The First Offer

So, this is the house we put an offer in on:

We sent the seller the offer last Thursday with a response time of 5 p.m. on Saturday. Friday evening we heard back from his agent saying he was on vacation and not near his computer. She asked to give him until Tuesday at the latest to respond which we agreed to since we worked until Tuesday anyway.

(Side note: Misha had a dream the night before that he would be on vacation. She is going to start looking into a new career as a psychic.)

We heard back from him today. A little background on this specific house:

• Has been on the market on and off since last August
• Was originally listed for $20,000 more than it is currently listed at 
• Went pending in December but that offer fell through and was off the market until April
• Re-listed in April at it's current price with a new agent and has had no offers since then (probably because it's slightly overpriced)

 Our offer was for $19,000 less than it's listed at with the seller to pay for all closing costs as well as part of a one-year home warranty that covers everything associated with the house for a year (appliances, wiring, plumbing, etc.). The seller responded and agreed to everything except the price. He countered us back at $6,000 less than his price (so, $13,000 more than our offer).

When we pulled the comps for this neighborhood, the prices were all over the place. His agents comps were a little ridiculous-- they were for houses that included unfinished basements and most of them had been remodeled in some way. This house has really great bones. You can tell that the owner made sure to do things correctly and keep things in good condition but it hasn't been touched in regards to appliances or cosmetic features since the 70's or 80's.

We're confident that we can update it cheaply over time to make this a good investment and home for ourselves so we countered him back with a final offer of the maximum we think it's worth with the stipulation that, should the house not appraise for what our final offer is and we can't come to an agreement on price, the seller reimburses us for the cost of the inspection. So, we'll see what happens!