Ok, so we suggested going up to $305k on our counter to the bank's counter. Our realtor suggested that we do $305k and include offering to pay the seller's closing costs up to a max of $1,500. He said for some reason, this bank is hung up on not forcing the sellers to have to pay anything at closing. I think I'll tweak it to be just $1,000 and not $1,500 just because. Here we go with round 2!

We received a counter to our offer on that short sale house. The list price was $395k. We offered $300k due to the extremely poor condition of the house. The bank has countered at $375k. The bank's listing agent is so frustrated because she tried to get them to accept our offer since it was the best one that they had received in 5 years. At least they didn't shut us down completely like they did with the people who offered less than $300k before us. So, now what do we do? Our max that we would pay is $310k in all honesty and it doesn't look like the bank wants to go down that low at all. Guess we'll go back with $310k and just walk away if they don't take it, but I so want this house!! Ugh!

Just got this email from our realtor about the offer we put in on that short sale house.

"I met with the listing agent for the house this morning and she brought me up to date on her conversations with the lender. She's pretty confident that they aren't going to accept your offer (we already figured that) but she's trying to get them to come back with something reasonable. They evidently have two Broker Price Opinions saying the house is worth $100k more than what we offered. She is telling them that it isn't, and the fact that your offer is the highest one of the only two offers they've had in 5 years is proof. She's hoping to have a counter offer in the next week or so. One thing to keep in mind, whatever they come back with, they are going to want you to pay the seller's closing costs. She said they are hung up on not allowing the seller to pay them. Not uncommon with short sale deals."

It's amazing to me how a bank sitting halfway across the country would want to be stubborn about this. On paper, the house may be worth what they say, but in reality, it isn't because of the condition it is in. It's only going to be worth what someone is willing to pay for it and apparently, our offer is the highest of the two the agent has ever received over the course of the 5 years for this property.

I am heading to the San Jose, CA area within the next couple of weeks with my parents. We are going to see some family members that we have not seen in over 30 years! This is my first trip out to CA so I'm uber excited to go. Best thing is that I have to pay zippo for the trip. My parents covered my flight costs since I'm going as a favor to them (they need a chaperone when they travel as they don't understand airports at all). We'll be staying with family so that covers lodging. I'll just spend a bit for souvenirs to bring back to the fam.

I am also hoping to have a nice small and simple vacation to the beach at the end of July. My in-laws wanted us to go with them but honestly, the chaos of vacationing with that whole side of the family is just not mine or DH's cup of tea. They are so "not us" when it comes to how to vacation, you know what I mean? We are simple and realistic, but they want all the bells and whistles (like only staying where the kitchen has granite countertops!) So, bless DH for telling his mom that we just can't go with all 11 of them again this year. I look forward to just DH and me taking our girls ourselves to stay in some modest hotel and enjoying simple family time without the roo-rah of fancy (and stupid) details.

I love seeing pictures on the blogs so here are some pics of the short sale house we just offered on:

Nasty roof:


Wallpaper everywhere:




Master bedroom:



Master bathroom with yucky toile wallpaper:


Nasty back porch:


Yucky garage:


Big but yucky kitchen:


Family room:

I'm doing it folks. In one hour, I'll be heading down to the realtor's office and we are submitting an offer on the potential short sale house! Ack! I'm completely nervous because of 2 things:

1) We haven't sold our current house yet! We'll have two houses and two mortgages. Yes, our house is on the market but no telling how long it will take to actually sell it. We decided that we would offer very low (like $100k lower than asking price) on this short sale and if they accepted, then great -- we'll then adjust our asking price of our current home to rock bottom and that should sell it pronto. If they don't accept the offer, then we'll walk away because of the following reason number 2...

2) This short sale house needs a TON of work done to it. It needs a new roof first and foremost. Then there is so much more to do outside and inside. It will drain our cash reserves to do all the work but we just love the house and its location. If we do get this house, it will be our forever home and we'll have the rest of our lives to make it ours.

Call us crazy or foolish but we've been searching and searching for years. This one keeps coming up on our radar and when the price came down low enough (due to the short sale potential), I just felt like it was meant to be... stay tuned to hear how this all turns out.