Home buying, putting our offer in and negotiating.

01/06/2013

Our dream of home ownership looks like it is coming true. We have a pre approval for a loan, we have found and put an offer in on a house and we will hear back from them in an hour and a half officially! Our agent has already heard back and the listing agent told her they are doing a counteroffer.

When searching for a home we put safety and schools as the top criteria, price as well, being young and having a smaller budget. I am pretty frugal, I wanted our monthly mortgage payment (including taxes and insurance) to be around our monthly rent payment or lower. I wanted a fixer upper, nothing too bad but I am more than willing to tackle a house that needs some cosmetic work... and that is exactly what we found and are placing an offer on.

The house is a one owner, built in 1975, with three bedrooms and two baths. It has 1,523 sq ft, a two car garage and a unfinished sunroom (it isn't heated or drywalled). The house has had functional updating done but not so much any cosmetic updates. It still has 1970's wallpaper in some rooms, wood paneling, popcorn ceilings, some strange flooring in some rooms, even a orange counter!

We made our first offer yesterday morning with a deadline for of a response by four today. The list price on the property was $89,000, already below the comps and well below the median for the town. They also were including the stove, fridge, washer, dryer, and oven in the list price. We offered $85,500 and asked $3,600 in closing costs, for them to pay for a survey and a one year warranty, oh and asked them for a stand up freezer.


They just countered back. They accepted all the terms but the survey, warranty, and freezer. We are saving $6,700 off the list. ALWAYS NEGOTIATE! The house was already priced to move, below market value, and we are getting it even lower. It is helpful to know how motivated the sellers are and information about them as well.

We are planning on accepting their counter, I have already started planning out my renovation projects! DIY here we come!