House hunting — the highs and lows and Hoozahs (an update)

After many, many months of looking, the GF finally found a house she was happy with.
New construction, a good deal and in a good neighborhood. It was perfect.
After the open house on Sunday, we both had good feelings about it.

Real estate agent calls this afternoon. Another couple came in, right after we left, and made an offer, on the spot, that was accepted. The offer is conditional though. They are moving in from another state and have to sell their old house first.

While I'm not very experienced in real estate, it seems like someone doesn't walk into a house for the first time and say, "we'll take it."

Is my take right? I was hopeful that someone here might know.

 

Re: House hunting — the highs and lows

I think your take is a little off.

I know many people, myself included, who walked through a house and knew it was "the one".

I think it is especially true for people who have been looking for a while and know what they are looking for.

 

Re: House hunting — the highs and lows

As for you not making an offer on the spot, good move. New construction is a rip-off. Let someone else pay for the upgrades. Builders make a fortune on kitchen, flooring and basement upgrades.

 

Re: House hunting — the highs and lows

Latest house was perfect, and we knew it immediately. But I know how you feel. We acted quickly to make an offer, but between the initial offer and closing, there were times along the way that we (OK, I) thought things might fall through. Usually, though, once an offer is accepted, that's a good sign for the buyers. But you may be in a better position than most because of the current mortgage your "competition" is holding. They might not be able to sell it and then the place is on the market again. Anyway, as a veteran house hunter, good luck.

 

Re: House hunting — the highs and lows

Not unusual at all. If they're moving from out of town, they could be on a tight time frame and they absolutely have to find a house this weekend and this is the one they liked best within their neighborhood, size and price specs. A lot of people don't like temporary living and they'd rather just do the big move all at once.

But if your girlfriend really likes the house, she may want to consider a backup offer. So much can go wrong with the banks these days -- for instance, if the buyers' sale falls through because that buyer can't come up with the financing -- that houses often go through a couple of different offers. The house on our block "sold" about five times before it actually sold.

 

Re: House hunting — the highs and lows

This process is usually accompanied by the GF making you watch and endless parade of home-buying TV shows.
My condolences.

 

Re: House hunting — the highs and lows

Certainly make a back-up offer in case the conditional sale falls through. Selling a house is no easy deal in this economy.

 

Re: House hunting — the highs and lows

mmmmmm ... real estate porn

 

Re: House hunting — the highs and lows

And once you buy the house, you get the renovation shows, which are even worse.

 

Re: House hunting — the highs and lows

My wife and I made an offer on our house less than five hours after seeing it.

We'd been looking for a few months, knew exactly what we wanted, knew the neighbourhood, and most of all trusted our real estate agent who was pretty excited to show us this place that had just come on the market.

We did put a condition on an inspection, but three years later we absolutely have no regrets. When you know enough, spotting the right house is often easier than you think. It's waiting to find that right house that's the hard part.

 

Re: House hunting — the highs and lows

We bought our house a little over a year ago and had a very similar experience -- looked at a ton of houses, and knew this one was the one as soon as we walked into it. Made an offer within hours and haven't regretted it.