13 is good
Saturday morning Jeff stopped in a local real estate office and got us an agent - buyer’s agent for the buying, and listing agent assuming the buying goes forward.
Saturday afternoon we looked at the house again with the agent, and he helped us put together an offer - $5k below the listing price, promise of quick closing, not contingent on selling our current house (which our agent thinks will be no problem). There were two other offers as well, but our agent said he thought we had a 90% chance of success, based on the tips and tidbits he could get out of the seller’s agent.
This afternoon they called to counteroffer at $2k below the listing price - we said yes, and have signed the updated papers. The seller lives an hour plus away so probably won’t get to sign the papers until tomorrow. Assuming he doesn’t have a wild change of heart, we should be under contract by dinnertime tomorrow. Inspection, the next likely hurdle, is scheduled for Friday. We’re waiting for a call back from a mortgage broker to get pre-approved (even though it’s Sunday). Closing on or about 8/8!
We’ve also signed the papers to put our current house on the market, probably next weekend if the inspection on the new house goes well. Our agent suggested a listing price that is almost 50% more than what I paid for the place four years ago! He thinks at that price it will take a few weeks or a month to sell, which would work with our goal of having some time to get the windows replaced in the new place before moving in. If we are ready to move and still haven’t sold, we can drop the price. This agency works a lot in our small town (they handled my purchase of the house) so we’re assuming they know what they’re talking about! Apparently the last few weeks have been very hot and he thinks we can take advantage of that.
Yikes!