Or something.
We didn’t get the house.
As some of you may have seen on Twitter, we put in an offer on Tuesday. After much debate, we decided to go in with a contingent offer at almost full list price. Although we qualify to be able to carry mortgages on both our current home and a new one, we are not keen on the idea of having to pay two at the same time. We can do it, we just don’t want to do it. Still, the seller’s realtor hinted that they would not be happy with a contingent offer, so we considered going in noncontingent… but ultimately just couldn’t do it. As much as we love the house, it was just not worth the risk right now.
As we discussed with each other and our realtor, we all figured that it didn’t make any sense for the seller to ignore our contingent offer. They don’t have any other offers on the table right now, so why not look at and deal with a contingency? Even if they accept it, they still have the right to continue to market the house to noncontingent buyers, and should they receive a noncontingent offer during our contingency period, they have a right to “bump” our offer (at which time we would also have the right to remove our contingency). Seems like a win-win situation for them, right?
Well, it would be for sellers with a brain. Apparently, this seller isn’t one of those.
Less than an hour after submitting our offer, we received word that they had rejected it. “They loved everything about it,” we were told. “Except the contingency.” The sellers said that they couldn’t emotionally handle a contingent offer. I guess that’s their prerogative, but…
Whatever.
We were really disappointed. Our realtor was downright pissed. She says that they are ignoring the whole purpose of the contingency system, and she thinks that their realtor is being irresponsible with her advice to her sellers.
Now, as much as it pains us to do so, we are attempting to move on. We’ve kept our eyes on the listings, and we actually went to see another house yesterday, but we found ourselves comparing it to the one that we lost. It’s hard to believe that anything will ever pop up that was as good a deal and in as good condition as that one was. It’s a real bummer.
Of course, we could change our minds and go back to them with a noncontingent offer and still get the house. But, although it is very likely that we WILL sell our current home before we would be in a situation in which we have to pay two mortgages, it’s a very hard pill to swallow. Right now, our only glimmer of hope is that perhaps we will get someone in here that will love our place and we’ll get a nice noncontingent offer of our own that will put us in a position to be able to go back and make a (substantially less risky) noncontingent offer on the house WE want–but obviously, all of this would need to happen before someone else puts an offer on the house we want. *sigh* We had a showing yesterday (they won’t be making an offer), and we have another scheduled for tomorrow (pleasepleaseplease).
I’m trying to keep the faith that things will work out like they are supposed to, but I’m not going to lie: It’s hard.
9 Responses to Onto the Next
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About
I'm Heather. I'm 33 and have been married to Michael for seven years. Together, we have two beautiful little girls we love more than anything, and a miniature dachshund who drives us crazy. I'm a full-time working mom who has very little time for my own "stuff" these days, like home improvement, cooking/baking, cake decorating, and photography. Despite the team not making the playoffs since 1999, I'm STILL a Buffalo Bills fan, which I think speaks to my loyalty AND sense of humor. I can't wait to pick up the pace with travel again some day... you know, when we're done being ruled by tiny fists. Welcome to my blog.
That really sucks! It’s pretty amazing that sellers who claim to want to sell do stupid stuff like that. My husband and I put an offer in on a house and it was low, but the seller ignored it. We came back again quite a bit higher, and still no counter offer and a rude email reply. So we moved on, put an offer on the house we ultimately bought. A week later the sellers of the first house contacted us and said that they’d accept our second offer. They ended up sitting on the market for another 5 months until they sold for around what our first offer was. Some people just don’t get it. The right house will come along.
That’s the thing, Diana–The sellers have a contingent offer on a house THEY want to buy. That’s the reason they really want a noncontingent offer on their current house–they don’t want to risk losing the house they are trying to get. HOWEVER, I still maintain that having a contingent contract is better than having NO contract, so I still do not understand their logic AT ALL. Apparently they are SUPER confident that they are going to get an acceptable noncontingent offer before their deadline date.
i hate home sellers like that! people just don’t understand how things work – how frustrating! keeping my fingers crossed that the next one you find is perfect :)
It’s SO hard, I know. Some sellers are just plain stupid. We put in an offer on a house – it wasn’t anywhere near the ridiculously inflated asking price but it was fair and based on similar precedent transactions. The agent bullsh***** us and kept saying that new precedents keep being made, that he has 15 viewings in his books and that, if we increase our offer substantially, they’ll get back to us and reconsider in due course. A week later, the same story, we didn’t increase our offer. I said that ok, they want more time, but we too are looking and won’t be around forever. And we looked, and we found something else, and we made an offer, and it was accepted. A few days later the realtor for the first house said they’d accept our original price. I HATE him and enjoyed saying ‘no’. I feel I taught them a lesson by having put my money where my mouth is and gone elsewhere. I am so happy we didn’t but that house – a better one came along, and I promise you the same will happen for you. This process is HORRIBLE, it brings out the worst in me, but it has a funny way of working out as it should. xxx
By the way, for what it’s worth, I’d have put in a contingent offer too if I were you. We don’t have them in England, but I would struggle to buy in what we call ‘a chain’.
We sold our flat prior to buying a house and rented in the interim.
We lost a foreclosure house that we thought was the one. It was hard moving on, but we ended up in a house and neighborhood that we love. Things will work out.
We were in your situation at this exact time last year – trying to sell our condo and look for a house. We went to look at one house before our condo was officially on the market, fell in love and were devastated when it sold before we had a chance to make an offer. After that we had a strict rule: NO looking at houses until we had an offer on our condo. It was HARD, but ultimately the best thing for us. You always have the option of asking for a long closing period or even renting from your buyers for a month to ensure you have enough time to find the right house for you. I highly recommend this approach because there’s less emotional stress and you know exactly how much money you’ll be getting from your sale and not estimating. We found our dream house the weekend after we received the winning offer on our condo. Hang in there!
….I just left you a super long comment and the stinkin thing didn’t post. ugh!
I’m in this almost exact boat. Selling our current home for another 500 miles away. Found the right one and there is a cash buyer before us. Since its an estate the attorney will look over the bids, and the cash buyers bid first. Looks like another 3 days before I get a word from my realtor if they accepted or denied our or their contract.