The Offer(s)
We started looking at houses in early July. And by looking at houses I mean we looked at the Urban Farmhouse and another house right around the corner from it. The other house was named the Power Lines house and promptly marked off the list for obvious reasons.
We drove by some other houses in their HOA neighborhoods and looked from the outside, but the Austin housing market is crazy right now and most houses only stay on the market for a handful of days. All of the other houses we drove by were already well under contract. In this market, houses get multiple offers so you go in prepared to pay list price or above.
Then there was the Urban Farmhouse. It had been on the market for double digit days (oh my!). It was vacant. It obviously hadn't been lived in for a while, and there had been a surface level attempt to update it (paint and countertops - sold!). The rest of it hasn't been touched since it was built in 1993, except for the fact it had been altered to be used as a rental at some point. But we (and by we I mean I) could see that it had lots of potential.
We decided to do the unthinkable - we made a lowball offer. We liked it enough that we didn't want to pass it up, but we weren't in love enough to pay top dollar. So our real estate agent decided to make an informal phone call to the listing agent, rather than make a formal offer. The seller's agent was a little snippy and said that they weren't selling it "for that." I'm pretty sure she never even relayed the offer to the seller. Oh well, struck out. In the back of our minds, we decided to see if it was still on the market when school starts and go back with a little bit higher offer.
At the end of July, the search for commercial space was in full swing. We had just toured a property near the Urban Farmhouse and we mentioned to our agent what we had in the back of our minds about the house. When I got home that day, I checked realtor.com and found that they had lowered the asking price significantly - that very day. The new price was very close to the slightly higher offer that we were prepared to make. So this time our agent drew up a formal offer to present to the sellers.
The sellers don't live in Austin, so a response took a few days. In the end, there was another offer but they took ours because we had no contingencies attached. We aren't trying to sell our current house as well as buy theirs. It will, of course, mean that we will carry 2 mortgages for 6-8 months - but that is something that we prepared to do. We also need to be in our current location for this school year for the youngest to finish his last year of middle school.
So now we are under contract, with an option period of 10 days. Somehow in this crazy ass Austin real estate market, we bought a house for under asking price. We probably got a money pit, right? :)
We drove by some other houses in their HOA neighborhoods and looked from the outside, but the Austin housing market is crazy right now and most houses only stay on the market for a handful of days. All of the other houses we drove by were already well under contract. In this market, houses get multiple offers so you go in prepared to pay list price or above.
Then there was the Urban Farmhouse. It had been on the market for double digit days (oh my!). It was vacant. It obviously hadn't been lived in for a while, and there had been a surface level attempt to update it (paint and countertops - sold!). The rest of it hasn't been touched since it was built in 1993, except for the fact it had been altered to be used as a rental at some point. But we (and by we I mean I) could see that it had lots of potential.
We decided to do the unthinkable - we made a lowball offer. We liked it enough that we didn't want to pass it up, but we weren't in love enough to pay top dollar. So our real estate agent decided to make an informal phone call to the listing agent, rather than make a formal offer. The seller's agent was a little snippy and said that they weren't selling it "for that." I'm pretty sure she never even relayed the offer to the seller. Oh well, struck out. In the back of our minds, we decided to see if it was still on the market when school starts and go back with a little bit higher offer.
At the end of July, the search for commercial space was in full swing. We had just toured a property near the Urban Farmhouse and we mentioned to our agent what we had in the back of our minds about the house. When I got home that day, I checked realtor.com and found that they had lowered the asking price significantly - that very day. The new price was very close to the slightly higher offer that we were prepared to make. So this time our agent drew up a formal offer to present to the sellers.
The sellers don't live in Austin, so a response took a few days. In the end, there was another offer but they took ours because we had no contingencies attached. We aren't trying to sell our current house as well as buy theirs. It will, of course, mean that we will carry 2 mortgages for 6-8 months - but that is something that we prepared to do. We also need to be in our current location for this school year for the youngest to finish his last year of middle school.
So now we are under contract, with an option period of 10 days. Somehow in this crazy ass Austin real estate market, we bought a house for under asking price. We probably got a money pit, right? :)
I can't wait to see it. Where are Dean and I going to sleep? :)
ReplyDeleteI watch the NYC real estate shows sometime and marvel at the idea of multiple offers and paying over list price! It's amazing that the Austin market, where space limitations aren't a major factor as in Manhattan, can produce the same sort of frenzy. One of these days, I have to come see this magical place. I just wish that there wasn't so much Texas surrounding it....
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