Real Estate Ponderances

[fairyrune]

We have a pre-approval letter. We have an agent. We're going to look at four (FOUR!) properties tomorrow.

This is all very exciting for me, so it's going to be pretty much the only thing I talk about until we close on a house.

I've already made some observations.

Our agent is awesome. We had tried to make arrangements with another agent a friend recommended, but she didn't call when she said she would, and she never got back to us about seeing houses this weekend. That's not ok. Saturday morning rolled around, and I still hadn't heard from her, so I went online and started clicking on "Request Showing" on the websites for all of the properties we're interested in. I must have requested ten or fifteen showings. Within an hour, I got a phone call from an agent. So far, she's one of two who have contacted me as a result of the little clicking-spree I went on. The other just e-mailed me the listing details and told me to call her if I had any questions. The listing details, by the way, didn't tell me anything I didn't already know about the property. I know we're not million-dollar clients, but you'd figure in this economy people would be more willing to work with someone who's eager to buy a house. If the original person I contacted ever gets back to me, which I sincerely doubt she will, I'm just going to tell her that we couldn't wait so we got in touch with someone else. Too bad, so sad.

The agent who contacted me, Anna, is wonderful so far. She actually calls and e-mails me when she says she will, and she set up showings for us with pretty short notice. In my book, this is good.

People do really terrible things to their kitchens. I have no idea why. Previously, I had thought that an all-white kitchen was as bad as it got. OH BOY WAS I WRONG. The worst one I've seen, hands down, was the photo of the lime green kitchen with yellow accents. No kidding. The cabinets were painted lime green. It was awful. Don't even get me started on horrible layouts. I've seen pictures of kitchens where the stove was off floating all on its own on one wall; there was one listing where the fridge was in the dining room all by its lonesome! Who DOES that? I've decided that, for me, layout is the most important factor in a kitchen. As long as the layout is workable, we can change finishes. Cabinets can be painted, drawer-pulls can replaced, appliances can be updated. Re-routing the gas, water, and/or electrical is a bit more than we'd like to get into right now.

Then, there are the listing photos. It's like some of these agents don't actually want to sell the house. I've seen crappy cell-phone photos, photos of rooms covered with toys, photos of walls... Why, yes, that is a lovely shade of red, but it really doesn't show me anything about the room, does it?

Maybe tomorrow we'll find something that's just right. We're trying to avoid short-sales (which I'm coming to think is a disgusting practice,) but if that's what it comes down to....well, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Comments

[rhps613.livejournal.com]

let me give you sage advice from working for a mortgage company. Instead of a housing inspector, pay the extra and get a housing engineer(they are the Phd of inspectors). Find a good lawyer for the deal. Move any bags/furniture you see in the house they sometimes block holes or rust spots.

[fairyrune]

We've got the lawyer covered. Rich's mom is doing that part for us. We'll definitely look into a housing engineer. Thanks!