We signed the offer last night and celebrated by eating buffalo wings. It was presented this morning and the owners have until tomorrow night at 8 pm to respond. Things are looking very good. There was a discrepency in some of the information we got from the title company and our agent had to talk to the owners again yesterday, which delayed our offer a bit, but it turned out to be (as we suspected) a paperwork error and nothing to worry about. Tom, our agent, also found out that the owners are as anxious to move out as we are to move in. When he spoke to their agent, the agent said, "How soon do they want to close?" and Tom said, "Tomorrow morning" and the agent was extremely pleased and they quickly agreed on a 30 day escrow. Both of us are ready to move so I think it's a good match and that fact will make our offer very competitive.
We ended up offering $4,000 over the asking price because we wanted them to throw in some appliances--a brand new washer/dryer, a portable air conditioner, a microwave that actually fits on the shelf built for it (ours would be too big), and a completely refurbished antique oven. I love these kinds of ovens and they are very pricey to have done. As soon as I saw this oven I knew it had to be mine (mainly because we would probably never spend the money later to get ourselves one). And the best part is--they've never used it! The owner said to me very casually, "we only got it a few months ago and we've never used it. We just use the microwave." This was confirmed by both the contents of the freezer, and my aunt who said later, "Did you look inside the oven? I don't think they've ever used it!" Very cool.
So we're tapping our fingers here hoping to hear soon. The price we offered is commensurate with the value of the house and we don't feel we've overpayed, and while we didn't lowball them we know from a previous offer they've had (which they very kindly showed us) that they weren't going to accept less than the full asking price. I would not be surprised at all if they accepted our offer straightaway, although I would not be opposed to a counter. We offered next to no contingencies--just the standard inspections--and our financing is 100% qualified and pre-approved, so I think we make an attractive offer. I feel much better about this one than the last one. So light a candle to Saint Century 21, the patron saint of home buying, and put in a good word for us.
In other news, despite my assiduous use of echinacea, it looks like I've picked up the cold my mom picked up on a plane trip last week. Ugh. Yesterday my nose was starting to get plugged but I attributed it to worsening allergies, but this morning my throat was on fire and my ears are stopped tight--always a bad sign. Let's hope I can weather this one through. Summer colds for me tend to be really mild, so let's hope we follow the trend here.
Posted by Shelby at August 17, 2004 01:33 PM