I've learned that actual house hunting is NOTHING like HGTV, where they always have 3 nice options, choose 1, and always get whichever house they choose. In real life, there are hardly any options, unless you have a huge budget. When you find one you actually like there are 500 other people who also like it. If you put an offer on that place there are at least 10 other offers on it. Chances are your offer, even if it's several thousand dollars over the asking price, isn't going to be good enough. So the chances of actually getting the place you want are basically slim-to-none.
We started house "browsing" back in October, because we knew the process could take a long time. We interviewed a couple of real estate agents and found one we really like. We got familiar with the MLS system and checked listings a few times a week. We'd get emails of new listings in our price range and called our agent if anything stood out. We actually put a couple casual offers down but never pursued them.
Our goal when we moved out of our apartment and into my parents' house was to pay off all of our school loans and save for a down payment. We knew we needed months to really make head-way on that goal. November, December, and January passed, and we basically stopped "really" looking. Mike worked (and is still working) a ton of overtime, I taught a daily ballet class, and we made some great progress. We also ended up selling our small Honda Civic to upgrade to a 2002 Honda Odyssey (my back wasn't doing well putting Curtis in and out of a little sedan, and baby #2 is coming soon). We paid off the remaining balance on the van and got back to school loan mode. During those months we put a lot of thought into what area we'd like to live, taking into account Mike will be switching job locations sometime in the next little while. We'd drive around different areas, and still looked at some homes in different cities. Never really finding anything we liked.
We finally decided that we'd like to live in either Murray or Lehi. Murray because it is closer to SLC, and has some nice, inexpensive areas, and Lehi because it's still in Utah County, but is also a growing area for investments. I would also have more teaching options in Utah County. And both of us like Utah County much better than Salt Lake County. We also decided during that time that we'd like a townhouse or condo. I have honestly always been against buying shared walls, because if you're going to buy, why not buy your own house? But after looking at the houses in our price range and realizing that we aren't looking for our "forever" house, it just made more sense to search for a townhouse. With Mike working so much now and hoping to "climb the ladder" over the next 5 years, I'm not sure we'd really want a whole house and full yard to take care of. Plus we like the idea of possibly being able to keep it forever as a paid-off rental property.
Last month we found a townhouse for sale in Murray and immediately put an offer on it because the price was amazing and we knew the area. I also have a friend who lived there and loved it. The location was great, the price was great, it was really nice for the price, but it just didn't feel like home and we would have felt cramped from the start (and the HOA was super high). They accepted our offer but we decided to pull out.
A few weeks passed and one morning I noticed a new listing for a Lehi townhouse in a complex we had previously fallen in love with. I have another friend who lived in these homes and she had a great experience there. The townhouse was a HUD property, so we had a week to put in a bid. The whole thing felt really good, and we were almost certain we'd get it as we put in a very competitive offer. We felt really peaceful that things would work out like they should. However, while this place was a great price, it wasn't the "bargain" we were looking for. It would have stretched our finances more than we would have liked, and, while we could have made it, we just didn't want to be completely strapped down by a mortgage. I would have had to work for us to really make it, rather than because I want to, or because it would help us get ahead.
We lost the bid. I found the results and saw we were outbid by only about $1,000. We had been seriously praying that things would work out as they should, and that we would end up where we need to be.
And this is where it gets interesting. So, the Friday of the bid results (March 8th), I found another listing for a Lehi townhouse that was back on the market. I had seen it listed before but it always had an offer on it. The place was a short sale, which some of you know can make for a very long buying process. However, this place 's price was previously approved by the bank which (usually) means it won't take as long to get bank approval. And the price was amazing--definitely the "bargain" we were wanting. The place is big; 2000 square feet, a very decent sized yard, 3 good sized bedrooms, a large kitchen, 1 1/2 baths, a separate laundry room, and a large basement.
Before we had even found out we lost the bid on the first place, I called our agent and asked if we could go see this other place asap. He called back, first letting us know we'd lost the bid, but then said he'd already talked to the listing agent on this other place and that it had just gone back on the market that morning and there were currently no offers. He said it was an amazing deal and we should jump on it if we were serious about it. Ah! Start running!
Mike took his lunch break and we met out there at noon. We walked through the place and fell in love with it. Mind you, it definitely needed work, but neither of us are afraid of getting our hands dirty, and fixing it up excited us almost more than anything. There were people looking at it when we got there, and 3 other groups pulled up right as we were leaving. Talk about pressure! We finished the tour, talked about it, drove Mike back to work, and called our agent to tell him we wanted to submit an offer. He got it ready, I went to the office that afternoon and signed everything, and he said he'd keep us posted.
Saturday was the longest day ever.
Sunday afternoon Mike and I were going crazy wondering if we needed to raise our offer, so we texted our agent asking if we should adjust anything. He called back and told us we could stop worrying because they accepted our offer! Yay!!! Monday morning we signed the preliminary contract that would be sent to the bank for approval before we could proceed (short sale process).
That week we took good pictures of the place and spent the week getting more familiar with the area, making sure we really felt good about the location, the neighborhood, etc. We had a few doubtful moments, but overall felt really peaceful.
Then comes drama...that Thursday (3/14) our agent calls and says that they received a cash offer for $4000 more than ours. Not sure how they were allowed to do that since we'd signed on it already, but apparently there was a clause in the contract (typical for short sales) that lets them continue to look for and receive offers. And on top of that they hadn't even submitted our offer to the bank yet. Frustrating! Luckily we have an awesome agent who had put an addendum in our contract that said we would pay $500 more than the highest offer, up to a certain point. So, the sellers said we could still have it if we would agree to pay $4500 more. We agreed and signed another "contract" with the adjusted price. Phew! Cash offers always win!
The next morning (March 15th) the sellers' agent sent everything to the bank, finally, and actually heard back in a couple hours! Ironically the bank wanted us to lower our offer to make sure the appraisal didn't come in lower than the offer. Otherwise we'd have to start the process again. So we ended up re-adjusting our offer back down by $3500. We obviously weren't complaining, but it was just annoying going back and forth so many times. After the final offer contract was signed it got sent off to the bank, and we expected to wait another 2-3 weeks for the bank to process everything.
Well, we probably set a new record and received bank approval THAT SAME DAY! Seriously this is unheard of with short sales. Most short sale listings will stay "in review" for several months and some of them longer than that before a bank will approve the short sale. With the "previously approved price" we expected it would be sooner than that, but there was still no guarantee. One day! Amazing!
The timing could not be more perfect! If all goes well (prayers please!) with our inspection, loan processing, and appraisal, we will have the place in ONE MONTH! Baby Kitto is due May 30th, which means we'd have about 6 weeks to deep clean, get new floors installed, paint, and do a few more necessary fix-ups before baby comes. It's definitely cutting it close, but it is 100% possible. This is a definite answer to my prayers about wanting a place of our own before we have the baby. Mike also finishes most of his overtime around April 15th, which is almost the exact day we'll get the keys. He'll have much more free time to help get things ready.
And that's where we are! We'll have the inspection next week and are praying hard that there isn't anything extremely expensive or urgent that would need to be fixed. If there is we will probably have to walk away. If all goes well with the inspection we'll get the appraisal (and hope it doesn't come in too low or we have to renegotiate with the bank). After that we'd just have final details and closing settlement to do.
If nothing else, even if something happens and we don't get the place, I've learned a lot in the process. I feel so much more knowledgeable and informed about buying real estate, and I know that if this isn't truly the place for us that we'll find something else eventually.
A few pictures!
If you really want to see more pics you can find them
(there are pictures of the good, the bad, and the ugly!)
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