House Hunters- Part II

If you missed part I of this post, you can read it here.

House Hunting is nothing like what you see on TV.  So far, we haven’t encountered any rooms with black wall paper, but we have run into three things (so far), that never happens on house hunting TV shows.

1.  When a house has a For Sale sign in the yard, it is listed on the on-line and realtor listings, and there are open houses, one can only assume the house really is for sale-right?  Wrong.  

The first house we made an offer on, after it was all said and done, we found out that the sellers aren’t interested in moving, and they don’t have to move.  We are only left to wonder why in the world they put their house on the market then, if they don’t want to sell it. 

I can hear  Suzanne Whong now…“Unfortunately, the first house the family made an offer on, the sellers are crazy, and have no intention of selling their house. They just like to waste people’s time, so the family has to keep looking.”

2.  No matter how much you think you are on top of the listings, there is at least one house that will get away from you, and be under contract before you can get your offer in- even in a “buyer’s market.”

I had seen a house in a newer subdivision for about a month now in the listings.  It was a short sale, meaning the bank agreed to sell it for less than the amount of the mortgage owed on it.  I guess this is one step before a foreclosure.  The house had never been lived in.  It was gorgeous.  Everything brand new, granite counter-tops in a HUGE kitchen, a sunken bathtub in the master bath, one extra bedroom than what we were looking for, a three car garage, and a decent sized yard.

The best part it was priced about 60k less than what it sold for new.  It was an incredible deal, and the price was in our price range.  I don’t know why in the world it just didn’t “click” with me, for us to look at this house when I saw the listing.  We were focusing on houses in another subdivision, and we were in the middle of the offer with the people who really aren’t selling their house. 

Last week when it finally occurred to me that this was a great house for us, and that was confirmed by doing a “drive-by,” I called our realtor to set up a showing.  He told me this house hadn’t come up in his search for us, because- we asked for at least a quarter acre lot- a .25 lot.  He said this one was a .22 acre lot.  I just laughed, that was close enough, but then the bad news.  He said it went under contract the week before.  We were one week too late!

Says Suzanne, “Because Heather suffers from Mommy Alzheimer’s  the family wasn’t quick enough to get to this house before it was snapped up by someone who is on the ball.  This would have been a terrific house for the family- just what they were looking for.  Now the family is back to square one.” 

3. Because the entire process is not fun and frustrating, you will be faced with a lot of decisions that you never considered.

We looked at another house this past weekend, and decided it is something we will keep in mind, but we aren’t going to make an offer on it (I’ll never say never, but no offer on it at least for the time being.) 

The house needs a lot of TLC, but the major problem for us, is the kitchen is tiny.  Joe and I could barely fit in it.  It would have to be remodeled, but there is a wall, and we would have to make sure it isn’t a structural wall.  There were a lot of other projects that would have to be done too. 

We were considering it, but then realized we don’t really want to do all that work- we want to spend time with our boys while they are young.  Not spend the next five years on home improvement projects every weekend.  We didn’t even really like the layout of the house that much.  We could probably get this house at a rock-bottom price, but we just aren’t excited about it, and doubt this is the house we are looking for.

To widen our horizons so-to-speak, we are now considering looking at a town about 15 minutes away from us.  It is a lot smaller town than where we live now.  There are several houses in this town, that are what we want size and price wise, but we just aren’t sure we want to move to this town. 

Now we are debating the pros and cons of moving to this town before we set up any showings.  We know there are houses there, but the questions we are now facing are, where do we want to live, and do we keep waiting for something to open up in a neighborhood we like and had decided on, or do we move now, even if it isn’t to a place we really ever thought about living in, but has what we want?

“The family has some hard decisions to make, and all they know at this point, is they don’t know what they will end up deciding.”  Suzanne says. 

You can say that again, Suzanne Whong. I’m sure there will be a House Hunters Part III- stay tuned.