House Hunters, Take Two
Well, despite all your kind wishing and hoping---seriously, I think I felt the axis of the earth shift as you all crossed your fingers at the same time---we didn't get the Dream House in the end. I pretty much knew we wouldn't get the Dream House, it must be said. What I didn't know, however, was how badly we wouldn't get the Dream House.
For a start, there were twenty three offers. Yes, TWENTY THREE OFFERS, and I think that deserves the caps lock button, and in fact I'm going to do it again: TWENTY THREE OFFERS, TWENTY THREE OFFERS, TWENTY THREE OFFERS. Ever heard of a little thing called a recession, San Francisco? Apparently not. TWENTY THREE OFFERS.
But oh, I'm not done. As well as receiving TWENTY THREE OFFERS---look, at this point it's just impossible not to write it in all caps like that---the Dream House sold, and you will not believe this, Internet, for (seriously, brace yourself) more than a hundred thousand dollars over asking.
I mean, what? What, what, what?
I am starting to get a headache from furrowing my brow. I've been furrowing my brow, you see, since we heard the news last week. Yeah, I get it: they priced it at $15 to stir up excitement and start a bidding war. They priced it at $15 to get people like us all hopeful that it was actually in our budget, and then they sat on their velvet-lined, diamond-studded, dollar-bill-stuffed chairs and reviewed their twenty three offers (TWENTY THREE OFFERS), laughed uproariously at ours before using it to scoop up the cat poop that didn't make it into the litter tray, then phoned up the person who'd offered more than a HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS over asking price and said "my good man, you have a deal."
I mean, can you blame them? You kind of cannot. But wow, can you imagine being the person who actually offered that? Who went "you know, honey, this house is listed at $15 but I think I'm going to offer $85 and our firstborn child, what do you say?" Worse, can you imagine being that person's spouse?
(I bet that person wears his sunglasses indoors and then pretends, if challenged, that he just forgot to take them off. Probably also has a popped collar, what do you say?)
Anyway, back on the horse! We've been merrily attending open houses and evening showings since we got the news last week and I find it impossible to ever believe that my life, at some point, will reach a point where my weekends and evenings are not spent asking "and does the fireplace work?" or "when was the roof replaced?" while smiling brightly so as best to present myself as a person with excellent credit. But that day will come, of course, and when it does, you must all come over for some champagne and fist bumps. Let's hope it's not in winter, though. The fireplaces never work.
Apr 20, 2010
the same thing in Singapore too. houses are overly priced.
Apr 20, 2010
Overpriced in Dublin, too, despite rising interest rates and 13% unemployment. People are greedy. Fair play to you for blogging about it, though - the whole process just about broke me, and we don't even have a house to show for it.
Apr 20, 2010
$100K over asking price? Holy crap! What is this, 2003?
Apr 20, 2010
Wow, $100,000 over asking? The seller's realtor definitely didn't do their homework. (I mean, it's their job to correctly set the asking price.)
Trust me, house hunting (and buying, then selling, the renting, renting, renting, then finally renting a place that you ultimately buy) can become one of those defining stories of your relationship. In a good way, really!
I may be speaking from experience. Good luck with the hunt...
Apr 20, 2010
Ditto Teej.
Around here people are LUCKY to get their asking price.
Apr 20, 2010
Sorry. Happy hunting!
Apr 20, 2010
Wow, it's hard to even wrap one's head around that, isn't it? I mean, $100K is basically another house in some parts of the country. And I wonder how the people who offered that came upon this house, because clearly their budget was well over $15, so why did they come look at the $15 house?
I think I need more coffee right now, but will happily pop a bottle of bubbly when you find a house that isn't priced off its effing rocker.
Apr 20, 2010
That. is. NUTS. Also, good analogy with the sunglasses guy. I hate that guy. I always have to resist saying something snarky like "Oh, is it really too sunny in here for you, here in this windowless room?"
Apr 20, 2010
Yikes! 100K over asking? Crazy talk! Did they deliberately way underprice the house compared to market value? I wonder if 100K over asking will still meet the appraisal the bank will do on the house. Either way, it's still a scary statement "100K over asking". I'm gonna sell my casa soon and buy in FL and I'm scared to sell, but excited to buy. Commence full body shakes now!
Apr 20, 2010
I get so angry at the cost of real estate in SF. OK, I get it, there are people here with GIANT BUCKETS OF MONEY. But when they grossly overbid property, it drives up the overall cost for everyone. BAH.
Apr 20, 2010
It was actually even MORE than $100k over asking....more like $130k. MADNESS!
Apr 20, 2010
Wow. Sorry. :~( That's crazy.
Apr 20, 2010
Sadly this is pretty common in the bay area. Maybe you should start looking at houses that are below your price range to begin with. That way you when you come across a clearly underpriced $9 house you can happily bid $15 and get it!
Apr 20, 2010
$100,000 over the asking price? I think San Francisco needs to take a little trip over here to the East Coast for a reality check. That doesn't happen around here (my husband works in real estate so I'm confident in proclaiming that).
Your house is out there! Enjoy the search!
Apr 20, 2010
Sorry about the house. The person who bought it probably does have a popped collar and a huffy attitude.
Your house is out there, this one just wasn't meant to be. You'll find your perfect fit soon, and here's hoping for a working fireplace!
Apr 20, 2010
That's it. I'm putting our house on a flatbed and hauling it to San Francisco before we sell it.
You know, you could always start looking in Baltimore, where houses are listed at $5 and then sell for $4!
Apr 20, 2010
Well, harrumph. Harrumph to them and their $100K.
Apr 20, 2010
That totally happened to us, too -- amongst the 13 houses we had to offer on before one was accepted, a perfectly lovely house was listed at just below our top price. We offered just over our top price. *Eighty-five* offers later, it sold for twice the listing price.
Things like that make me stabby.
Even more stabby-making is when your offer is rejected in favor of a LOWER cash offer. The mind, she boggles.
Apr 20, 2010
and this is why I will never live in San Francisco (though, it is quite lovely).
was this a regular seller or a bank-owned property? banks all over the country are deliberately underpricing their homes to cause this kind of frenzy in offers. in most cases, they end up getting much more than they would have if they just listed at fair market price.
move to Charlotte, NC. Sure, it's not glamorous like SanFran and there isn't much to do...but you can get one hell of a house for the money. :)
Apr 20, 2010
Nope, it wasn't a bank sale! Just a regular seller...
Apr 20, 2010
House buying bonus: the first month you don't have to pay the mortgage!! But then for all the other months of your life. Good luck!
Apr 20, 2010
I'm so confused! If the buyers had that much money, why weren't they looking at houses priced higher (i.e. probably bigger, etc.)?!
Kudos for the positive attitude! Can't wait for the next update! :)
Apr 21, 2010
I with the other two that said it, I dont get why someone with $85 would even be looking at the houses marked $15. How do you even arrive at $85 as an offer? $18 yes. $20 maybe. But $85?!
Not sure if it's better or worse that you totally didnt get it, maybe it would be even more frustrating if it went for $18...maybe not...
Apr 21, 2010
shame on those who even thought to go so much higher on the asking price too! that's just INSANE
Apr 21, 2010
Sometimes when my husband gets really homesick we think about moving to England. And then we look at house prices (the post-bubble prices, even) there and somehow, the homesickness immediately subsides.
Apr 21, 2010
Wow, that's total insanity. Read this article (and check out the charts/interactive features)-- you may not want to be in such a hurry to buy: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/21/business/economy/21leonhardt.html
Apr 21, 2010
We didn't get the first house we put an offer on, and we were so disappointed. I had been imagining us living there, had even started picking out new kitchen fixtures just in case.... In the end, we are so much happier with the house we ended up in. These things happen for a reason - hope you get the next one!
Apr 21, 2010
We didn't get the first house we put an offer on, and we were so disappointed. I had been imagining us living there, had even started picking out new kitchen fixtures just in case.... In the end, we are so much happier with the house we ended up in. These things happen for a reason - hope you get the next one!
Apr 21, 2010
Welcome to Vancouver! Seems to be a West Coast thing - maybe too much patchouli. This is why I don't own a house and never expect to own a house.
Apr 21, 2010
Come to Portland, Maine! It's a mini-mini-mini SF w/o the ridiculous prices, and during the winters, if you're so inclined, you can do your traveling abroad. Just think: you'd be 3,000 miles closer to England.
Apr 21, 2010
My husband and I recently bought a condo in SF - figured we'd start out small and gradually build up to a house, as we definitely do not have the $$$ to afford one yet. So kudos to you for even having the dough to make a bid!
It's a frustrating process, but the more you get used to bidding, etc. you'll learn what you need to do in the future. Also, I found an agent who specialized in the neighborhoods I was looking in - both buying and selling. So no matter what the listing price/selling agent said, she was able to give spot on predictions of what it would go for. She was an invaluable part of the process for me - I don't think we would have had a winning bid if it wasn't for her.
Apr 22, 2010
This happened to us. Except it was our second go-round on the offers, so we knew. It was the only house I've ever seen in SF that I'd want to live in forever.
So we offered $150,000 over asking, wrote a heart-wrenching letter about how we hoped to raise our unborn child there, replete with photos of us looking couple-y and hopeful and heavily pregnant.
We came in eighth. Out of 18 bids.
Then we bought a perfect vacation house on the Russian River and stayed in our rent-controlled apartment. Best possible outcome.
You cannot imagine how much control it took for me to refrain from emailing you when you were making the offer.
Apr 22, 2010
I... I can't even wrap my mind around that. A HUNDRED THOUSAND OVER LIST PRICE?? That's insanity! Good gravy.
Apr 25, 2010
Best of luck to you in your hunt. As a decade+ SF resident, I never thought we'd own, but my husband and I are a week away from closing on a house in Oakland. That's after six months of looking every weekend and eight offers. Almost all of which we came in second on (I called us the silver medalists of personal real estate).
It was a tough road, and we drank a lot of cocktails as consolation, but we're so so SO excited now, even though there is a ton to do on it. So I encourage perseverance, even when you want to quit. And if you tire of the SF search (we were too poor to even try on this side of the Bridge), the Oakland real estate market is a bit more reasonable.
Apr 26, 2010
I recently came across your article and have been reading along. I want to express my admiration of your writing skill and ability to make readers
read from the beginning to the end. I would like to read newer posts and to share my thoughts with you
Apr 30, 2010
But if the buyer is getting a loan from a lender, then the house is going to have to appraise for what was offered. Are there other similar homes in the area (1mile radius) that have sold for the 100k more price?? If there are no comps then that could kill the deal.
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