Only read this is you are bored, lol, as there is nothing new and exciting to share. on the other hand this house hunt has been unbelievable and I do "know" residential real estate. on the other hand this market is crazy. Here is a recap of our activities: (1) first house had been on the market and empty for nine months with no recent offers, we offered two grand under asking price all cash on a Friday....listing agent wrote contract and sold the house for one grand more and did not give us an offer to counter offer. (2) second house was huge, newer, and had been on the market for nine months vacant. We offered four grand under asking (no other offers had come in) and the offer was verbally accepted. THEN...the bank rep who had accepted the offer was told by his boss that our offer was too low, they would not counter and they were going to sell it on Auction.com (3) third house empty and no action. We made an offer and the offer was accepted in November. This is February and the bank will not turn on water/electric for inspections and will give no indication of when it might close. (4) fourth house we saw at 1 PM and as we left to go do full price offer the listing agent showed up to show the house. We offered full price, all cash. Listing agent sold it to his prospects for full price plus one grand. (5) fifth house I didn't like the neighborhood and it needed lots and lots of work. We had full inspections done which indicated even more work than was apparent. We made reduced offer with notations of inspection results. Bank would not respond. (6) Sixth house has been empty for a year, needs a little work but is in THE best location and about ideal. There have been no offers. It is listed by a Realtor on the W coast so there has been no sign on it, no local MLS and the listing agent says she "believes the bank is eager to sell". We have made an offer that leaves NO money leftover for repairs etc. We stipulated a short response time...Wednesday.
You all can likely understand how much time and effort has gone into finding a home for easy child/difficult child. I can't even explain how much I hope this flies. I also hope, lol, that there are no "issues" requiring repair. We've given are all on this one and I appreciate the good wishes etc. Based on the first five houses it is hard for us to be optimistic but we are hoping for the best and trying to stay prepared for the worst. SIGH! DDD