Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Movin' on Up

Wellllll the verdict is in and.....our offer was APPROVED!!!!!!

There has been a lot of back and forth and I've basically been a constant bundle of nerves and nausea since we put our original offer in on Friday. It didn't go quite as smoothly as I had hoped and stupidly thought it would.

On Saturday we found out there was another offer made so our realtor recommended we try doing and "escalation" offer which basically says to the bank we are willing to pay X amount over your highest offer up to X amount. We went back and forth and talked to our mortgage lender about how high we could realistically go and went back with the offer.

Yesterday we found out that not only was there now a THIRD offer on the house but the bank wouldn't do the escalation offer. Which meant we had to go back with our best and final offer and if they accepted that's what we would pay regardless of what the other offers came in at. We also wouldn't know what the other offers were for. Talk about a blind gamble. We wanted the house and wanted to bid high enough to get it but not so high that we were over-paying for it.

Finally last night our realtor called and said the bank came back with a counter offer. Immediately I was like shit, we can't afford to go higher. Turns out the bank just wanted us to cover half of the closing costs (which we had already said we would do on our highest offer) and they came back down to our original offer which was significantly cheaper than the last one we had made. Basically they countered with a lower offer!!! We couldn't believe it! That never happens. The only thing we can think is that the bank knew the property wouldn't appraise for as much as we were willing to offer. Whatever the reason we were thrilled!

I got the forms with the final agreed upon offer today and a bunch of other forms to sign. So now we have to do the home inspection, the appraisal and make sure the loan I was pre-approved for goes through. Lots of steps still between now and getting the keys but if all goes well we'll be closing at the end of next month.

I'm still in shock. I truly didn't think we would find something so quick or that the whole process would be moving so fast. I'm still overwhelmed and nervous about all the money we will have to pay upfront but I'm also really really excited! Now we just pray the rest of the process goes smoothly and nothing goes wrong.

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

CONGRATULATIONS!

d.a.r. said...

Yeah!! Congrats!

princessapr said...

Good luck! It seems smooth to me after all the stories I've heard. I wish you continued good luck and am so excited for you.

Heather said...

Congratulations! Talk about a nerve-racking process, though. That is one part of buying a home I am not looking forward to!

PattyAnn said...

Yay! Congrats, so much fun! Now you get to shop for decor!

Mrs. Lopez said...

YAY!!! Congrats I'm so happy for yall!

Nicole-Lynn said...

How exciting!!! So happy for you! Let us know how things go!

Our offer was excepted too so we're at the same stage as you are! How fun ;)

Jen said...

Multiple offers combined with a bank-owned property are always tough. We ran into a couple of those situations when we were house-hunting. I'm so glad it worked out for you guys, and it sounds like you got a good deal!

Good luck with the house inspection and the mortgage finalization!

Venassa said...

Congrats! Sounds like quite the nervous experience, but it also sounds like the worst part is over. Good luck with the rest of the process!

Lindsay said...

Congrats!!

Marian said...

Congrats...so exciting!!! Keeping my fingers crossed for smooth sailing

Saying I do said...

Congrats!! That's very exciting!

Gracie said...

How exciting!! That's really awesome news and I'm sure that you are happy to get this place. To get our townhouse we went through a lot too and it was all worth it in the end.

Unknown said...

Holler!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I totally missed this news yesterday. Fantastic!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jillian said...

YAY!!!!!!! I am soooooo happy for you. Best feeling ever!

beka said...

Congratulations! I am so excited that we get to do this moving in and decorating house thing together! That is incredibly amazing about the bank coming back with the lower offer- and what a relief to know that (hopefully) the property is going to appraise adequately so the bank is comfortable with your loan amount. Congrats!

Annie said...

yay, yay, yay!!! so happy and excited for you two!! :)

EmilyB said...

I don't want to jinx anything and say congrats too early sooo I'll just say YAY I'm so excited for you!! Here's hoping the inspection and closing go smoothly :)