It's been a while since I provided y'all with a house update. Feel free to skip the post entirely if you just want to know when our bags our packed and we're moving. Unfortunately, we're not quite there yet. So while this post may be dry, I want to document the house hunting experience (maybe more for me than for my readers).
A couple of weeks ago on our way to the airport to head to Boulder, we stopped by a house that had come on the market the day before in our ideal area. As I mentioned
here, 23 other people also looked at the same house the same day. I have no clue how many people total looked at the house. There is nothing coming on the market in this particular area, and this confirms that there are a bunch of other buyers who are just queuing up.
While we were traveling, we were working out the details of our offer with our realtor. We knew the house was going to be in high demand and we were going to have to ask over asking price. I don't know exactly how many for sure, but there ended up being somewhere around 10 total offers on the house. These kind of shenanigans happen on House Hunters on HGTV, not here. After everyone made their offer, the sellers came back and told everyone to make their final and best offer. It's so stressful knowing you are bidding against yourself and have no clue what the other potential buyers have offered. So we resubmitted our offer with a little bit higher price.
We heard a couple of days later that we didn't get the house. Then the day after that, the sellers' realtor asked if we would consider having a backup contract. After thinking about it, we said yes. So this meant that we were the second highest bid and if anything fell through with the first buyer, it would automatically go to us. We actually had to submit earnest money and an option fee. So we are technically under contract with this arrangement (as a backup contract).
Our realtor told us, before we even out in our revised offer, that many times the highest bidder in a multiple offer situation won't get the house because they feel the need to ask the seller to make everything perfect after the inspection. I guess they think if they beat out all of those other people, they are entitled to everything being in tip-top shape. So while we weren't overly hopeful, we knew there could be a chance we could still end up with the house.
Well the option period for the first buyer ended this weekend. And if anything was going to fall apart, it likely would have after the inspections last week (and before the end of the option period). So since we hadn't heard anything, we figured the house wasn't meant to be ours. Then this afternoon, we get an email and the first buyer and the seller mutually agreed to extend the option period a couple of days because there were some "issues" with the inspection. I didn't even think of that possible scenario occurring.
But the good news is that it means that there is still a chance! Every time I think I wish it would just be over--even if it's bad news--I guess it's better to be in limbo and there still be the potential to get the house than nothing at all. But in the meantime, you can pretty much find me looking like this.
Hopefully I will be back with an update (one way or the other) in the next couple of days.
