Meh. Open houses are for looky-loos! >_< I remember when my dad and I were selling my childhood home and people practically came in with popcorn and sodas like they were going to a movie and would just wander around like they were looking for something to put in their pockets! It drove me crazy, I couldn't stay there and watch it.

Keeping all appendages crossed! ^^ Good luck, Loppy!

Don’t worry about the open house and really who told you about it being “really busy”? This is a frequent sales tactic whether it is true or not…

crossing all crossables

The housing market has been insane in many parts of the country. We just bought a house – our realtor said to be prepared to go well over the asking price and he was right. A bit of research showed that houses in the area we were looking at had typically been going for $20-$50k over the asking price for the last several months. We weren’t at the open house for “our” house, but we understand that the realtor printed up 40 pamphlets and they were gone within the first hour. Mind you houses in that area have also typically only been on the market about a week before selling for the last 6-12 months or so as well.

We hope all goes well for you and you get the house!
– Annette

Fingers and all other crossables crossed. Mimzmum is right about looky loos. Especially if the weather is nice, they come out of the wood work. I don’t think your agent was lying. When we went house hunting, every agent we went to ended up showing us the same group of houses!

The housing market in my area is insane…the prices they are asking for houses like mine are absolutely ridiculous. Up to a few years ago they were getting what they asked for, now houses are on the market for months and months, sometimes over a year. My deceased neighbors house, was up for sale, got sold very quickly (we think the family dropped the price substantially) got a sold sign on it, then it came down, then another realtor sign went up for a day, then the sign came down again. As I said, insane.

Everything crossed here.

oooh! good luck! so you got the mortgage thing figured out? i’m crossing everything!

What was the asking price?  GOOD LUCK!  If it’s meant to be you’ll get it!

*Crosses everything* Keep us posted LL!!

I don’t know your area but your offer certainly sounds like it’s in the ballpark! They may counter to 95K. Good luck!!!!!!

god where the hell are u getting a house for $91000? you wouldnt even get a bedsit here for that, you would barely get the toilet of a bedsit?!

GOOD LUCK!!!!

What time is it now? (This is very suspenseful.) Any word?

I don’t know how you can handle the wait L_L! I’d be going nuts!

“Our” house was listed I believe on a Tuesday. Open house was Saturday, I viewed it Monday morning, they were taking offers as of I think 1pm until 7pm that same Monday, decision to be made by 9pm and at 8:30 I had the call from the realtor telling me we’d got it. That was nerve-wracking enough having to wait just a few hours!

Kimberley, some areas of Canada are extremely reasonable to live in. We’re moving from Edmonton to Winnipeg. The house we bought in Winnipeg would be easily twice the price or more in Edmonton, and probably 3x the price in LA.
– Annette

right, im moving there then! lol
i have been looking for a flat round here for ages and i am looking at about £600 (approx. $1200) a month for a one bed flat with no garden or anything, its ridiculous. A bed sit is about $1000 dollars a month eekk

i know and i dont even live in london! i have a friend there who is about to pay £1000 (approx $2000) a month for a one bed 6th floor flat with no lift, just stairs, and no bills are included not even council tax (like it is most places here) i was gobsmacked!

Poor Loppy. You need to make yourself a nice pot of tea and curl up with a good book or something.
How is Rye? I know you were worried about his hock area. Is he any improved?

ooo any news yet? waiting is the worst! I really hope they’ll accept your offer.

That’s great! Honestly the difference of a few thousand over the term of the loan is nothing. I would not stress over it. I’m like a few of the others here not understanding how you can find something that cheap!!!! Where I live is a joke. We have dumps and I mean dumps for 1.5 million! Good luck!!!!

I agree, unless it’s over the amount that you’re approved for I wouldn’t worry about a few thousand.

We had wanted a closing date of sometime in June, but the house we bid on (and got) was just perfect for us. They wanted a May 1 possession, because of various mortgage date rules and the offer date etc we ended up with April 28. We can’t even actually move until sometime in June, but we get possession of the housein a few weeks. Insane.
– Annette

Good job! Stick to your guns! Keep looking at other places though!

LL,
I forgot, did you get this house inspected? Is it OK?
You’ve made the counter offer already, but I wondered if you could say $94K AFTER inspection, or 92K (or stick with 90) as is. Closing date agreed upon either way. If it’s too late, and it hasn’t been inspected, can you get someone in there today before the 5PM deadline? I think if there was anything wrong you are not bound to your offer, but I’m not sure about the laws on that.

Looks like it’s yours, though! Still crossing things. I can’t help picturing one of the bedrooms for your horsies. Do they like bunk beds?

Usually you do the inspection after the offer is accepted.

yeah after teh offer is accepted, she should be able to do the inspection, then if there’s anything wrong she can back out legally or renegotiate they fix it, or take some money off.

oh. no inspection? that worries me. what are you gonna do? counter back 94, 500… lol.

I think 95K is reasonable.  Trust me you will not notice hardly any difference in the mortgage payment amount, a few bucks at the most. I say go for it and congratulations!

Oh yes you should definitely do an inspection!  What if the house has major foundation problems, mold or termites or whatever.  A hundred or 2 for an inspection could save you thousands.  And that can be negotiated off the price…I would not risk not doing one. 

Also what is a mini home?

Thanks I get it now :~) Very cute on the outside too – keep us updated.

it’s like a prefabricated house, right? no real foundation. but not a trailer or mobile home. my friend lives in one and it’s really nice.

Go for the $95k. Some people are just picky that way and have a number stuck in their heads that they aren’t willing to go below. Likely their realtor is doing a lot of head-shaking at it too. Maybe they bought it for $95 and just have a problem with selling it for less than they paid for it. Who knows.

As for the inspection, we didn’t get one done on our house either. In that market there was just no way to – any condition that gets put on the purchase of a house pretty much means “next please!”. I think I mentioned that our house was on the market for less than a week, they were only taking offers for a few hours. There were 6 other offers besides ours that came in. That meant the sellers could be really picky, and any conditions to the purchase would likely have meant not getting the house.

And to be honest I have to question the value of an inspection anyway. My mother bought a house about 15 years ago and we had an inspection done on it then. The things that the report said would likely be problems didn’t end up being for 10+ years later, and the things it said were no problem ended up needing fixing. Overall it was totally useless, and the only parts of it that were accurate were the things we could see for ourselves.
– Annette

that’s interesting about your mother’s house S&A… but i think that’s probably pretty rare. usually if something is a problem, it’s a problem. esp. for large things like roof, foundation, etc that can break and screw up a lot. i guess she lucked out. i can see what you mean by the sellers not taking conditions. as long as you realize there might be something wrong. overall tho i think that the few hundred bucks or so is worth it… but not everyone does it.

wOOOOhOOOOOOOOOOOO!

thats AWESOME!!!  congratulations… i’m so so happy for you   yay!!!

Awesome!! LL the homeowner!!!

I have to ask, did you tell them you HAVE to have the tanning bed on the bed??? Sorry, I couldn’t help myself!

Huh?  I don’t get it…

Oh funny. I guess i missed that conversation somewhere between drooling over Lago (haha) and your offer!

Lion_Lop you are sooo funny! I just couldn’t help myself! LOL