Tuesday, April 29, 2008

House Shopping

We had made of offer on a house. Sadly, there was another offer to compete with. The offers were equal, but the other offer had a contingency. They had to sell their house before they could buy, so our offer looked like the better one. Since their offer was technically first, we had to give them a chance to remove the contingency. Well, they did and we lost the house. Oh well! The market is still coming down, so I have high hopes that we can find another house without too much trouble. I'm excited because some 4 bedroom houses are coming into our price range. The top of our range, granted, but we're within striking distance now! When we first started looking, I couldn't believe the junky houses that people were trying to sell, and for how much! I'm so glad we didn't try to buy a house when we first moved here. The market is in a free fall and we would have lost a lot of money between then and now. When we were in grad school, I was very concerned about our being able to afford a house when we finished because prices were rising so fast, so I feel really blessed to be looking for a home in such a buyer favorable market. To tell you the truth, I don't really like home shopping. You have to shift through a lot of 'crap' to find something good and it takes a lot of research time and legwork to say nothing of the legal hoops once your offer is accepted. But it will all be worth it in the end if I can finally have a space for my garden and the kids can have a yard to play in!

2 comments:

Liz said...

I hated home shopping. Houses that looked good on paper and from the street would have the weirdest things inside. Plus, the mortgage lenders wanted us to spend more than we could afford. I hope you find something wonderful that feels like home.

Anonymous said...

All the news stories about falling home prices are doom and gloom, but I daresay there are many people who, like you, benefit greatly from the housing bubble bursting. I have a friend who's looking for a house here in Smithfield, and the prices are still sky high--much higher than they were three years ago when we started building our house.