The sellers have now verbally accepted our counter offer. Our realtor, Clint, told me they had wanted to counter back at a higher amount, but he warned them not to, so they just accepted our offer. (Good call!) The forms are still shuttling about collecting signatures, but this looks like it will probably move to the next step. We'll know for sure tomorrow.
Next step: Inspections! We have 12 business days to complete whatever inspections we want to do. So now I need to start calling around and making appointments. And I (or we) have to go back up to Oregon, obviously. Though, we could stay down here and try and do everything remotely, but I'm sure we won't be as satisfied with that situation. It's always nice to follow the inspector around and ask questions while he works.
I am cautiously optimistic our search will finally be over. Though, I still clearly recall the house purchase that fell apart last year when the inspection came back with so many unexpected repairs needed.
I've been cruising around PortlandMaps.com and it looks like the house has been in the same family since at least 1938. Interesting!
Monday, April 12, 2010
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Counter Offer on Multnomah
Surprisingly, the sellers countered our offer, so I guess their original offer wasn't so much better than ours! We originally offered $380K firm. But they countered at $395K. We discussed rejecting it just on the principle of the thing, but we countered with $385K. We're ready to be done house shopping.
They officially have until tomorrow at 3PM to answer our counter, but based on their last answer, they don't worry about those time limits so much so it could be later in the week. I'm quite sure the sellers are trying to work the other buyers to get their price up, so who knows what will happen.
We're getting much better at not getting our hopes up when we make offers. We are already discussing for which house we should make the next offer, sad to say.
We did our grueling 12.5 hour drive again today. It went fairly well. We were both tired from getting to bed much too late last night and we're both nursing mild colds. But luckily the trip was uneventful. Though the weather was odd. It was nice in Oregon, then started raining when we crossed over into California. Then it pretty much rained the whole rest of the trip. It's good to be back to our own bed where we can sleep with our dog child!
We're getting much better at not getting our hopes up when we make offers. We are already discussing for which house we should make the next offer, sad to say.
We did our grueling 12.5 hour drive again today. It went fairly well. We were both tired from getting to bed much too late last night and we're both nursing mild colds. But luckily the trip was uneventful. Though the weather was odd. It was nice in Oregon, then started raining when we crossed over into California. Then it pretty much rained the whole rest of the trip. It's good to be back to our own bed where we can sleep with our dog child!
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Another Hopeless Offer
We made probably another hopeless offer today. We found the fixer in Laurelhurst this week, on Multnomah. It needs a bunch of cosmetic work but the structure seems to still be in good shape. All of the woodwork has been painted and needs to be stripped. The house needs a new kitchen and I would put in a new bathroom attached to a bedroom to make a master. It was once a grand old house and could be again.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Tough Decisions
We've spent a couple of days now in Portland looking at houses and driving around looking at property on which to build. We're having a hard time deciding what we should do. We found a couple of once-grand houses that now need work, but they seem priced too high considering the work they need. We struggle with valuing them correctly. We're not so good at accurately guessing the cost of those repairs and I have a hard time being realistic about the work necessary because I'm so good at imagining them all fixed up and beautiful again.
We're also struggling with the trade-offs of living in town versus living in the forest areas that surround Portland. In the forest, we'll get a bigger lot loaded with trees, but it doesn't come cheap. And we'll always need to drive where we want to go. For a while now, we've been imagining a life where we can get down to one car and take advantage of Portland's legendary public transportation; that won't happen if we buy one of the out-of-town lots. It is unfortunate we have so many competing and incompatible desires.
Tomorrow we're going off with the realtor again to revisit about four houses from Tuesday. One of them, the fixer on Multnomah, is somewhat in the lead of the houses we visited yesterday. But we've been told there was an offer yesterday. We're debating whether we just move on and let the buyers negotiate uncontested, but we're also wondering if it would be worth at least writing up the offer with the dollar amount we're willing to pay. How do we know if it's more or less than the current offer; the only way to find out is to write the offer. Perhaps Multnomah will go pending tomorrow and then that decision will be taken out of our hands. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
It is possible we won't be making any offers on this trip, as I'm not really enthused about any of the current choices, except, of course, Rupert. And, about Rupert, there's still no definitive word. We are keeping the communication open with the sellers, but there has been no forward progress. We are no longer in contract and if they were to get a higher acceptable offer they would be free to accept it. Likewise, we are free to make offers on other properties. We continue to watch and see what happens. Perhaps it will eventually go into foreclosure, then maybe we'd have another shot at it.
We're also struggling with the trade-offs of living in town versus living in the forest areas that surround Portland. In the forest, we'll get a bigger lot loaded with trees, but it doesn't come cheap. And we'll always need to drive where we want to go. For a while now, we've been imagining a life where we can get down to one car and take advantage of Portland's legendary public transportation; that won't happen if we buy one of the out-of-town lots. It is unfortunate we have so many competing and incompatible desires.
Tomorrow we're going off with the realtor again to revisit about four houses from Tuesday. One of them, the fixer on Multnomah, is somewhat in the lead of the houses we visited yesterday. But we've been told there was an offer yesterday. We're debating whether we just move on and let the buyers negotiate uncontested, but we're also wondering if it would be worth at least writing up the offer with the dollar amount we're willing to pay. How do we know if it's more or less than the current offer; the only way to find out is to write the offer. Perhaps Multnomah will go pending tomorrow and then that decision will be taken out of our hands. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
It is possible we won't be making any offers on this trip, as I'm not really enthused about any of the current choices, except, of course, Rupert. And, about Rupert, there's still no definitive word. We are keeping the communication open with the sellers, but there has been no forward progress. We are no longer in contract and if they were to get a higher acceptable offer they would be free to accept it. Likewise, we are free to make offers on other properties. We continue to watch and see what happens. Perhaps it will eventually go into foreclosure, then maybe we'd have another shot at it.
Monday, April 5, 2010
Beautiful Drive to Portland
We set off this morning at 5:31AM from Redwood City, CA. We drove pretty much straight through to Portland, OR and we arrived at 5:29PM! We had to stop for gas twice and we grabbed a quick BBQ lunch in Roseburg.
Shasta was a perfect dog child. She mostly slept the whole way, except for once when she asked us to stop at the next rest stop.
The weather around Yreka, CA was absolutely beautiful! Mt. Shasta was hiding behind the clouds, unfortunately.
Shasta was a perfect dog child. She mostly slept the whole way, except for once when she asked us to stop at the next rest stop.
The weather around Yreka, CA was absolutely beautiful! Mt. Shasta was hiding behind the clouds, unfortunately.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Mom's 65th Birthday
Yesterday was Sharon's mother's 65th birthday. We celebrated it by having a little family gathering for her at my brother James' house. (Thanks James for hosting another gathering!) We took a bunch of family pictures, but they were all on James' camera, so it will be a while before I get a copy!We got there a bit early to help prepare and we brought Shasta. Shasta had an amazing day with all the kids, especially Lizzie (shown in the pictures below). Shasta was so tired when we got home last night that she didn't even have the energy to jump up and sleep on our bed!
Happy Easter Everyone!
This morning we were supposed to go out for an Easter brunch at Olive Garden, but we've decided to skip it. Sharon just doesn't have the stomach for two more big meals today. Instead, we're going to spend this morning packing for our trip tomorrow and drop in on the family gather after brunch over at Aunt Sarah's house.
This evening we're going to Sharon's father's house for another gathering. Hopefully the weather will hold and we'll be able to bring Shasta to play with her "cousins" again. Having her tired out this weekend is a good thing, since she pretty much has to sleep in the car all day tomorrow.
Friday, April 2, 2010
More Portland House Shopping
After 3 years of steadily looking at houses, I admit I'm getting tired of trying to find one. We've basically given up on Rupert. It sounds like even the sellers' realtor can't get ahold of the sellers. I guess they intend to let it go to foreclosure. Oh well. So, our search continues.
We have a busy weekend scheduled full of family activities. Tomorrow is my mother's 65th birthday and we're having a small family gathering in the afternoon. And there are two family meals on Easter Sunday.
Then, Monday we're driving back up to Oregon. Our house shopping list for this trip include these properties:
Multnomah Street--This is a fixer in Laurelhurst. Way at the edge of Laurelhurst which is not really a feature; I'd like to be close to the park. But it at least has the historic woodwork, painted, but it's there.
SE 67th Ave
NE Hazelfern
We're also going to look at a few pieces of land this trip. We're seriously considering just building a house. Then we could spend all our money building the new "old" house we envision and wouldn't have to spend money remodeling. Here are three pieces of property we're hoping to visit this week:
Germantown Road
Groveland Road
Ramsey Drive
I actually doubt we'll be making an offer this trip, except maybe on land. I think we've agreed we'll be better off if we wait until May, when the First Time Buyer Tax Kickback ends. We won't qualify for this credit due to selling a bunch of Apple stock to buy the house, so we'll probably be better off waiting until the house prices drop this summer (assuming the government doesn't again extend the credit).
We have a busy weekend scheduled full of family activities. Tomorrow is my mother's 65th birthday and we're having a small family gathering in the afternoon. And there are two family meals on Easter Sunday.
Then, Monday we're driving back up to Oregon. Our house shopping list for this trip include these properties:
Multnomah Street--This is a fixer in Laurelhurst. Way at the edge of Laurelhurst which is not really a feature; I'd like to be close to the park. But it at least has the historic woodwork, painted, but it's there.SE 67th Ave
NE Hazelfern
We're also going to look at a few pieces of land this trip. We're seriously considering just building a house. Then we could spend all our money building the new "old" house we envision and wouldn't have to spend money remodeling. Here are three pieces of property we're hoping to visit this week:Germantown Road
Groveland Road
Ramsey Drive
I actually doubt we'll be making an offer this trip, except maybe on land. I think we've agreed we'll be better off if we wait until May, when the First Time Buyer Tax Kickback ends. We won't qualify for this credit due to selling a bunch of Apple stock to buy the house, so we'll probably be better off waiting until the house prices drop this summer (assuming the government doesn't again extend the credit).
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