Hi Paul, just got back from putting in an offer on another house. I feel sad, thinking I have made a mistake, but I have to think about it.
I called the lawyers who are foreclosing on the Yellow Brick Elephant, and they said that their client won't postpone the foreclosure sale for an offer and they can't make the owners accept the offer. They recommended that I try to buy it at the foreclosure sale. Which makes sense. So I called our agent and told her to pull the offer. Yesterday when I first touched base with her about the foreclosure news, she said there was another house, also in Fairfax City, a nice location, and I drove by it last night.
I saw the owner coming down the driveway and talked to him briefly. He was wearing a white button-down Oxford shirt and khakis, and it was about 10:00 p.m. He had those little round gold wire-rimmed glasses, and he looked like the kind of guy who always changes his oil ever 3,000 miles, and pays off his credit cards every month before he gets an interest charge. Responsible.
Chris and I came back this afternoon with our agent, and looked the place over. It's smaller than the two we had offers on before, but it's in good condition. Maybe 1,600 sq. feet, not counting the three full bathrooms (with tubs) but not much storage. I determined, by looking at his book cases and his photos, that he is divorced, and has a daughter who does not live with him, but only visits. He is a very neat painter, which I like. Or maybe the ex-wife was. She did some things I don't like, like frou-frou paper in the bathrooms, which I hate, but can be removed. The lot is 1/2 acre at the end of a cul-de-sac.
He was asking $239,900, we offered $240,000 with him to pay 2% closing costs.
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If we wait for the foreclosure sale on the Yellow Brick Elephant, and don't get it, this place will be gone. But we could maybe get the Yellow Brick Elephant for much less, perhaps $190,000. And it's only got 1/3 acre, but it's much bigger, and the addition is, as we discussed, problematic. Beautiful on the inside, weird on the outside, and not well done. And there is the water damage. So it's flawed. But more romantic.
So what do I want, prudence or romance? More risk, with a chance of greater reward, or low risk, and not all that great of a payoff, but ok. This is kinda like getting married. I married an engineer, but always wished I'd gone for someone more exciting. But there is a lot to be said for being married to an engineer. Dependable. Reliable.
What to do?
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