Impulsive Tuesday
One thing I am not is Impulsive, so Tuesday was a complete change from my persona.
Tuesday morning rolled around in Orlando and Norm and I set up a quick walk through of a house that was just a few doors down from the house we rented for the week. We saw this place earlier in the week when we went for a walk and decided to look it up on the net. A few minutes after seeing the place on a website we decided to take a look at it closer. The meeting was supposed to be for 9 am with the real estate agent. She didn't show up, but sent someone in her place. I was not impressed... she was ten minutes late and we wanted to get to Disney.
We walked through the house. It had the same floor plan as the house we rented and we didn’t spend a lot of time with the walk through. We thanked her and she gave us a quick sales pitch about the place and why we needed to buy it right now. I didn’t take the bait, but was still intrigued. I thanked her again and said that we would be in touch with her later that day.
Norm and I looked at each other as we walked back to our house and we both knew it was worth a second talk. We spent the next hour or so at Disney and discussed the house. We really liked it. It was a 4 bedroom 3 bathroom home with a two car attached garage and best of all, it had a screened in pool. The price was reasonable as it was a house that had recently been foreclosed. Norm was worried and I said to her why don’t we just underbid the asking price… what could be the worst thing that could happen. They say no. No big deal, we didn’t have an emotional attachment to the house or agent. I didn’t really care about insulting them. So I made the call while we were in the park and the agent said that she didn’t think the bank was going to accept, but said that she would make the offer. She said she needed a confirmation that my line of credit would be sufficient to cove the cost of the house. I said that I would get something to her via my financial planner. I gave her my cell phone number and told her to call me if she needed anything.
I called my financial advisor in Michigan he wasn’t in so I left a message. I next called his associate that handled my mortgage. He also wasn’t in yet. I left a message with him also. He called me right back and said he was on another call. I told him what I was doing and he asked what my planner said. I said that he wasn’t in yet and I left a message. He asked what he could do for me. I asked him if he could call the agent and let her know if I could cover the note. He asked if it was ok to run a new credit report. I said sure. He asked me a few questions about my current financial situation that I answered. He said that he would take care of everything.
An hour later we were standing in line for “Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger” ride and the phone rang. The agent said that the bank had an immediate counter offer. I said ok… that’s great… then I’ll bump up my offer a little. She said no… their counter offer is the minimum they will take. I said that I needed to talk to my wife and told her I would get back with her after we got done with the ride I also said that my financial planner would get in touch with her with my credit report and pre approved credit form.
I talked with my wife over the next half hour and as we waited for “The Haunted Mansion” I called her back and said that we would accept the banks counteroffer. She said that they also had another two offers for the same amount and if we bumped our offer we would be sure to get it. She even told me to amount that I should make the offer for. The new amount would have been above the original asking price and I said that we would think about it. She said that she would email me the counter offer and if I wanted to bump up the offer to do so via email. I said to her that I would not be able to get back with her until the next day as I was at the Magic Kingdom for the day and I was taking the family out for dinner.
I spent the rest of the day at Disney thinking about what had happened earlier that day. I had that funny feeling in my stomach that I get when something that doesn’t sound right is going on. I was really worried about the fact that the agent basically told me how much to counter offer to win the bid. Also, I was nervous about the fact that there were three other bidders that the bank had counter offered. During dinner I talked with my wife and she said that we had agreed in principle on a price for the house. I told her that nothing is official without my credit report being completed and we sending a confirmation email to the agent.
After dinner we both know of a friend that is an agent and I called her to get her opinion. I told her about the days events and she confirmed my worries. She thought it was unethical to tell a perspective buyer how much to bid. She also was suspicious about the fact that the bank got into three separate agreements. She did say that she was not familiar with Florida real estate rules so it may be perfectly acceptable to do this in Florida. She said that I should talk with Norm and decide on what we wanted to do. I thanked her and as the day ended we decided that we would wait until the next day to make a decision. Read tomorrow on what became of the adventure.
Tuesday morning rolled around in Orlando and Norm and I set up a quick walk through of a house that was just a few doors down from the house we rented for the week. We saw this place earlier in the week when we went for a walk and decided to look it up on the net. A few minutes after seeing the place on a website we decided to take a look at it closer. The meeting was supposed to be for 9 am with the real estate agent. She didn't show up, but sent someone in her place. I was not impressed... she was ten minutes late and we wanted to get to Disney.
We walked through the house. It had the same floor plan as the house we rented and we didn’t spend a lot of time with the walk through. We thanked her and she gave us a quick sales pitch about the place and why we needed to buy it right now. I didn’t take the bait, but was still intrigued. I thanked her again and said that we would be in touch with her later that day.
Norm and I looked at each other as we walked back to our house and we both knew it was worth a second talk. We spent the next hour or so at Disney and discussed the house. We really liked it. It was a 4 bedroom 3 bathroom home with a two car attached garage and best of all, it had a screened in pool. The price was reasonable as it was a house that had recently been foreclosed. Norm was worried and I said to her why don’t we just underbid the asking price… what could be the worst thing that could happen. They say no. No big deal, we didn’t have an emotional attachment to the house or agent. I didn’t really care about insulting them. So I made the call while we were in the park and the agent said that she didn’t think the bank was going to accept, but said that she would make the offer. She said she needed a confirmation that my line of credit would be sufficient to cove the cost of the house. I said that I would get something to her via my financial planner. I gave her my cell phone number and told her to call me if she needed anything.
I called my financial advisor in Michigan he wasn’t in so I left a message. I next called his associate that handled my mortgage. He also wasn’t in yet. I left a message with him also. He called me right back and said he was on another call. I told him what I was doing and he asked what my planner said. I said that he wasn’t in yet and I left a message. He asked what he could do for me. I asked him if he could call the agent and let her know if I could cover the note. He asked if it was ok to run a new credit report. I said sure. He asked me a few questions about my current financial situation that I answered. He said that he would take care of everything.
An hour later we were standing in line for “Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger” ride and the phone rang. The agent said that the bank had an immediate counter offer. I said ok… that’s great… then I’ll bump up my offer a little. She said no… their counter offer is the minimum they will take. I said that I needed to talk to my wife and told her I would get back with her after we got done with the ride I also said that my financial planner would get in touch with her with my credit report and pre approved credit form.
I talked with my wife over the next half hour and as we waited for “The Haunted Mansion” I called her back and said that we would accept the banks counteroffer. She said that they also had another two offers for the same amount and if we bumped our offer we would be sure to get it. She even told me to amount that I should make the offer for. The new amount would have been above the original asking price and I said that we would think about it. She said that she would email me the counter offer and if I wanted to bump up the offer to do so via email. I said to her that I would not be able to get back with her until the next day as I was at the Magic Kingdom for the day and I was taking the family out for dinner.
I spent the rest of the day at Disney thinking about what had happened earlier that day. I had that funny feeling in my stomach that I get when something that doesn’t sound right is going on. I was really worried about the fact that the agent basically told me how much to counter offer to win the bid. Also, I was nervous about the fact that there were three other bidders that the bank had counter offered. During dinner I talked with my wife and she said that we had agreed in principle on a price for the house. I told her that nothing is official without my credit report being completed and we sending a confirmation email to the agent.
After dinner we both know of a friend that is an agent and I called her to get her opinion. I told her about the days events and she confirmed my worries. She thought it was unethical to tell a perspective buyer how much to bid. She also was suspicious about the fact that the bank got into three separate agreements. She did say that she was not familiar with Florida real estate rules so it may be perfectly acceptable to do this in Florida. She said that I should talk with Norm and decide on what we wanted to do. I thanked her and as the day ended we decided that we would wait until the next day to make a decision. Read tomorrow on what became of the adventure.
posted by Fe Man at 7:03 PM
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