. Need a lawn mower, Washer, Dryer, and grill, and kitchen table. And that is just to start.

I told my wife last night that she had the main decision to decorate the house, but I had veto powers if I didn't like something. Just the opposite of how the house buying process ended up. She seemed amused with the concept, since she's pretty sure I ran her over about this house (she seems to like it well enough, anyway). I'm certainly going to stay out of her way, though, maybe I'll put tape over my mouth if it will help any. :-)

So, off to a new house-poor lifestyle. :-)


posted by Jeremy at 9:31 AM

well, it's done. We've agreed to their latest counter offer, which was delivered last night. It came down three thousand (to $230 flat (before it was $232,900, not $232 like I had reported). Our agent also reported that she was reasonably sure that they were going to stand pat there, and that there might actually be someone waiting in the wings (there were 8 showings this weekend), and it was possible that there were at least one person there willing to make an offer. We're probably being a little played, but according to the comps for the area (and there is one directly comparable house to this one), we're probably coming in right where we should come in for a house in this neighborhood. We're not going to steal this house from anyone else, we're going to do all right. I'll take it and run. The wife is getting excited about decorating, and I'll certainly not get in her way, and do whatever she asks. I don't have too many ideas on the inside. It's all up to her, I'll just smile and nod. :-)

Well, Mariucci is the head coach of the Lions. I think they'll still suck. The Vikes will sweep them again next year. Mark my words. :-)
posted by Jeremy at 4:38 PM

So I've decided at this point that the bidding phase of the house buying process is just one big game. It's who can make the other side blink first. That's when you win. The people we would like to buy this house from have played the game pretty hard over the weekend, making what I thought would be a slam dunk negotiation into somewhat of a pain in the buttocks.

Of course, they are doing it right. We lowballed them pretty hard, and so the other realtor told our agent on Saturday night that he had showed the house that day to 7 different interested couples. No doubt that the statement was designed to get us to bring our offer up. They had already brought their offer down before that (from $236 to $232), and moved the close date ahead a month. I didn't like the fact that we had three days to paint and move in, so we asked that we have more than three days, moving it back a week, and we also brought our offer up four grand. Then they delay two days, and "show" the house to 7 other people. THEN, they call us up on Sunday afternoon and casually ask if we have a response to this development. To which our realtor says, "No, we were actually waiting for you to respond." Obviously what he didn't want to hear. So he told us to put our last verbal offer in writing (bah), and send it to him. Which we did. We also instructed our agent to tell him that we were also looking at other places (playing the pushy game), which I don't think she actually did. And we are looking at two or three other places, just to make sure that there isn't another diamond out there. However, that place is one of the best, newest places on the market right now, and heaven help us if they figure it out. Our realtor did tell the other realtor that it would cost quite a bit of cash to buy and landscape another house in the same area, roughly the same value it would to buy their house, which is pretty true. Also, comparable houses have been selling in the area for much cheaper than their house, so there is no reason why we shouldn't try to bring it down a bit. Hopefully, we'll hear something today.

I know that after we're done with the house buying process and with all of the associated bull pucky, it wouldn't hurt to have more of a cash flow . I wonder if there wouldn't be a way to bring in some more cash with a second job. I'll have to think of something. More money is good.

Supposed to be warm today, so I'll try to run a bit today, and see how it feels. It's also supposed to be a bit drizzly, and it already looks like it is raining out a bit. We'll see. THere's always biking, but I've already taken three weeks off from running. It's time to see if it has helped at all. My tush is sore from biking so much (I biked about an hour and five minutes yesterday), and my hamstrings are very tight. It's time for something else.

I suspect by now, you've noticed that I don't spend much time talking about my relationship with other folks and friends, other than my wife. I do have friends, but my wife and I are rather insular, preferring to do things together, rather than with other people. I do have friends outside our marriage, (the gaming group I play with), but for the most part it is surprising how insular we really are. I think, sometimes, it is a function of our lifestyle. Since we have no children, or do not belong to a church, we have few friends. I suspect that if we did either of the above, it would be quite different. However, I'm not particularly organized religious, and neither is my wife, and she is not particularly enamored of having children. And, neither am I right now. Interestingly enough, my wife has more closer friends than I do right now, which is interesting for someone who claims to be hard to be friendly with.

Anyway, time to get more work done.
posted by Jeremy at 11:18 AM