That Time We Paid $30k More for our House, Part II

The sellers were so kind and let each potential buyer know that there were multiple offers and then asked me, since I was the only licensed agent in the group, what is protocol?  Naturally I tried to convince them to just sell it to me (!) but in the end, advised them as I would any of my clients.  

I told him that typically I respond to all my buyers and let them know that there are multiple offers, then give a time frame for them to return with their best and final offers.  

Did I shoot myself in the foot?  Perhaps, but I can't help but be honest.

Sellers gave us each 7 days to submit our best and final offers.

Remember how I had dropped Scot off at the airport the day we made our offer?  Well he was scheduled to be gone an entire week.  While he was out of town we were not only discussing the potential home purchase, but a new job opportunity as well.   It was an exhausting week, full of late night conversations and high levels of stress.

When he got home Friday afternoon, we got a sitter for the kids and attended a worship service.  Before submitting our final offer, I wanted to be sure this was the house for us.  I had spent a good portion of the week in prayer and my thought was that if I didn't think this was where we should be, we would withdraw from the process.

While I didn't know the family on the other side, I knew of them and didn't want to drive up the price, just for the sake of it.

Together, Scot and I spent the evening in worship and prayer, upon leaving, I knew this was where we were supposed to be.  There are very few times I've been as sure as I was this time.  Because I felt so sure heaven was on our side, I thought the whole process would be incredibly easy.  Ha!  I dreamed of a phone call coming through telling us that it was ours without the bidding war.  

It didn't happen.

Instead, I was willing to put my money where my heart was.

Something to know about Scot and I is that we are both quite conservative when it comes to big financial commitments.  Our goal is usually to secure what we want at the lowest possible expense.  After running what felt like 173 scenarios, this deal unfolded quite the contrary.

Do we just bump the price a bit?  Throw an odd number at the end?  Waive the inspection and appraisal?  Move up the closing date?  How do we structure it?

At the end of the day, we knew we couldn't live without it...so we just threw the biggest number we could possibly afford at it. 

Something neither of us would ever do, unless we knew with certainty this was where we were supposed to be.

I'm not sure where the other offer came in, but I AM sure it didn't appraise for what we paid.

We were fortunate that our loan didn't requires an appraisal, but I was clear that it would not.  (We actually had it appraised 6 mos after we moved in, and it didn't appraise for what we had paid).  Moving forward knowing that made Scot uncomfortable, but I knew time would catch up and in the end, it would even out.

Our home (with our very expensive  dream backyard) was being compared to other new build homes, all of which, had closed without backyards installed.  In time, neighbors began putting in backyards similar to ours, reselling and NOW, we appraise without a problem. 

As I was going through this process, I remember being so nervous.  The price we paid per square foot felt uncomfortable.  The jump in cost felt uncomfortable and the bidding war, definitely felt uncomfortable.  It very well could have worked out against us and I'm sure we would have found something else, but in the end, I'd pay that $30k again and again.