And now we need your help.
We love a lot of things about our house, but it also needs some updates and repair. We want to tap into the knowledge of all our friends and family who are already experienced homeowners. Through the power of the internet we hope to gather advice and insight as we encounter the challenges of homeownership!
We've named our blog after the year our house was built - 1961. It was an "upside-down" year, since it looks the same whether you read it upside-down or rightside-up. And now our upside-down year house is going to turn our lives inside out for a while as we work through our first projects. We hope you'll stick with us for the ride!
Sunday, May 9, 2010
The contenders
We thought we'd give you a little background on the house hunt that lead us to our new home. It was a whirlwind ride! We'd window-shopped on the internet for a while but started seriously looking in January. We had a long list of criteria - we wanted a house with enough room for all our hobbies, good light, a garage, no oil heat, and no major structural issues. Although we were willing to look in many neighborhoods, we thought it would be nice to stay close to our Ballard haunts. And of course, it needed to be dachshund-friendly and have a fenced yard for the cat to enjoy!
Our approach was to look at as many as we could, since each house we visited helped us narrow down what we liked and didn't like. We went to at least 30 open houses and toured about 15 more with our realtor. Very early in the search we saw a solid but dated 1960s home in Broadview that had everything we wanted, but we hadn't been looking for long, and we decided to wait and look some more. Shortly afterward the house was under contract, so we crossed it off our list.
After a few more weeks of looking, we put our first offer on this house on the edge of the Haller Lake neighborhood:
The house didn't have a garage, but it had a soundproofed music room in the basement! It was also tastefully updated and located on a very private hill lot (only one neighbor!). We knew there were a few other interested bidders, so made our strongest offer and crossed our fingers. Turns out we underestimated the market - and had our first experience with an escalation clause. The winning bid came in $22,000 above the asking price! So we kept looking.
Shortly afterward we were excited to see this house listed in Ballard. We couldn't believe that the asking price was in our range! We submitted our offer the same day the house went on the market. This was our second experience with an escalation clause. This time the winning bid came in $70,000 above the asking price. We were competing with a lot of other first-time home buyers looking for the same things we were. In our price range it was not as much of a buyer's market as we hoped it would be!
About the same time we stopped at another open house and the hosting realtor recognized us! (We hope we were memorable for good reasons.) He was also the listing agent for the 1960s home we had seen in Broadview. He told us that the original deal had just fallen apart and the house was back on the market.
We went back to the house with a lot more knowledge about houses and understanding of the market. We walked through it again, thinking about all our criteria, and decided to make an offer. Finally, we were the winning bid! Our lenders and realtors worked together and got us a 30-day close. Amazing!
This never could have happened without the support of my parents and my realtor, Michael Schrepfer. Thanks guys!
Our approach was to look at as many as we could, since each house we visited helped us narrow down what we liked and didn't like. We went to at least 30 open houses and toured about 15 more with our realtor. Very early in the search we saw a solid but dated 1960s home in Broadview that had everything we wanted, but we hadn't been looking for long, and we decided to wait and look some more. Shortly afterward the house was under contract, so we crossed it off our list.
After a few more weeks of looking, we put our first offer on this house on the edge of the Haller Lake neighborhood:
The house didn't have a garage, but it had a soundproofed music room in the basement! It was also tastefully updated and located on a very private hill lot (only one neighbor!). We knew there were a few other interested bidders, so made our strongest offer and crossed our fingers. Turns out we underestimated the market - and had our first experience with an escalation clause. The winning bid came in $22,000 above the asking price! So we kept looking.
Shortly afterward we were excited to see this house listed in Ballard. We couldn't believe that the asking price was in our range! We submitted our offer the same day the house went on the market. This was our second experience with an escalation clause. This time the winning bid came in $70,000 above the asking price. We were competing with a lot of other first-time home buyers looking for the same things we were. In our price range it was not as much of a buyer's market as we hoped it would be!About the same time we stopped at another open house and the hosting realtor recognized us! (We hope we were memorable for good reasons.) He was also the listing agent for the 1960s home we had seen in Broadview. He told us that the original deal had just fallen apart and the house was back on the market.
We went back to the house with a lot more knowledge about houses and understanding of the market. We walked through it again, thinking about all our criteria, and decided to make an offer. Finally, we were the winning bid! Our lenders and realtors worked together and got us a 30-day close. Amazing!
This never could have happened without the support of my parents and my realtor, Michael Schrepfer. Thanks guys!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)