Author Topic: ~Deep breath~ submitted an offer today  (Read 5470 times)

ysette9

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~Deep breath~ submitted an offer today
« on: April 11, 2017, 03:59:26 PM »
We submitted an offer on a house today. Ack! This is not the first place we will have bought, but we have been renters for the past 4.5 years and haven't owned property in almost 3. This price point is definitely higher than the last place we bought also, but the price we offered feels very doable to me.

We offered only asking price which is a bit surprising to me in our crazy HCOL market. Our real estate agent said he thought it would be a fair offer though, and we offered with no contingencies and before any official timeline for the sellers to accept offers. There is a hope that by making a pre-emptive offer we could sneak in before the competition.

I would be surprised if the sellers accepted at asking price, but on the other hand it would be super cool. I'm just trying to keep my hopes down while waiting out the next day or so. No real question, but I just wanted to vent a bit. Thanks!

Scortius

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Re: ~Deep breath~ submitted an offer today
« Reply #1 on: April 11, 2017, 08:06:43 PM »
We submitted an offer on a house today. Ack! This is not the first place we will have bought, but we have been renters for the past 4.5 years and haven't owned property in almost 3. This price point is definitely higher than the last place we bought also, but the price we offered feels very doable to me.

We offered only asking price which is a bit surprising to me in our crazy HCOL market. Our real estate agent said he thought it would be a fair offer though, and we offered with no contingencies and before any official timeline for the sellers to accept offers. There is a hope that by making a pre-emptive offer we could sneak in before the competition.

I would be surprised if the sellers accepted at asking price, but on the other hand it would be super cool. I'm just trying to keep my hopes down while waiting out the next day or so. No real question, but I just wanted to vent a bit. Thanks!

Wow, that was fast.  Did you just get pre-approved last week?  I'm curious what it was about this place that prompted you to put in a full offer.  Either way, good luck!

ysette9

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Re: ~Deep breath~ submitted an offer today
« Reply #2 on: April 12, 2017, 09:39:20 AM »
Yes, crazy fast. Then again, this could very well not work out, since we live in the land of multiple offers and everything going over asking price.

I submitted all the stuff for pre-approvals last week and the letters started trickling in Friday through Monday. Thankfully they can move quickly once they have all of the info they need.

The place we saw had an open house last weekend and is in the neighborhood we are currently living in. It is originally a 2/1, 900 ft^2 with a rather well-done garage conversion that adds a bedroom and a small bathroom. It is mostly remodeled and looks really nice, and is on a large (for us) lot. It is on the outer edge of the nice part of the neighborhood which is a bit of a ding against it, but with everything moving up, up, up and gentrifying, I think this will only improve with time. I am rather excited. My husband does a much better job of being an adult and feeling the gravity of the implications of making an offer. I'm like a balloon floating off with my dreams and he is the person on the end of the balloon string keeping me from flying away. :)

The offer should be presented officially to the sellers today. We'll see....

ysette9

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Re: ~Deep breath~ submitted an offer today
« Reply #3 on: April 13, 2017, 08:44:29 AM »
And the drama continues! The sellers countered our offer at asking price. After much discussion and debate we have agreed to counter offer at a price that splits the difference between the asking price (original offer) and their counter. My husband is strong at negotiating and feels it is the right thing to do and is fair. I am nervous as hell that we will risk losing a good deal and would prefer to just sign on the dotted line, but marriage is compromise, and it is critical that he is fully on board. We emailed our real estate agent earlier this morning telling him what we wanted to do. Fingers and toes and everything else crossed!!!

agaaaaguughgghgghghghhgh

Nick_Miller

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Re: ~Deep breath~ submitted an offer today
« Reply #4 on: April 13, 2017, 09:01:48 AM »
My wife and I just went through this experience this winter. I know the whole process can make you anxious.

But try to cool your jets or take a cold shower or something! :)   And it's smart for your husband to want to counter. I know your market may be hotter than most, but still he's trying to save you guys money. Every dollar he saves you at this point is another dollar that isn't financed for the next 30 years (I'm assuming).

And remember even if they accept your counter, you'll get another chance to bargain later in the process when you get the inspection report.

LateStarter1

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Re: ~Deep breath~ submitted an offer today
« Reply #5 on: April 13, 2017, 09:48:06 AM »
I dont get it... You offered them EXACTLY WHAT THEY WERE ASKING... and they countered with now asking MORE? WTF?  I would have walked away without a second thought.

I have bought 2 houses so far and have never encountered that. That just seems insane to me. 

Drifterrider

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Re: ~Deep breath~ submitted an offer today
« Reply #6 on: April 13, 2017, 09:58:09 AM »
I dont get it... You offered them EXACTLY WHAT THEY WERE ASKING... and they countered with now asking MORE? WTF?  I would have walked away without a second thought.

I have bought 2 houses so far and have never encountered that. That just seems insane to me.

In a sellers' market a good realtor will want to spark competition aka bidding war.

ysette9

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Re: ~Deep breath~ submitted an offer today
« Reply #7 on: April 13, 2017, 10:02:57 AM »
It is totally usual around here for houses to sell for way over asking with multiple offers. One in our neighborhood sold a week ago with, if I remember correctly, 16 offers, 4 of them coming in at $300k over asking.

In my mind the worst-case scenario is they ignore our counter and decide to hold another open house this coming weekend, and get other offers. Then we would be back to square one, this time with competition. I guess that is the risk you take. And no, our offer is without contingencies, so this is likely the last opportunity to negotiate.

Fingers crossed!!

Nick_Miller

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Re: ~Deep breath~ submitted an offer today
« Reply #8 on: April 13, 2017, 10:10:23 AM »
Holy crap without any contingencies based on what the inspection reveals??? That would scare the crap out of me.

Landlady

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Re: ~Deep breath~ submitted an offer today
« Reply #9 on: April 13, 2017, 10:18:00 AM »
This is fun to follow! Thanks for sharing. :)
I don't think the seller will ignore your counter since that is not in their best interest, but it sometimes happens when a seller is not smart. Keep checking in with them so you know where your offer stands. Squeaky wheels get the grease! Good luck!

Holy crap without any contingencies based on what the inspection reveals??? That would scare the crap out of me.
I believe CA does inspections before listing, so there would be no inspection contingency for any offer if this is the case.

ysette9

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Re: ~Deep breath~ submitted an offer today
« Reply #10 on: April 13, 2017, 10:19:42 AM »
There has already been a house inspection and that was included in the disclosures. There is some work that needs to be done and we have ballpark estimates for them which we took into consideration. I imagine for someone from a more regular housing market this will seem crazy, but this is the way things go here.

ysette9

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Re: ~Deep breath~ submitted an offer today
« Reply #11 on: April 13, 2017, 10:22:45 AM »
Correct, I selections are done in advance here. That isn't to say that you can't put in other contingencies, such as a second independent inspection, appraisal, or other things. In a very competitive market though this is one of those things that can make you a more attractive potential buyer, along with closing quickly, being willing to let the seller stay in the house after closing, all-cash offers, and those cheesy personal letters you write talking about you and your family and how much you like the house. :) "Sell to me! Aren't we a cute family?"

SisterX

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Re: ~Deep breath~ submitted an offer today
« Reply #12 on: April 13, 2017, 02:15:49 PM »
As another who's house hunting, posting to follow.

We've put in two offers in a different crazy market (with escalations $X0,000 over asking), one with a pre-inspection, and lost both of them.

Good luck, ysette!

ysette9

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Re: ~Deep breath~ submitted an offer today
« Reply #13 on: April 13, 2017, 02:52:35 PM »
And good luck to you too, SisterX! The wait is nerve-wracking.....

BigRed

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Re: ~Deep breath~ submitted an offer today
« Reply #14 on: April 13, 2017, 03:02:12 PM »
We are also house hunting.  We put in an offer (our first offer ever) $6k over asking this week and it turned out to be the 6th best offer out of 7 offers made.  Not too encouraging, but there are always others.

QueenAlice

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Re: ~Deep breath~ submitted an offer today
« Reply #15 on: April 13, 2017, 03:29:21 PM »
...and those cheesy personal letters you write talking about you and your family and how much you like the house. :) "Sell to me! Aren't we a cute family?"

We just did one of these, and it totally worked! The letter was super cheesy, but also super true haha. We knew within 2 minutes of walking through the house that this was THE house we wanted to raise a family in. The seller rejected another offer that came in at the same time that was higher than ours AND explicitly said "We will beat ANY other offer you have received". The seller just flat accepted our offer, didn't even try to leverage the other offer to get us to offer more. So cheese away, folks. But use the word home instead of house, more personal ;)

Rooting for you, ysette9!! I remember how crazy I felt when we submitted our offer, and we live in a still down market (We paid >$100k less than the house was bought for in 2006/2007) haha

Another Reader

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Re: ~Deep breath~ submitted an offer today
« Reply #16 on: April 13, 2017, 04:14:51 PM »
My housing market barometers in Silly Valley are commute traffic and how full the stores and restaurants are.  Although spring break is rolling through the school systems, I have noticed a significant drop in commute traffic when I have had to be in it over the last couple of months.  Parking at stores and restaurants, including Costco and Target, is much easier and the lines are shorter.  I suspect a slowdown is approaching.

I can't imagine what you offered for that tiny place, which is probably well located.  I'm selling one of the rentals in Arizona, and I was pleased to get an offer at list, with minimal concessions after the inspection.  Out there, it's possible for a young couple with moderate incomes to buy a family home in their 20's.  Even indexing their incomes for location, they could not afford a one bedroom condo here.

Whichever way it works out for you, I hope it's for the best.

ysette9

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Re: ~Deep breath~ submitted an offer today
« Reply #17 on: April 13, 2017, 04:16:55 PM »
Quote
We just did one of these, and it totally worked! The letter was super cheesy, but also super true haha. We knew within 2 minutes of walking through the house that this was THE house we wanted to raise a family in. The seller rejected another offer that came in at the same time that was higher than ours AND explicitly said "We will beat ANY other offer you have received". The seller just flat accepted our offer, didn't even try to leverage the other offer to get us to offer more. So cheese away, folks. But use the word home instead of house, more personal ;)

Congratulations! That is a wonderful story. I am glad it worked out for you. I suspect everyone around here writes these letters so it probably doesn't make us stand out, but we'll see how things play out.

uma

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Re: ~Deep breath~ submitted an offer today
« Reply #18 on: April 13, 2017, 06:17:58 PM »
Good luck! ysette9

We are also looking for a house in the Bay Area. We are first home buyers, though, so totally inexperienced.
We made two offers last week and both were rejected. One was $30k over asking($575k), the second one - $41k over ($479k).
We only felt comfortable waiving loan contingency, as we are sure that we'll get the financing from one of the lenders, which pre-approved us.

Our agent suggests we waive all contingencies, but it just feels way too risky for us.
I'm curious what leads people to give up on that?
Unless you do a pre-inspection before the offer, how do you feel comfortable knowing that you either loose your earnest money deposit or close on this property, that may have structural issues?
Our agent also said, that inspection contingency could be waived, and if our offer is accepted, then we'll have time to do the inspection before making the wire transfer for the EMD, which has to be done within 3 days after the acceptance. However, i doubt this is going to fly.

ysette9

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Re: ~Deep breath~ submitted an offer today
« Reply #19 on: April 13, 2017, 07:41:06 PM »
This is our first time buying an older house and not having contingencies. I suppose we are trusting our real estate agent here who has a lot of experience with houses in this market. He assured us that the appraisal will come in right and I believe him based on the comps I see. As for the home inspection, one was done in advance and was included in the disclosures. I don't know anything about the companies that do inspections so I guess I have to trust that this one is as good as another.

As to your question on waiving contingencies, I think people get to that point when the market is so competitive they want to stand out. Bummer about being outbid on two houses so far. I hope you find something that works for you.

Alim Nassor

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Re: ~Deep breath~ submitted an offer today
« Reply #20 on: April 14, 2017, 12:43:32 AM »
Good God, I can't imagine having to buy a home in an area with costs that high.   Thank God for small town Texas..

ysette9

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Re: ~Deep breath~ submitted an offer today
« Reply #21 on: April 14, 2017, 08:45:35 AM »
I got to say, I am totally stoked about this and even my husband said last night that he was excited, felt like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders, and thanked me for pushing him to move on buying real estate. Those last words are something I NEVER expected to hear from him. I am the dreamer with flights of fancy and he is the realist doing the sober analysis in our relationship. That is an exaggeration a bit of our personalities as we both are engineers, but I definitely was the catalyst behind getting us moving and looking at open houses. I really credit his cool head for prevailing in the negotiation stage when I was nervous. We gambled and won, and ended up getting the house for $30k less than the sellers had countered. My husband declared last night that he was going to celebrate by buying a new bike to ride to work rather than a used one. :)

Happy Friday all!

SisterX

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Re: ~Deep breath~ submitted an offer today
« Reply #22 on: April 14, 2017, 09:17:44 AM »
Congrats, Ysette!!

Scortius

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Re: ~Deep breath~ submitted an offer today
« Reply #23 on: April 14, 2017, 09:57:16 AM »
I got to say, I am totally stoked about this and even my husband said last night that he was excited, felt like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders, and thanked me for pushing him to move on buying real estate. Those last words are something I NEVER expected to hear from him. I am the dreamer with flights of fancy and he is the realist doing the sober analysis in our relationship. That is an exaggeration a bit of our personalities as we both are engineers, but I definitely was the catalyst behind getting us moving and looking at open houses. I really credit his cool head for prevailing in the negotiation stage when I was nervous. We gambled and won, and ended up getting the house for $30k less than the sellers had countered. My husband declared last night that he was going to celebrate by buying a new bike to ride to work rather than a used one. :)

Happy Friday all!

Hooray!

uma

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Re: ~Deep breath~ submitted an offer today
« Reply #24 on: April 14, 2017, 10:55:34 AM »
Congrats ysette9 !

This is encouraging! Would you mind sharing the names of the local lenders you used for the pre-approval?
We've been pre-approved by two on-line lenders, and that could have played a role when the sellers were reviewing our offers.

ysette9

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Re: ~Deep breath~ submitted an offer today
« Reply #25 on: April 14, 2017, 12:53:14 PM »
We reached out to Stanford credit union, B of A, and Wells Fargo. Stanford hasn't been competitive so far. WF and BofA are and both seem good to work with. I was warned by our real estate agent that the B of A people are great but they are hamstrung by their non-local underwriters who don't really understand our market and take time to process stuff. I think we will go with WF since thy seem fast and aren't asking for strange stuff like letters to explain why we don't have a bunch of open debt accounts. I have been warned that it can be slower and harder dealing with online banks for mortgages that are not standard. If you are buying in the Bay Area then you may well be looking st a jumbo and need a fast close, so it could be a consideration.

Another Reader

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Re: ~Deep breath~ submitted an offer today
« Reply #26 on: April 14, 2017, 01:57:16 PM »
My file is extremely difficult to underwrite and the Wells Fargo loan officer knew exactly how to get the file through underwriting.  She handled a refi and a HELOC.  It never would have made it through B of A or Chase.  The credit union stopped calling me back when I sent the first paperwork.  Wells Fargo was not the cheapest but they got the job done.

uma

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Re: ~Deep breath~ submitted an offer today
« Reply #27 on: April 14, 2017, 02:05:34 PM »
Thanks ysette9 and Another Reader for the info. I have to say, the pre-approval process is much faster with an online lender.
I got pre-approved with QuickenLoans and goodmortage.com, which took less than 30 minutes. Wells Fargo doesn't seem to have on-line pre-approval and I'm still waiting for them to contact me after filling out an on-line form a few hours ago. Oh well.

I'm thinking of using a pre-approval from Wells Fargo in our next offer, but if it's accepted, we'll just go with a lender that has better rate and closing costs.

ysette9

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Re: ~Deep breath~ submitted an offer today
« Reply #28 on: April 14, 2017, 03:02:12 PM »
As much as I hate Wells Fargo's cheesy buggy and horses logo, the lady I have been working with is very responsive and has gone back and matched every better quote I have gotten so far. Right now the highest rate I have is from the credit union at 4.25 with half a point and WF is down to 3.625 with no points.

Nick_Miller

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Re: ~Deep breath~ submitted an offer today
« Reply #29 on: April 15, 2017, 02:57:43 PM »
ysette9, congrats on saving $30,000 and on having your offer accepted! Damn, that's a lot to save in the negotiation process (from my perspective)! And yes, I'd say your husband earned himself a new bike by sticking firm.


Another Reader

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Re: ~Deep breath~ submitted an offer today
« Reply #30 on: April 15, 2017, 03:00:12 PM »
As much as I hate Wells Fargo's cheesy buggy and horses logo, the lady I have been working with is very responsive and has gone back and matched every better quote I have gotten so far. Right now the highest rate I have is from the credit union at 4.25 with half a point and WF is down to 3.625 with no points.

That's a really good rate on a jumbo with no points. 

randompants

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Re: ~Deep breath~ submitted an offer today
« Reply #31 on: April 16, 2017, 10:50:23 AM »
Congrats on getting your first offer accepted and good luck with home ownership! We've been looking in an HLOC area as well and submitted 2 offers above asking without success. There is a lot of cash and competition right now. Ironically, it wouldn't make a big difference financially if we owned or rented here (assuming only modest appreciation in housing price).

ysette9

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Re: ~Deep breath~ submitted an offer today
« Reply #32 on: April 16, 2017, 01:07:12 PM »
Best of luck, randompants.

I agree that the rate is great for now and the jumbo loan product. I'm looking forward to a quiet moment to de-do my cFIREsim simulations with the lower rate to see how it impacts things. :)

Dicey

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Re: ~Deep breath~ submitted an offer today
« Reply #33 on: April 20, 2017, 11:29:40 AM »
Congrats, ysette!

When we were in escrow on our short sale home, it took eight long months to close. We outbid 12 other bidders and offered $128k over asking. One Friday, late in the process, the lender demanded an extra 30k more. By Sunday, DH was willing to go for it. I dug in my heels, pointing out that one could buy a really nice, used Lexus for that amount (not that we would, mind you). Monday we unleashed our amazing Broker's fury on them and they backed down. It finally closed about a month later. Of course, the property had appreciated that much have since we had opened escrow, but no way should they have benefitted from dragging their feet.

I've mentioned this elsewhere, but interest rates had spiked during this time and no one locks for that long. When it finally came time to close, we decided to just pay cash. Getting a loan was never the issue, but we were done with all the bullshit. Sort of a FU money story, I suppose.

And those cheesy letters, oh yes, they work. Before buying this house, I sold my townhouse. Asking price was $539k. I got two offers for $600k (WTF?) the first week. Since a dear friend lived next door, I knew I'd be in the neighborhood once in a while, so I went with the letter offer, because they were such a cute family. Four years later, it was a great decision. They've been very nice neighbors to my friend. They recently had to replace the fridge and the installer had to pull the upper cabinet to make it fit. DH is in the process of cutting it down for them. When it's done, he'll reinstall it, gratis.