House-hunting.

[angledge]

One month in. We've looked at nearly 30 houses, bid on two. We were the third-strongest bid on the first one, second-strongest bid on the second. Statistically speaking, we're gonna win the next one, amirite??

Part of the whole experience has been learning how to lower our standards. We started with a list of things that were MUST-HAVES:

• 2 bathrooms
  
• fireplace
  
• basement
  
• good kitchen
  
• A/C
  
• garage
  
• big fenced backyard

.... & we thought we were being flexible when we said stuff like "Well, I guess a fence-ABLE yard would be okay...." HAHAHAH THE DENVER REAL ESTATE MARKET MOCKS OUR NAIVETE.

So here's a Facebook exchange between me & hotpantsgalore today:

HPG: what time are you going to be home friday?
HPG: That house isn't doing showings till Fri.
Me: Maybe by 2 PM?
Me: Make the appointment later than that just to be safe.
HPG: ok
HPG: not too much later
HPG: i'm gonna set up a sniper stand & shoot everyone else who comes to look at it after us
Me: Solid plan. All that exposed brick!
Me: That gorgeous kitchen!
HPG: I know! But it's only a 2/1
Me: We can deal with that. You may have to learn how to pee in the yard. Shadeaux can teach you.
HPG: NOOOOOOOO!
Me: Not even for exposed brick?

Comments

[krick.livejournal.com]

Some housing markets are crazy. This is also the worst time to buy a house as far as competition goes. Most people with kids want to move in the summer, which drives prices up.

Are you making offers at the full asking price? Houses around here (if they're even remotely decent) are getting multiple offers on the first day they hit the market. When the condo that I bought for my mom hit the market, I made a full price offer on the first day and beat out two other offers. My friend's brother bought a house here and put it back on the market less than 2 years later for $20K more than he paid for it and got and accepted an offer the first day.

[love2loveher.livejournal.com]

Yeah, same deal here. A coworker is shopping, and so many of the houses that she walked away from in January because they were "not perfect" she would KILL to be able to buy in the first 48 hours now. It's a crazy time to be house-shopping.

Also, Ang, I tried to get you to move to Durham. I think my neighborhood runs around $100/sf on a high day. Mine is far less. The skiing sucks, though.

[angledge.livejournal.com]

We're bidding thousands OVER the asking price.