We made an offer on a house!

[DanGarion]

Oh man, I really hope it's accepted, we really like this house and could see us living there for a long time!

Just a run down of how things have gone this week... (taken from my blog).

11/17/2008

Actually this isn’t the begining, but it is the begining of us really house hunting. For the past 6 months we have been using Redfin and Trulia to search for homes that we might be interested in. The problem we ran into with Redfin is that the concept is great and their search is top notch, but they won’t work with short sales. Now hold on before you tell me short sales suck, I already know this. I’m just interested in trying for the homes we like, and if that involves the possibility of a short sale I want to be able to make sure I’m using a Realtor that wants to work with us to find our home. This is what brings us to our possible new Realtor, Dan Slater from Orange Realty. He seems like a really nice guy so that’s a start. He mentioned he is a board member on the city of Orange Chamber of Commerce and he knows one of the marketing guys at my work. Next I’ll have to see if my barber knows him (Dick seems to know everyone). Here are our housing qualifications.

We are looking for homes under the $400k range and we don’t want to deal with PMI
We love Orange and would love to live in the Plaza area but we know we can’t afford that, so we are looking in a couple various Neighborhoods in Orange and also Garden Grove.
3 Bedroom 1+/2 Bath
1000+ Sq/Ft house on 7000+ Sq/Ft lot
Prefer to have a back yard without a pool
2 car garage is a must

He’s going to take us out looking at homes on Sunday, so that should be fun. I will keep you all posted on how things go and I’ll try to take some pictures of the homes we go look at.

Oh and for you political fans, no this is now Dan Slater from Colorado.

11/20/2008

So I just off the phone with our credit union and they had to counter offer on our loan request because we haven’t owned our dog grooming business for 2 years. They can’t use the income we make on our business till we have owned it for two years. Unfortunately this makes our loan significantly less then what we had wanted. I’m going to get back in touch with another lender that we had a pre-approval with and work on getting another pre-approval from them again, since they were able to to do it back in Sept. Just a little road block in our pursuit of happiness. Nothing we can’t work through. I understand the reasoning and would like to keep the loan under our bank, but it just might not end up that way.

11/24/2008

So on Sunday we viewed 5 properties in the city of Orange and 5 or 6 in the city of Garden Grove. We really liked the last two properties in Orange, so we asked our Realtor if we could see them again today. After walking through the two houses today we decided to make an offer of a beautiful home located less then 1 mile from the Orange Plaza (Circle)! We’ve absolutely love this area and it was the primary area we were hoping to locate a house in. Now we wait to see if the bank that owns the house decides to accept our offer (the house is a foreclosure / REO). Our Realtor thinks we have a really good chance of getting the house at the price that we offered. I can’t believe we made an offer! I’m still waiting to hear back from the banks on our loan approval, but I’m pretty sure we will get approved, I made a number of calls today and verified with these lenders that our business ownership will not interfere with us getting the loan for the amount that we want!

The house is 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, 1346 sq/ft on a 9045 sq.ft lot. Here are two pictures I took yesterday while we walked the property.

We weren't really sure about the kitchen at first, but now we really like it and think it will be cool to have 50's retro looking kitchen, especially if we can find a nice retro fridge and stove/range/oven.

We should hear back from the bank today.

[Mustang]

Grats!

So, what is that kitchen color called?? Nuclear Green?

[DanGarion]

Originally Posted by Mustang

Grats!

So, what is that kitchen color called?? Nuclear Green?

Heh, that wall on the right that's a darker color will probably get color matched to the lighter green of the kitchen.

[Raiders Army]

Congratulations! The kitchen looks really clean from the picture which is a great sign. Why did they take out the appliances?

[Dr. Sak]

Congrats Dan! I hope you get it!

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Wait, how much did that house cost? 400K?

[DanGarion]

Originally Posted by Raiders Army

Congratulations! The kitchen looks really clean from the picture which is a great sign. Why did they take out the appliances?

Well it's a foreclosure, that's one of the things that happens sometimes.

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

Wait, how much did that house cost? 400K?

No it's less then that, but welcome to California, home of the expensive homes.

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

Wait, how much did that house cost? 400K?

I'm always amazed at how much location factors into the price of houses. I have friends who I trained with who live in homes smaller than mine that paid 3 times as much as I did for their home just because it is in California. One of my acquaintances in California is living in a gorgeous multi-million dollar home, but has an interest only loan.

[Eaglesfan27]

Dola -

Congrats, Dan. I hope all goes well with the process.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by DanGarion

No it's less then that, but welcome to California, home of the expensive homes.

So how much did it cost if you don't mind saying? Much like EF27, I'm always interested in location/value of homes and how they change. I'm sure you got a great deal if it was a foreclosure. You probably would have paid 100-150K more a few years ago.

Congrats either way. There are occasional issues, but overall it's great to own your own place.

[Flasch186]

grats

[terpkristin]

Congrats, Dan!
I vividly remember putting my offer down on the house I now live in. I was very superstitious.

Location always makes house-buying no fun. I'm sure for what I paid for my townhouse in Ashburn, people could buy a farm with a mansion in parts of Texas.

/tk

[sterlingice]

Congrats

Originally Posted by terpkristin

Location always makes house-buying no fun. I'm sure for what I paid for my townhouse in Ashburn, people could buy a farm with a mansion in parts of Texas.

Yeah, we call that part of Texas "Houston". My parents have a giant house for what people pay for "junk" in Cali or some of the more expensive cities.

SI

[Dr. Sak]

I'm just about the opposite. If you put my house in any other big city, it would be worth 5 to 7 times as much as I paid for it. Especially with the land.

[DanGarion]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

So how much did it cost if you don't mind saying? Much like EF27, I'm always interested in location/value of homes and how they change. I'm sure you got a great deal if it was a foreclosure. You probably would have paid 100-150K more a few years ago.

Congrats either way. There are occasional issues, but overall it's great to own your own place.

We bid 355k now we are waiting to hear back from the bank to see if they accepted that. In 2006 this house sold for 630k.

[chesapeake]

Congratulations, and welcome to homeownership!

Now go patch that hole in the roof, kill the carpenter ants coming up through the garage, and dig up and replace the backed-up sewer line to the street!

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by DanGarion

We bid 355k now we are waiting to hear back from the bank to see if they accepted that. In 2006 this house sold for 630k.

Yeah, that's what I figured. Great timing for you.

[Marc Vaughan]

congrats

[JeeberD]

Congrats! Hopefully it goes better than our first offer, but we wound up with a better house anyways.

[Lathum]

good luck to you, it's a great feeling buying your first home!

[PilotMan]

Congrats Dan, that is a huge feeling. I hope that it works out for you.

[DanGarion]

So I have like three lenders working on loans for us. If they all come back with the same type of offers and the prices are around the same, I'm going to end up going with the one that has treated me the best throughout the process. I'd rather reward a nice guy then save a couple hundred bucks on the closing costs of the loan (as long as the rate is the best).

[Galaxy]

Originally Posted by Eaglesfan27

One of my acquaintances in California is living in a gorgeous multi-million dollar home, but has an interest only loan.

Yikes.

[MikeVic]

What's an interest only loan?

And that looks like a microwave egg cooker in the kitchen. Or an air freshener. I've recently got a place of my own, and I can sympathize with how nerve-wracking it can be just to make an offer on something.

[DanGarion]

Originally Posted by MikeVic

What's an interest only loan?

And that looks like a microwave egg cooker in the kitchen. Or an air freshener. I've recently got a place of my own, and I can sympathize with how nerve-wracking it can be just to make an offer on something.

Are you being sarcastic about not knowing what and interest only loan is? Basically it's why the housing market is the way it is. You pay only interest for 3-5 years, and during that period you take a HELOC out, and then when you ARM hits you realize your house if worth 1/2 of what you paid for.

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by MikeVic

What's an interest only loan?

For the first 10 years of the loan, he only pays the interest and then for the last 20 years his payments go WAY up as he pays the interest and the principal. The idea is that people who expect their salaries to go up can buy houses they couldn't normally afford - it's a risky loan in some aspects.

[MikeVic]

No I wasn't kidding, hadn't heard the term before. Thanks for the answers.

[DanGarion]

So we got a counter offer from the bank that owns the property for 372k which is basically 8 less then the list price. We have now done another counter offer for 360k. According to the Realtors involved now what will happen is the bank that owns the property will send the counter-offer up to a higher manager to analyze the numbers and make a decision. I understand 99.9% of the decision is all based on money and projections, but hopefully the interest we are showing and the quick response back on the counter offer will count for something as well.

[PilotMan]

Our house was negotiated with a bank (actually a company that gets paid to move bank owned properties) and we went back and forth three times before they moved into our 'go' range.

Sometimes it can be very slow, but in our situation it was all in the course of an afternoon.

[DanGarion]

Originally Posted by PilotMan

Our house was negotiated with a bank (actually a company that gets paid to move bank owned properties) and we went back and forth three times before they moved into our 'go' range.

Sometimes it can be very slow, but in our situation it was all in the course of an afternoon.

We are pretty close to getting to the point where we will just stand back and wait a couple weeks to see what happens. We are already close to what we would prefer to pay. Trying to keep emotions out, but if this is the place you are going to live in for awhile, you want to really like the place.

[CamEdwards]

Good luck Dan. With the market the way it is, we're looking at buying (we've been renting since we moved to northern VA 4 1/2 years ago), but I want to wait until we're closer to the end of the school year.

[DanGarion]

Originally Posted by CamEdwards

Good luck Dan. With the market the way it is, we're looking at buying (we've been renting since we moved to northern VA 4 1/2 years ago), but I want to wait until we're closer to the end of the school year.

Yeah if things fall through with this one, I think we will wait till Summer, so we don't have to deal with the 24 months of business ownership, plus we will probably have more money then to show we can handle owning the house.

[DanGarion]

Alright so when I last left you on Tuesday we sent back a counter offer and were waiting for the bank to respond. We got a response on Wed. and they budge a little but did not meet our offer. After talking we decided our counter offer was a high as we wanted to go and we spoke with our Realtor who suggested that although the price the bank wanted was still a really good deal we could go ahead and do a final counter offer back to the bank saying we don't want to go higher and he would also let them know we are already qualified for the amount we are offering. Our Realtor called the realtor for the bank and explained the situation to him, he responded back that they had now already "got some offers for above the asking price". We called BS, since why would they want to counter for less if they know they can get more (especially since this is a bank, not a person selling). So we continued with our final offer.

We are only 10k off, but I'm willing to stand firm and make they come to our offer, we have the advantage, we already are living somewhere and can wait, they will continue to lose money till they sell...

Today we heard back from our Realtor after he called the banks realtor and the offer was sent up to someone higher at the bank to analyze. The Realtor on the bank side didn't mention a single thing about other offers, which leads our Realtor and us to believe there are no other offers. We expect to hear an answer tomorrow! This could be one heck of a Christmas gift.

[MrBug708]

Garden Grove? Sublime Green!

[DanGarion]

Originally Posted by MrBug708

Garden Grove? Sublime Green!

Orange! , my wife is from GG, and I'm from Stanton, but we love Orange.

[Flasch186]

I just sent an order of Mr. Brewman's to Garden Grove! Was that you?

[DanGarion]

Originally Posted by Flasch186

I just sent an order of Mr. Brewman's to Garden Grove! Was that you?

No you sent me tea 2 months ago. Right now we live in Santa Ana.

[DanGarion]

So... hadn't heard from our Realtor all day and both myself and the wife were getting antsy, so I called him. He first jokes around with me asking me if I'm still interested in the house (our Realtor is a really nice guy, but his jokes are corny) and I say yes of course, and he goes on to say, well then I think I have good news for you. The Realtor for the bank verbally confirmed that the bank has accepted our offer, they are both amazed that the bank went down 20k on a first offer but they have appeared to succumb to our will! Anyway the banks Realtor says he's been trying to send our Realtor the info and he should have it, but our Realtor still hasn't got anything. Their Realtor also once again says that they are getting another offer, in fact they are supposed to be getting one in tonight... Anyway not official, but very close to it.

[Neuqua]

Good luck Dan!

[SteveMax58]

Good luck Dan...sounds like it should turn out fine. These things always take longer than you want them to.

As a side...I thought about posting a parody thread titled "We got an offer on our house!"...but alas I'm too lazy...and dont want to jinx my real offer.

[JeeberD]

Best of luck with this!

[Swaggs]

Hope it works out for you guys.

[DanGarion]

It's official! We went to the Realtor and signed the accepted offer sheet! If all things work out we should be getting the keys to our new house on Dec. 30th!

[Chief Rum]

Awesome! Congratulations!

[JeeberD]

Congrats, Dan! The feeling of putting the key in your new home for the first time is simply awesome...

[PilotMan]

Originally Posted by DanGarion

It's official! We went to the Realtor and signed the accepted offer sheet! If all things work out we should be getting the keys to our new house on Dec. 30th!

That is great news. Now prepare for some stress. In dealing with the bank on our forclosure it took about 45 days to close. Even with all the hard language from the bank about the 30 day deadline in the paperwork, the didn't even try and meet it. We could have closed very early, but it seemed like there were so many people who weren't even trying. Needless to say, we eventually got to the point were it had lost some of its enjoyment.

Moving into the new house was more relief that it was over than excitement.

[DanGarion]

Originally Posted by PilotMan

That is great news. Now prepare for some stress. In dealing with the bank on our forclosure it took about 45 days to close. Even with all the hard language from the bank about the 30 day deadline in the paperwork, the didn't even try and meet it. We could have closed very early, but it seemed like there were so many people who weren't even trying. Needless to say, we eventually got to the point were it had lost some of its enjoyment.

Moving into the new house was more relief that it was over than excitement.

Fun, here they make us jump through hoops and have to do everything for the contingency within 10 days and they might drag their feet! WHOO! They are the ones that want to close on the 30th, let's hope it stays that way.

[Dr. Sak]

Originally Posted by DanGarion

It's official! We went to the Realtor and signed the accepted offer sheet! If all things work out we should be getting the keys to our new house on Dec. 30th!

Congrats Dan!!

[hoopsguy]

Congrats on the new place - good to see that you were able to move the bank and that you called their bluff.

[terpkristin]

Congrats, Dan!
I'm betting you guys will be unpacked before me...I settled on 9/9 and moved on 9/11 but my guest room is still full of boxes (mostly of books, things I'm being very lazy about unpacking).

/tk