House Hunting

Since this blog is supposed to be about homes I figured I would document Nic and my house hunting experience. We are getting married in April and have a few options for what to do with our living situation.

1. Stay at Nic's condo in the Riverwoods
2. Rent out Nic's condo and find a new place
Since we already have a home we are not in a huge rush to find a new place. We just know that it is definitely a buyers market right now and we need to keep our eyes out for good deals!

So let me back track for a little while to get you caught up on what has happened so far. Nic put an offer in on a townhome in the Riverwoods and a condo in the Riverwoods as another investment property. Both were short sales. Me no likey short sales. We ended up not getting either of the properties. The condo because the seller got his friend to buy the property who just in turn ended up flipping it and listing it for 40k more than the short sale price he got it for. The townhouse fell through because of the shady listing agent who had his client up their offer once he had ours come in so our offer did not get submitted to the bank as top offer. Both situations are super frustrating and I have been totally turned off by the short sale process. However, Nic still thinks we should pursue short sales and foreclosures because they are a good deal.

Just last week we had the exciting opportunity to walk through a home BEFORE we placed an offer on it (something that doesn't happen with short sales a lot). It was a really cute cape cod style home in Alpine. The home is 3,725 square feet. It has a completely finished basement that can be an accessory apartment for potential rental income. It has 4 bedrooms and 2.5 baths excluding the basement apartment which adds an additional 2 bedrooms and 2 baths. It has awesome architectural details such as vaulted ceilings, chandeliers, marble counter tops; it really was very well done. And the best part...IT IS NOT A SHORT SALE! Here is a little sneak peak:

Long story short: the asking price is far too high. If we can negotiate the price down a whopping $40,000 Nic and I would love to live there. If not, we may have to pass. The home is listed at $111 a sq. ft. and the average price in Alpine with the current conditions is $98-$100 a sq. ft. just so you know what we're working with. If Nic can work his magic and get that price down I will be one happy girl! My feelings on this property are that the seller will not want to come down on price and at the current price it is just not a good deal. So we may not want to pursue purchasing it any further. I will keep you updated on any new news! But I am definitely not holding my breath on this property (even though I absolutely die over it!)

Blogging tips