So fairly fresh from bidding war heartbreak #1, I've found another house to have a go at. This one isn't exactly in our target neighbourhood - but it appears our budget isn't in our target neighbourhood either.
Such are the sacrifices we make for a detached 3 bedroom home.
We registered an offer last night even though I'm still feeling a little gun shy. But despite jumping right in - first day on the market - the brakes are on. 'Husband is out of town' which smells to me like 'thanks for the interest, now let me get every other offer I can before we actually look at yours' so we're presenting said offer at some point today.
Long story short, it's 6 am and I'm sitting here comparing the house we're in to the house we'd be going to. I'm looking at schools and daycare options and counting kitchen cupboards and mentally placing furniture.
I really hate this process.
Ack.
I'll keep you posted.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Monday, September 20, 2010
All In
My heart still does a little pitter patter when I think about "The House". We fell head over heels on Sunday. Had our agents on board by nightfall.
Woke up to the decision to make and offer then set off in a whirlwind to get it all together by 'offer time'.
We learned everything we could, arranged our financing pre-approval, sent Brel off on a mad mission of information gathering, offering preparation, fit in yet another showing, and settled on a number I believe we all thought would at least put us in the running.
Everyone says there are no bidding wars anymore. And that prices are dropping. And everything is sitting on the market.
Well, to everyone I say "Have you been to Leslieville?"
There was nothing we could do but wait as the team went in to present our offer. We got the report that it was well received - but as the first of 8 there was no way of knowing.
About and hour or so later we got the news. 2 offers came in substantially higher. "The House" would not be Our House.
I'd never been in a bidding war before. This was my 4th purchase experience and it's hard to describe what a blow it is to be in and then be shut out.
I'm not sure I'd do it again - given it's been a week and it still smarts. But if I find myself in another I can't say I'd do it much differently.
We had a big deposit on hand, no conditions, a (slightly) flexible close date, an 'all in' offer. And a little stash left to give us a wee bit of room to move.
I guess that's all you can do. That and hope like hell everyone else at the table loves it less or has substantially shallower pockets.
In our case it was neither. So now we're hunting for a house - hopefully even more perfect.
I'm doubtful such an abode exists. But the BREL team has stepped up to the plate convinced it's just a matter of time until we're the proud owners of "THE HOUSE" - the one that makes us forget all about the one that got away.
Woke up to the decision to make and offer then set off in a whirlwind to get it all together by 'offer time'.
We learned everything we could, arranged our financing pre-approval, sent Brel off on a mad mission of information gathering, offering preparation, fit in yet another showing, and settled on a number I believe we all thought would at least put us in the running.
Everyone says there are no bidding wars anymore. And that prices are dropping. And everything is sitting on the market.
Well, to everyone I say "Have you been to Leslieville?"
There was nothing we could do but wait as the team went in to present our offer. We got the report that it was well received - but as the first of 8 there was no way of knowing.
About and hour or so later we got the news. 2 offers came in substantially higher. "The House" would not be Our House.
I'd never been in a bidding war before. This was my 4th purchase experience and it's hard to describe what a blow it is to be in and then be shut out.
I'm not sure I'd do it again - given it's been a week and it still smarts. But if I find myself in another I can't say I'd do it much differently.
We had a big deposit on hand, no conditions, a (slightly) flexible close date, an 'all in' offer. And a little stash left to give us a wee bit of room to move.
I guess that's all you can do. That and hope like hell everyone else at the table loves it less or has substantially shallower pockets.
In our case it was neither. So now we're hunting for a house - hopefully even more perfect.
I'm doubtful such an abode exists. But the BREL team has stepped up to the plate convinced it's just a matter of time until we're the proud owners of "THE HOUSE" - the one that makes us forget all about the one that got away.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Love at First Site
Ok, so I wasn't in the market for a house. Our Leslieville townhouse is all kinds of awesome. It was dubbed 'the perfect family unit' when we bought it - (and sold 'the perfect unit' - an outstanding corner condo unit with lake views on 2 sides for one single me) - new to married life and ready to start a family.
Like all delusional newlyweds, we thought our townhouse would have it all - enough space, close to downtown, 2 bedrooms, a basement and garage. Perfect for a couple and someday...a baby.
Thing is, baby grows really fast. And people want to come to stay and visit with baby. And inside starts to get old at about 10 AM when you've been up since 6 and a back yard might just save your sanity.
So the casual open housing begins. And every time we walk by one we go in. Not that we're looking...
Until...
Last weekend when we see an open house at about 5 min past the end time on our afternoon walk. I go in an hub stays outside with the baby. Well I only get about 5 feet in before I'm back outside saying "you've got to see this one".
Long story short we see the house. Oooh. Ahh. Drool. And text our agents asking them to pull up the listing and give us an opinion. They see about 100 times more houses than us and tend to be the voice of reason when it comes to our actual must haves and needs.
Except they couldn't see anything wrong with this one.
Just the opposite.
And just like that, we were in the game.
Like all delusional newlyweds, we thought our townhouse would have it all - enough space, close to downtown, 2 bedrooms, a basement and garage. Perfect for a couple and someday...a baby.
Thing is, baby grows really fast. And people want to come to stay and visit with baby. And inside starts to get old at about 10 AM when you've been up since 6 and a back yard might just save your sanity.
So the casual open housing begins. And every time we walk by one we go in. Not that we're looking...
Until...
Last weekend when we see an open house at about 5 min past the end time on our afternoon walk. I go in an hub stays outside with the baby. Well I only get about 5 feet in before I'm back outside saying "you've got to see this one".
Long story short we see the house. Oooh. Ahh. Drool. And text our agents asking them to pull up the listing and give us an opinion. They see about 100 times more houses than us and tend to be the voice of reason when it comes to our actual must haves and needs.
Except they couldn't see anything wrong with this one.
Just the opposite.
And just like that, we were in the game.
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