Making an offer

So, a lot has happened since my last post. I'm sorry to have left you all waiting, but I was swamped with a combination of home hunting activity, the long weekend, odd jobs not related to Yourhome.ca and several restless nights, thanks to a combination of anxiety, nerves, and excitement all wrapped up with some Easter-related home sickness.

But, I promise to catch you up! So, let's cast our minds back to Thursday afternoon, when we'd found a home we liked. Now, the problem was that we weren't 100 per cent sure about the house, and another offer was supposedly pending.

After many frantic texts and emails, Mr. Speedy and I agreed that we wouldn't make an offer before going back for a second visit, to make sure the house was actually good for us, not just better than everything we'd already seen. If someone offered before we got our second look, then obviously this home was not meant to be.

Now, I should also add that this was the start of the long weekend. RealEstateSimon was getting ready to go out of town with his family, so his real estate partner, the lovely RealEstateEmily, stepped in to show us the home that evening.

No offer came in before we arrived to look at the house, so we were able to take our time, poke around, and discuss in detail what we liked (the location, the size, the recent renos, the overall condition, the yard, etc.) and what we didn't (a busy street, some wiring updates, etc.). As we walked through, I was already planning out spots for our furniture and Mr. Speedy was making plans for a mounted, larger flat screen TV.

We're so happy we went for the second visit, because it helped calm our nerves and reinforce our first impressions. In fact, we even noticed a few more likeable things the second time round!

So, after spending an awful lot of time on the current owner's very comfortable furniture, we decided to make an offer. We decided that not only was it a nicer property than anything else we'd seen, but it could also be a great fit for us — which is truly the key.

Before finalizing our offer plans, we looked at recent transactions in the area to get an idea of whether the home was fairly priced, and discussed our finances and any conditions we'd want on the offer — for us these were the relatively standard financial (making sure the bank was cool with the property) and home inspection conditions.

We settled on a price, initialled what felt like hundreds of pages, and asked them to get back to us before their scheduled weekend open house.

The offer was registered, and then we just had to wait. And wait. It was a very long, and pretty sleepless, night, followed by an early morning coffee and tea run and a "stakeout" of the house while waiting for them to either reject, accept, or sign back the offer.

Really, we were just hanging out in Emily's car outside the property, but it did feel a little like what they do in all those spy TV shows. Meanwhile, RealEstateSimon was busy texting us from his vacation to stay updated!

So, we waited. And waited. And, finally, their agent emerged with a sign back. They met us somewhere in the middle for price, and after a lot more discussion, we reached an agreement.

We got to meet the current owners, something that is apparently a bit out of the norm, and then signed another thick stack of papers.

But, there's still more work to be done. We're not quite home owners yet.

And, sadly, this is the part of the process not covered on most of the property shows, so we're heading into unchartered territory as we work to meet the conditions before our deadline.

Find me on twitter @jenspeedy

Catch up on the home hunt:

Home hunting makes me nauseous

How to know when the house is right?

Resources for first-time buyers

Our first showings

Crunching the numbers

Finding Mr. or Mrs. Right ... Realtor, that is

Home hunting: Exciting, terrifying, all-consuming

What do we want in a home?

Am I house crazy?

Comments

[Eug]

"we reached an agreement"

Congratulations! :)

[Don Stewart]

Hope your inspection goes well. Good luck!