Just made our first offer on a house! (Raleigh, Morrisville: real estate, apartments)

[NewUser]

We've been looking for 6 months, and we finally found a house that both my wife and I could live with. Not perfect, but pretty close.

We think that our offer was fairly good ($137.5/sq ft) considering the comps in the neighborhood ranged from $131/sq ft to $142/sq ft (average of $135 sq ft), but the owners were asking $145/sq ft. Not sure where their realtor came up with that figure, considering the house had no noticeable upgrades over others in the neighborhood.

I just hope that one of those California or NY familes, loaded with cash from selling their previous home, don't outbid us.

[Lizardlips]

Originally Posted by NewUser

We've been looking for 6 months, and we finally found a house that both my wife and I could live with. Not perfect, but pretty close.

We think that our offer was fairly good ($137.5/sq ft) considering the comps in the neighborhood ranged from $131/sq ft to $142/sq ft (average of $135 sq ft), but the owners were asking $145/sq ft. Not sure where their realtor came up with that figure, considering the house had no noticeable upgrades over others in the neighborhood.

I just hope that one of those California or NY familes, loaded with cash from selling their previous home, don't outbid us.

Where are you living now?? I hope you get the house.

[NewUser]

We're in an apartment in Morrisville. We didn't think we'd be one of those families that could come here on a weekend and buy a house without first getting to know the area, so we rented an apartment for 6 months. We just renewed our lease.

[NCHomeFinder]

Congratulations, NewUser! We're pulling for you!

[marymel]

Congratulations. We're about to start the process, so I'll pick your brain if you don't mind.

Do you/did you meet anyone else going through the same thing? I think I would want to take my time looking, as well. Did you buy new construction or what age of home did you choose?
Was your rent significantly higher than your current mortgage, same, or less? Did you have a storage unit?
Did you already have a job when you signed your lease?

Sorry for all the questions! Most everyone who posts here is full of useful information and are very helpful, so I assume you're "one of THOSE".
Thanks in advance.

Originally Posted by NewUser

We've been looking for 6 months, and we finally found a house that both my wife and I could live with. Not perfect, but pretty close.

We think that our offer was fairly good ($137.5/sq ft) considering the comps in the neighborhood ranged from $131/sq ft to $142/sq ft (average of $135 sq ft), but the owners were asking $145/sq ft. Not sure where their realtor came up with that figure, considering the house had no noticeable upgrades over others in the neighborhood.

I just hope that one of those California or NY familes, loaded with cash from selling their previous home, don't outbid us.

[North_Raleigh_Guy]

Good Luck NewUser! We closed on our first home back in September so I know what it is like to make that first offer! When do you expect to hear back from them? Our agent always had us put a 24 hour limit on our offers so we heard back from the sellers fairly quickly and didn't leave a whole lot of time for other people to come in and make a better offer. Truth be told though, the offer we did make was very fair and there were only minor negotiations between us and the seller and everything went great! Good luck to you and let us all know how it turns out!

[NewUser]

Wow. Lots of responses already.

To marymel's questions: We've been considering new construction as well as "fairly new" (<10 years old). Unfortunately, many of the newer subdivisions close to RTP had very small yards (< 1/3 acre) or were out of our budget. The newer subdivisions with larger lots in our price-range seemed to be farther away from RTP than I wanted to drive (30 min max). The house that we bid on today is 7 years old and is on 3/4 acre.

Our rent was higher than our previous mortgage payment, but once you factor in real estate taxes, HO insurance, HOA fees, and utilities, there was no comparison. Rent was WAY cheaper. Maybe close to half as expensive. We found an apartment with a garage, so all of our stuff is packed in the garage from floor to ceiling.

I already had a job when I signed the lease. We were living in Texas at the time and did our apartment hunting via the web. I had a friend living in Raleigh, and he volunteered to check places out. Sometimes the actual apartments aren't as nice as the pictures lead you to believe.

To North Raleigh Guy's questions: Our agent expects to hear back from the sellers on Monday. As we were turning our offer in, the seller's agent informed us that he received word of another offer coming in today too. Damn! Not the best situation to be in.

[marymel]

Thanks for answering my questions. Good luck with the move, and congratulations again!

[CAKD]

How exciting and good luck to you! Oh and just so you know this CA family lost two homes to quicker draws and higher bids when we moved out here. It happens to the best of us and in my mind there is always a reason. We recently drove back to one of the homes we didn't get. They had plowed down all the trees behind it and built MCMansions. It was awful and we were so thankful we didn't get it! We just kept saying as we drove by "what would we have done? what would we have done" Just remember if it is meant to be it will happen!

[NewUser]

Well, we didn't get the house. They came down $5K and we came up $5K but there was still a large expanse in between. We left the offer open, so hopefully they'll come back later and reconsider.