New title alert: I just bought a house!!!!!

[NuclearNed]

It has been 9 years since I last bought property, so I'm kind of rusty. My wife and I still live in our first home. This house is nice, but kind of small and with few amenities - it has been a really good starter home. We have been looking for a couple of years, and finally something that we really like has become available.

The house we want.

Tonight will be the 2nd time we've looked at this property, and we will likely make an offer on it.

Does anybody have any good general advice?

UPDATE 7/19/2007
We made an offer a couple of nights ago. They didn't accept it, but it was close enough to what they wanted that we've been haggling over the price for the past couple of days. Man, the seller is nickel and diming me to death - the final counteroffer they gave us only changed the buying price by $500. Anyway, we accepted.

So now I just have to try to acquire financing and sell my current home. Wheee!!!! (only slight sarcasm should be detected here, I'm actually REALLY excited). I'm going to own my dream home; not only that - the property has its own cave!!!!!! SOMEBODY PINCH ME!!!!!!

UPDATE 7/20/2007
I've been really nervous all day about getting the financing. I've never tried to get a loan for such a large amount of money, and I still owe a substantial amount on my current home, even though it has built up a lot of positive equity. I'm at work, and my wife has spent all day on the phone trying to secure financing. She called me a little while ago, and we have already gotten one approval from a bank, and another bank vowing they will beat the first bank's interest rate and terms. THE HOUSE IS MINE!!!! MUHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!

 

[jpeyton]

Low-ball the sh1t out of them.

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

It looks great! The room with all the windows is amazing.

Are you going to have an inspector check it? One concern that sticks out with all those windows is leaks in and around them, which shouldn't be a big issue, but something to check for.

In any case, good luck :beer:

 

[SampSon]

Initial offer should be less than you actually consider paying.
Have a reputable home inspector go through the house.
Take advantage of sellers concessions.

 

[KB]

Beautiful house. Someone isn't asking for advice, they are showing off ;P

I thought it was going to be a million bucks... then I saw it was in Tennessee. Man prices are cheap there. I couldn't buy a shack on 2 sq ft for that.

What is the market like there? if not so great I would offer 330,000 and see what happens.

 

[dainthomas]

Originally posted by: KB
Beautiful house. Someone isn't asking for advice, they are showing off ;P

I thought it was going to be a million bucks... then I saw it was in Tennessee. Man prices are cheap there. I couldn't buy a shack on 2 sq ft for that.

What is the market like there? if not so great I would offer 330,000 and see what happens.

QFT. Might as well lowball even though they're giving it away. What could it hurt?

 

[everman]

Lowball offer at first. Realtors don't care if it sells for a bit less since it won't hit their commission too hard and they make a sale. And you must get a good home inspector, and maybe a separate guy for things like termites.

 

[NuclearNed]

Originally posted by: AgaBoogaBoo
It looks great! The room with all the windows is amazing.

Are you going to have an inspector check it? One concern that sticks out with all those windows is leaks in and around them, which shouldn't be a big issue, but something to check for.

In any case, good luck :beer:

Coincidentally, the house is owned by an old family friend. He's a major handyman, and he's honest too. Because of all that, a home inspection isn't necessary. However, by law they have to have it inspected for termites and other pests.

Also, the room with the windows is literally a built in porch - even if it leaked, it would just get on the tile floor. The room isn't included in the total finished space - it is considered unfinished.

 

[NuclearNed]

Originally posted by: dainthomas

Originally posted by: KB
Beautiful house. Someone isn't asking for advice, they are showing off ;P

I thought it was going to be a million bucks... then I saw it was in Tennessee. Man prices are cheap there. I couldn't buy a shack on 2 sq ft for that.

What is the market like there? if not so great I would offer 330,000 and see what happens.

QFT. Might as well lowball even though they're giving it away. What could it hurt?

That is actually an expensive house in east TN. There are a handful of million dollar homes, but this is still a really nice place. Heck, there are $179K houses here that are really nice.

 

[purepolly]

It's a beautiful home. Good luck, I hope it becomes yours!

 

[Capt Caveman]

Really nice house. I wish prices were that low in the Boston area. Good luck.

 

[Dr. Detroit]

Beautiful place,

I plan on retiring to TN when I hit 45 and buying myself a Double-Deuce to run and have BBQ lunches for the day crowd. 13yrs and $2M to go!

 

[NuclearNed]

Originally posted by: purepolly
It's a beautiful home. Good luck, I hope it becomes yours!

Thanks. We made our bid last night - we offered ~8.5% less than asking price. I'll know by 5pm today if they accept. I suspect that they won't go for it, but hopefully they will counter.

 

[NuclearNed]

Originally posted by: Fmr12B
Beautiful place,

I plan on retiring to TN when I hit 45 and buying myself a Double-Deuce to run and have BBQ lunches for the day crowd. 13yrs and $2M to go!

With that kind of money, you can live like a king in east TN. Cost of living here is very low compared to many places.

 

[NuclearNed]

UPDATE 7/19

 

[Safeway]

Wow, update the kitchen and you have an amazing house.

Edit: Asking minus $500, what tight asses.

 

[NuclearNed]

Originally posted by: Safeway
Wow, update the kitchen and you have an amazing house.

Edit: Asking minus $500, what tight asses.

The kitchen is virtually all new, except for the built-in stove/range. Its good enough for now.

 

[Safeway]

Ah, looked dated in the photos. That is one nice looking house and site. Congrats to you. :beer:

 

[TwiceOver]

Nice lookin' house. My wife and I are in the same boat. Looked at (stepped in) ~25 houses and have only made one offer which was rejected.

Got another 5 to look at tonight.

 

[ViviTheMage]

awesome place man!

 

[NuclearNed]

Originally posted by: TwiceOver
Nice lookin' house. My wife and I are in the same boat. Looked at (stepped in) ~25 houses and have only made one offer which was rejected.

Got another 5 to look at tonight.

This house is considerably more than I wanted to spend originally. I'm very tight with my money, and I just didn't want a huge house payment. But this is one of those once in a lifetime opportunities - this property and house are just so beautiful and perfect that my wife and I decided it was worth a little higher payment.

 

[Mxylplyx]

Dude...that is a bad ass house!!!

 

[Safeway]

Wow, I just noticed that your abode is on a hair over 5 acres. :thumbsup:

 

[NuclearNed]

Originally posted by: Safeway
Ah, looked dated in the photos. That is one nice looking house and site. Congrats to you. :beer:

Yeah - the current owners have decorated it "country style", which makes it look a little older. Plus whoever was behind the camera really doesn't know how to take a good picture - they missed the best features of the house. So the end result is the pictures aren't great compared to the real thing.

 

[NuclearNed]

Originally posted by: Safeway
Wow, I just noticed that your abode is on a hair over 5 acres. :thumbsup:

...and it is on a high rocky ridge on one of the larger local mountains. I will never have any neighbors anywhere near me. The property is almost 100% wooded, and it has a freaking cave - I've always been a huge fan of spelunking, so its a dream come true.

And conveniently, it is only about 5 minutes from town.

Like I said earlier, this is a once in a lifetime property purchase. I feel really blessed for this opportunity. Now if I can just secure the financing...