Don't you hate it when you find the perfect house and it's too much money??

[NewToCA]

Originally Posted by CityGirl72

oh yes there are MANY - and I have complied quite a list just awaiting my arrival

but THE house (which is 4 bed 3 bath 2600sqft) is just out of reach

Yeah, that is a bit tougher. My search shows Roseville with 32 that meet the criteria (2500 square ft though) and 8 in Rocklin. However, Lincoln is showing 50 if you are willing to add a few miles from downtown.

Elk Grove has 176, but I think you would eliminate that from consideration.

[Guevera]

I'm moving in too my little piece of foreclosed suburban paradise right now... finally... and it's a TON of work to find and close the deal on the right house right now. Banks are terrible to work with and there's a lot of investor money chasing the best deals.

What worked for me -- when you find the one you want, be quick. The house we finally got was listed Thursday. We had offer ready Friday afternoon.

And as for the OP, yeah, I LOVE my new home, but there's a house near Southside park that really had my name on it and I just couldn't do it

[CityGirl72]

The job I'm interviewing for this week is in Rocklin so Lincoln is a consideration - I have a few houses in Lincoln that have been on my list for a while

[DMenscha]

Originally Posted by GLS

I know realtors will castigate me for "lowballing", but if I find a "dream house" $100K over my budget I simply say I am interested if circumstances change, but this is all I can afford. .

I won't castigate you on this Write an offer City, you never know what the response will be.

[christeen]

Originally Posted by Guevera

What worked for me -- when you find the one you want, be quick. The house we finally got was listed Thursday. We had offer ready Friday afternoon.

And as for the OP, yeah, I LOVE my new home, but there's a house near Southside park that really had my name on it and I just couldn't do it

Similarly, we found the house we wanted and moved quickly -- it listed Tuesday, we offered that night (full price) and offer accepted Wed. We wouldn't have offered full price except we loved the house and knew it was priced right and wouldn't last. We're buying in Davis so we've seen several houses move within a week if they're good houses w/ good prices. Others have sat for months while prices come down slowly in increments.

It is not a perfect house -- we would've wanted so many more things like 3-car garage, slightly bigger bedrooms, bigger master bath, closer to greenbelts -- but it has all the important things we needed/wanted and just felt right. Our perfect houses are about $100-$150k more than we could afford, and our fantasy houses are $300k+ more. But this one was right and being within budget sure helps.

Anyway, to CityGirl -- our house was actually on the market last year but out of our price range. We only saw it online but really liked it, but we weren't in a position to buy then. We almost bought a house in a less desireable neighborhood for more $$, then our realtor called us about this house. I looked it up online and saw it was "my house" from last year and $100k less!

So, you never know. Since you're not in a rush to buy, I'd say either offer less on these fantasy homes now (and let the sellers know you're not trying to insult them but that's what you can afford), or wait. From everything I've read, the market still has room for adjustment and your currently $100k overbudget home may be affordable in the next year. Good luck!