Made an offer on a house & got insane counter offer!

[nomoneynomore]

We made an offer on a house yesterday. We offered the seller's asking price, as long as they agreed to pay all closing costs. (the asking price is a good price & we knew through the grapevine about what they owed, plus closing costs, plus realtor's commission was w/in about $300 of the asking price).

The seller countered with us paying asking price plus all closing costs, plus any repairs needed. They also wanted us to pay rent ($600 monthly plus $300 deposit) starting July 1st until the closing date. Our lender requested a 90 day closing date, even though they were sure it would be much quicker. They also stated they would not reduce the sale amount by any rent paid, but would kindly refund the deposit at closing.

WOWOWOW. Needless to say, we re-countered again w/ our same offer as before
We were also approved through Rural Development Direct after they rejected us two weeks ago! THEY called us back 2 weeks ago offering us a deal.

I guess we will find out tomorrow if we get our first choice, or if we make an offer on our second choice. Another sleepless night tonight!

[despritfreya]

Guess the owner really does not want to sell.

Des.

[tobee43]

first congrats on your loan approval!!!!!!!!!

secondly.....don't be discouraged there are million homes out there, it just might take you a bit longer to find it, and one never knows , it may even be better than this one!

best of luck!! you'll find something soon!

[StrawberrySu]

nomoney, we have often made offers on houses that don't go through, and we would feel like we lost the only house we would ever want .... then something else better came along . Once we were in contract for a house that had a duplex in addition to the home on the 5 acre property that no one was mentioning, which we thought was very strange. It also had a huge garage (about 3000 sf) that had the back end of it turned into a home. It was a foreclosure, and we thought someone at the bank had screwed up and didn't realize that was part of the property. Before we closed, we were walking the property and a neighbor stopped by to let us know we better not think of renting that duplex, they had sued the previous owner, won, and the duplex could not be rented, or the garage lived in. SO we backed out of the deal and considered ourselves to have escaped by the skin of our teeth! lol

[dspii]

Wow....I guess no one told me the housing market turned around :-)

[tobee43]

Wow....I guess no one told me the housing market turned around :-)

LOL!!! sorry dspii...it just happened yesterday...ROFL!!!!!

[Logan]

Nice counter. One key to buying a house is to keep emotions out of the deal. If you're prepared to walk away then you have the control. It sounds like you're in control since you countered with the same offer. If it we're me I would have countered with a lower offer. I did that once and they countered and then I walked away. Of course they were calling but I don't do business with arrogant people and I did not like their attitude. They finally sold the house 6 months later at my original asking price and I found a better place for a similar price.

[nomoneynomore]

Thanks for all the encourgement. We rejected their counter offer again this morning. We immedatly put an offer in on our second choice house. This one they were asking $65k for it, bigger house w/ an extra bedroom than the other but smaller kitchen, no garage & smaller yard. We offered $55k & they pay closing & any repairs. They countered @ $60k (were asking $65k). We re-countered @$58 w/ them paying closing & any repairs. Within 30 min they had accepted the offer! We signed the contract this morning and are starting all the fun processes that RD requires. I'm really hoping it doesn't take the full 90 days to close, this camper is getting way too old. From our first offer to signing the contract was less than 4 hours. That's the way I like to do business, I don't like hem hawing around for days. Hopefully soon we will know a closing date.

[kjrmom911]

Congrats on your successful bargaining!

[dspii]

Congrats on the house....

[tobee43]

[AngelinaCat]

Congratulations!! I hope everything goes smoothly!

@StrawberrySu: Did you ever find out why the neighbors sued? And congratulations for getting away from that mess.

[StrawberrySu]

Congratulations!! I hope everything goes smoothly!

@StrawberrySu: Did you ever find out why the neighbors sued? And congratulations for getting away from that mess.

Congrats, nomoney, that was easy! Hope you love your new home!

ACat, we knew why they sued. It was a small rural subdivision, of 5 acre tract homes, and the person at this house decided to turn it into multi-family property, thereby devaluing the entire neighborhood. They fought him all through his construction phase, I don't think he ever was able to rent them out. Maybe he had family live there. In any case they made sure we knew they would go right back to court. So he ended up letting it go into foreclosure. If it sounds too good to be true..... it is, lol

[scorpion35]

Thanks for all the encourgement. We rejected their counter offer again this morning. We immedatly put an offer in on our second choice house. This one they were asking $65k for it, bigger house w/ an extra bedroom than the other but smaller kitchen, no garage & smaller yard. We offered $55k & they pay closing & any repairs. They countered @ $60k (were asking $65k). We re-countered @$58 w/ them paying closing & any repairs. Within 30 min they had accepted the offer! We signed the contract this morning and are starting all the fun processes that RD requires. I'm really hoping it doesn't take the full 90 days to close, this camper is getting way too old. From our first offer to signing the contract was less than 4 hours. That's the way I like to do business, I don't like hem hawing around for days. Hopefully soon we will know a closing date.

congrats
its a great feeling isn't it?

[nomoneynomore]

Thanks for all the encouragment. I'm trying not to get my hopes up too much yet. With all the bad luck we have had lately it's hard to stay positive that all will go smoothly, but I'm sure hoping and praying it does!

Does anyone know what the process is with Rural Development and approx how long it took you all? We are ordering the apprasial & inspections on Monday. What happens after that? The two houses we have bought in the past didn't have inspections etc & we were done in about 20 days, so this process is all new to me.

Thanks!