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There's really no point to this post other than that I feel like venting a little bit. As much as I tell my myself to not feel emotional about houses, it's TOUGH to not feel that way! I tried to keep my expectations in line and kept reminding myself that there was a chance that things wouldn't work out, but of course when things didn't work out, I'm left feeling very upset. (yes, 'first world' problems, I know.)
I am casually looking for a new house. I currently live in a townhouse in a desirable part of town, but I'm looking to move to one of the suburbs on the west side of Denver, Colorado, to be closer to the foothills. The market is hot here and I happened to find a place that I absolutely loved. I didn't waste time -- I contacted my realtor, talked to my lender, and made an offer two days after seeing the house in person, and I guess I just happened to be a day too late.
Fast-forward to yesterday, which was the day that the sellers were supposed to either accept, reject, or counter my offer. The sellers are allegedly traveling overseas and are "hard to get in touch with", but I received news yesterday that an offer for $22K OVER the asking price came in and the sellers decided to go with that one. They didn't give me a chance to 'top' the other offer (not that I would have; $22K over the asking price is insane for this particular house and neighborhood), but just said "sorry" and that they would contact my realtor if things didn't work out with the offer they accepted.
Which, of course, is fine. They didn't do anything wrong. I understand that as sellers, they want as much money as they can get for the house.
In terms of my offer, it was near asking price, just a little less (i.e. about $8K less), but it was based on comps and I wasn't trying to lowball. My realtor and I felt like the offer was strong and my offer was not contingent on the sale of my current home and I didn't ask for anything special or out of the ordinary. We also knew that the sellers wanted a 30-day close, so we wrote that into the timeline. My realtor didn't feel like the house was priced low in order to generate interest. It had sat on the market for nearly two months prior to receiving an offer. When my realtor contacted the listing agent to present my offer, the listing agent mentioned nothing about another offer, so things were looking good. At the very least, I figured the sellers would counter. BUT OF COURSE there was this random, surprise offer. It seems slightly fishy -- other homes in the area aren't going for this much -- but I have no idea why the sellers and their listing agent would lie about any of this.
So, I feel bummed. OF COURSE it's not the end of the world, but it's just hard to NOT feel disappointed and right now it's hard to 'keep looking' as well, as this house had a distinct look and feel to it that isn't common in this area. There's always the chance that this house could fall out of contract, so we'll see, but I still feel upset. And I hate that I feel this way because I really, really tried to not become emotionally invested. But I did.
For most people buying a home is an emotional process. At the end of the day you are going to walk into your home and feel at home or not. Not every place will feel good to you. It is what it is. What you do need to know is that it always works out in the end.
My favorite upset buyers were looking for an old house close to downtown. They had to take a break from looking. During that break I stumbled across a home that wasn't on the market yet, but would be soon. I negotiated a deal FSBO for my buyers. It was the BEST home and checked every single one of their boxes.
I've never had it not work out for my buyers as long as they hang in there.
Yeah, I will hang in there. It's just hard to keep looking right now, because I'm comparing every other house I see to the one that I'm (likely not) going to live in, so I may actually take a break. There's always the chance that it will fall out of contract, but I certainly won't hold my breath.
Luckily, I like the townhouse that I currently own, however, it will never have an extra bedroom and it will never have a large yard, and it will never be close to the foothills, hence why I want to move. It's a nice house and it's not like i NEED to move RIGHT NOW, so at least it's not like I'm in a position where I'm desperate and need to find a house NOW.
For what it's worth, my current townhouse was a short sale that took about 8 months (!) the process involved a lot of emotional ups and downs, but can say that I'm persistent when I find the right house!
I think it's impossible not to get emotionally involved whether you're buying or selling. It's a crazy process.
I live in a hot market also where most homes in a certain range sell by word of mouth. The "shadow market" is very much alive here, and lots of houses have multiple offers on day 1.
My experience has taught me that you cannot "casually" look for a house in a hot market.
You have to be absolutely ready to pounce ASAP. No contingencies, no delays, cash if possible.
Study the market well in advance so you can recognize potential flaws or red flags and can recognize a good deal when you see it.
There's really no point to this post other than that I feel like venting a little bit. As much as I tell my myself to not feel emotional about houses, it's TOUGH to not feel that way! I tried to keep my expectations in line and kept reminding myself that there was a chance that things wouldn't work out, but of course when things didn't work out, I'm left feeling very upset. (yes, 'first world' problems, I know.)
I am casually looking for a new house. I currently live in a townhouse in a desirable part of town, but I'm looking to move to one of the suburbs on the west side of Denver, Colorado, to be closer to the foothills. The market is hot here and I happened to find a place that I absolutely loved. I didn't waste time -- I contacted my realtor, talked to my lender, and made an offer two days after seeing the house in person, and I guess I just happened to be a day too late.
Fast-forward to yesterday, which was the day that the sellers were supposed to either accept, reject, or counter my offer. The sellers are allegedly traveling overseas and are "hard to get in touch with", but I received news yesterday that an offer for $22K OVER the asking price came in and the sellers decided to go with that one. They didn't give me a chance to 'top' the other offer (not that I would have; $22K over the asking price is insane for this particular house and neighborhood), but just said "sorry" and that they would contact my realtor if things didn't work out with the offer they accepted.
Which, of course, is fine. They didn't do anything wrong. I understand that as sellers, they want as much money as they can get for the house.
In terms of my offer, it was near asking price, just a little less (i.e. about $8K less), but it was based on comps and I wasn't trying to lowball. My realtor and I felt like the offer was strong and my offer was not contingent on the sale of my current home and I didn't ask for anything special or out of the ordinary. We also knew that the sellers wanted a 30-day close, so we wrote that into the timeline. My realtor didn't feel like the house was priced low in order to generate interest. It had sat on the market for nearly two months prior to receiving an offer. When my realtor contacted the listing agent to present my offer, the listing agent mentioned nothing about another offer, so things were looking good. At the very least, I figured the sellers would counter. BUT OF COURSE there was this random, surprise offer. It seems slightly fishy -- other homes in the area aren't going for this much -- but I have no idea why the sellers and their listing agent would lie about any of this.
So, I feel bummed. OF COURSE it's not the end of the world, but it's just hard to NOT feel disappointed and right now it's hard to 'keep looking' as well, as this house had a distinct look and feel to it that isn't common in this area. There's always the chance that this house could fall out of contract, so we'll see, but I still feel upset. And I hate that I feel this way because I really, really tried to not become emotionally invested. But I did.
I sympathize because I'm also having issues finding the right house. There was one that I thought would've been perfect that I didn't get a chance to make an offer on because I wasn't actively looking at the time, but then I found out that house had a dealbreaker issue so it's probably better that I didn't get it. I later found out the same thing about a few other houses that I thought would've been great. I've been looking off and on for about three years now, so I feel like I have a pretty good idea of what I want, but just yesterday, I thought of yet another dealbreaker that I hadn't been considering the whole time I've been looking and now I'm just glad that I didn't buy certain houses in the past that I thought I would've liked. There's one particular street that I'm interested in, but nobody ever seems to sell their houses on that street (I guess they're happy living there), so if one of those houses went on the market and someone outbid me, I'd feel bad too. The upside is that I don't NEED to buy a house right this second, so like someone else said, it just gives me more time to save up money (and think about more dealbreakers) and wait for the right house. I know the search can be frustrating, but hopefully you will get a shot at another house that you'll like just as much, if not more!
i had been looking for 5 months, put in 4 offers and lost to all cash offers, $50K over the asking price, etc. very stressful. but we finally bought a house last month! can't wait to move in. it was FAR more stressful than i thought it'd be and i hated losing out on the houses we bid on. but it's a process and i think the house we got is the best one for us!
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Patience. grasshopper
