House Hunting, Part II

The hunt is over...I got a house!!!

I’ve been drooling over this floorplan since February when I first looked at the model home. This house just came on the market on Tuesday, and it is completely filled with upgrades and is more beautiful than the model. I saw it on Thursday, and as soon as I walked through the front door, I was ready to make an offer. After scurrying through the house to make sure there were no surprises (only good ones!), my realtor and I rushed back to his office to put together the offer. It's a short sale that is already approved by the bank at that price, so we offered the asking price, which was an incredible price for that house (they are still building in the neighborhood, and if I were to build the house brand new, it would be at least $150,000 more!). The listing agent said that she was expecting another offer that night, but by Friday morning it hadn't come in, so she was just going to present my offer to the seller. Later that day, I found out that the other offer had come in, and while we were offering the same price, the other offer gave more as an earnest deposit and was putting considerably more down. I figured at that point I wouldn't get the house because on paper the other offer looked better, plus, if the other people had more to put down, they were probably in a better position if we got into a bidding war. My realtor already had a relationship established with the listing agent, which worked in my favor. He had my mortgage broker call her and explain that my credit is great and I would have no problem qualifying for the loan. Somehow, between the two of them, they were able to convince her that I was the stronger offer, and the seller signed the paperwork to accept my offer on Saturday!

I am so thrilled with this house. It is in a guard-gated community with a pool, gym, and tennis courts. It's at Sahara and the 215, so it is convenient to the highway, shopping, hiking, and golfing. It is 2 bedrooms with an office and a bonus room and has incredible details throughout. The best thing about this house is that it is an amazing investment. It’s going to retain its value much more than the other places I was looking at, and as I mentioned, I should have quick equity on the house because it is really under priced as compared to the new homes in the community. It's a short sale, so the escrow period will likely take longer, and I'll probably close in September. I'm so happy that I don't have to look at houses any more!