boy. the stuff that can happen in just one week!

after we decided we weren't backing down, i started to have doubts about whether we had made the right decision. i'm sure part of it had something to do with the fact that i wanted the house even more, now that i couldn't have it. but after we started hunting for houses again, it became clear that this house had all the things we needed in a house, and was cheaper than other houses that were on the market with the same specs.

over the weekend, i called poyu and told her that cavin and i were going to send her a list of new prospective houses we wanted to see. i also expressed my doubts about the house we just backed out of. because i brought it up, she then proceeded to tell me that the other agent called her a few days before, saying that maybe we could still work through this, because she thought ours was a good offer.

this brought light to the situation: was it possible that the seller realized his mistakes only one week later? both cavin and my mom knew that the seller was going to come back to us, but thought that it wouldn't happen so quickly.

the skinny: the seller got the integral plumbing work done. monday we made a new offer, and the seller chose our offer over the other three that were on the table. we are getting the warranty for the plumbing work transferred over to us. settlement date is still july 31, unless the seller and us agree on a date sooner (this will be highly dependent on whether the seller buys a new house sooner than later).

we will probably have a detox party before year's end so get your drinking / dancing shoes on!

Labels: event, manayunk, philly

the ordeal is over. one week later, and we have decided not to go through with the agreement of sale.

our reasons for backing out:
1. we did not get the $ credit (for the inspection) that we wanted. the seller decided that he would only offer us 3/4 of the cost to get integral plumbing done. it's not like we were trying to rip him off. we just didn't want to have to pay for something that he should be vested to fix himself, since it's still his house and he would be living there until the end of july.

2. we felt that we were making all the compromises (late settlement date; 10-day inspection period; no credit for the AC unit as was listed on the agents' listing sheet; having to get all of the plumbing work done on our own time after settlement, etc), and he wasn't giving us anything in return.

3. we did not appreciate the seller making comments, through his agent to poyu to us, that there were a lot of buyers out there that he could sell his house to. basically, threatening us that if we didn't accept his "firm" inspection contingency counter-offer, that it would be fairly easy to get the price he wanted (or more) for his house from other prospective buyers. i think there was a moment where we almost took his counter-offer credit, but when poyu informed us that the seller/seller's agent consistently bragged about how there were other buyers in the market that would pay more than what we were offering for the house, we were immediately turned off. it didn't feel professional because at that point, the seller was still committed to us and if our offer was not "acceptable" to him, then why did he accept it in the first place?

it's sad. i purposely distanced myself emotionally from the house itself, so i'm basically over not getting this particular house. though, i am sad that we spent much time and effort to buy our first home and we got stuck with an asshole seller that seemed concerned only about getting his wants, was not willing to compromise, and tried to take advantage of us as first time home buyers.

but even after yesterday's disappointment, i'm realizing it was the right decision, and we are just going to take it as a learning experience (though, i already knew that there are lots of assholes in the world). so i guess we're still waiting for our house to find us...

Labels: event, manayunk, philly

ever since my emotions jumped off my sleeve and i went bezerk when my mom was pestering me (see?) about my stomach issues, cavin and i have started the house hunt.

all i ever hear is, "it's a buyer's market! it's a buyer's market!" which i guess is fine and dandy in candyland, but it seems that everyone else has been hearing it's a buyer's market too. in my mind this translates into a lot of other people looking to buy themselves a purty home to live in, which basically equals: me getting my panties in a bunch. it's been pretty competitive out there - houses on the market for less than 2 weeks getting snatched up before i've even gotten my foot in the door to see it...but then again, what do i know?

for the past month or two, our awesome agent, poyu, has been showing us houses we've been interested in in mt airy and chestnut hill. after deciding that all of the houses had the same crappy layout, or had a concrete box for a backyard, and also after our almost near purchase of the wrong house for us, we took a two week break. (plus, pv and cb became canadians so we were busy with seeing them off.)

after two weeks, we extended our search to the 'yunk. this past thursday we saw a house we liked and decided (for real) to make an offer. being the nosy selves we are, we noticed in the seller's kitchen, written on a calendar that he (and the gfriend) were going on vacation, and that they had some appointments lined up as well as an open house when they got back from vacay in a week. knowing that the odds would be against us if we waited to make an offer when they came back from their trip, we made an offer. it was a very stressful time trying to decide what to offer, because we found out that the seller didn't want to entertain / negotiate an offer since they were leaving on vacation in just two days, and also because he knew that the house was going tbe shown 12 times in the next few days and that would give him a better chance to get his asking price. our only hint was that he said that he would consider an offer before his trip, if it was a "good offer". (close to his asking price and with a later settlement date.)

what constitues "good"? who the hell knows. cavin and i put down on the table a "good offer" (in fact, the figure we came up with was a number that we thought he would like, and wouldn't have to negotiate - because remember, he said he didn't want to negotiate because he was going on vacation!) with a july 2 settlement date. we compromised because ideally we would have liked to be out of rudy and vicky's by spring, and july - well, that's summer, man!

well, being a jerk, of course the seller counter-offered, increasing the price, asking for only a 10 day inspection period (as opposed to a 15 day one) and a july 31 settlement date. woah. after discussion with cavin, we caved in to the inspection time and settlement date, but did not budge on the price. and he accepted. woo-hoo!

we're in the process of getting the house inspected and some things are coming up (it's an 88 yr old house - it's to be expected), and i'm not so sure the seller is going to like what our inspector is finding (btw. if anyone reading this needs a PA inspector, i can give you his name - he is very thorough and is very good at explaining things that a person like myself doesn't quite understand). but screw the seller! there's other things that have been going on that lead us to believe that he's a complete asshole after we've been very accommodating to his requests.

stayed tuned for more drama. i'll update more as i get deeper and deeper in the seedy business of buying a first home!

oh, and he doesn't want us to nickel and dime him on the inspection? yeah, we'll see about that, buddy...

Labels: event, manayunk, philly