I tend to not believe everything that Todd says, however this statement may very well hold a lot of validity and truth, there's only one problem, I am still renting in an apartment. The apartment is convenient and extremely accessible, but my backyard would be Manhattan street, which a middle and high school is located on, and pissing out there is not an option. Unless I like Prison uniforms and handcuffs.
So with all of that being said I need to find a house pronto. You would think in a down market that houses would be plentiful and easy to get because sellers would be highly motivated....Suprise... it seems to be the exact opposite. I digress with the following two situations:
One: finally after 25 houses my wife and I see a house that we actually had a homely feel to it when we walked in. I never thought I would be able to have this feeling because I have stayed in some dumps before and have been quite content while doing so, but we were both blown away by it. It was built in this century, updated kitchen, pool, overlooked a pond, it was move in ready, not much work to be done to it. So we moved fast, and put in what we thought was an over generous offer, however unbeknownst to us there were multiple contracts in on it and we got over bid. So we struck out there.
Two: we were now on to our 35th house and saw the same floor plan, basically the same house in scenario one except the kitchen was not updated as well but everything was strikingly simillar. This house had no other offers and had been on the market for a little bit... So we decided to offer lower than what we thought it was worth in comparison to the other houses in the area. For ease lets just say this house was listed for $10 and it is actually worth $7 so we went lower and made our first bid at $6, we had a feeling they would counter back and they did at $9.75, really? This should have been indicator number one, people think their house is special, and it as Billy Bob in Varsity Blues would say is a 10 a fucking 10. So we came back at where we wanted to be on terms of paying for the house plus a little bit more so we bid 7.50, they countered back at $9 so we finally put in our last offer at $8 which is overly generous and over what the house is worth, so these people say they are taking the house off the market. Really people don't put your house on the market and leave it there if you don't have the intention of selling it.
It was an absolute waste of time. Between those two scenarios, looking at close to 50 other houses that aren't what I would like to call home, the house hunting process has become a nightmare. Maybe it's my wife and I's fault for being too picky, but this is a big purchase, and our future. I think I can and should be picky on this particular situation.
The takeaway here is patience. Patience is a virtue and a necessity when it comes to buying houses. We have looked at pictures of a house that just went on market and then when we call to set up an appointment to look at the house and within 12 hours it is already under contract. The ordeal is frustrating to say the least, but the silver lining is that it is fun to picture what the future will be like, to watch my wife's face light up when she see's something she likes, imaging having friends and and family over, planning parties, life with children, and the hope that I can find out how it feels to piss in my own backyard. If you find yourself in the same situation as me use that as motivation and inspiration to push past the disappointments. I know in time we will own the right place, but for now I will hang on to the imaginations and promises of what the future in a new home will bring.
This is probably not the most entertaining piece, but most of my friends and family live 1000 miles away and sharing what is going on in my life may not be important to you, but there are some people out there who care.
Until next time....
-Baugh
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