New lucky number: 16
We got it! Signed!
Not without last minute drama, of course. First offer was declined, with no counteroffer. Our agent called back to make a new offer - about 1/3 closer to the asking price from our original offer. At that time, the listing agent said there was another offer on the table, which he hadn’t mentioned before (but should have). Our agent was able to feel him out a bit and got the impression the other offer was between 5 and 10k less than the list price. So it was time for the best offer - which we decided was 5k below the list price, plus waiving the $4k allowance for fixing the root-lifted part of the driveway.
The seller accepted the offer, and our agent (with the listing agent’s permission) drove the contract up to the house to have the seller sign it right away - “not that we don’t trust you, but we’ve been burned on verbal agreements twice already”. So it is signed!
Our agent got to chat with the seller a bit as well - she was telling him all about how great the neighbors are, the history of the house, etc. He recommends that we meet her to hear it all in person. She also has some antiques that she won’t be able to take with her to her new smaller home, she’s going to make a list.
Apparently we beat the other offer by $1k - not sure why they didn’t try to bid us up further, but we’re glad they didn’t. The other offer was from a couple moving here from New York who have never seen the house - they’re taking their agent’s word for it. I can’t imagine doing that! It would worry me a bit as a seller, what happens if they hate it when they see it - maybe that helped us.
The seller had a pre-inspection done and will go ahead and have those things repaired - damaged siding spots, repaint the concrete porch floor and power wash/re-stain the decks, fix a little bit of termite damage. Hopefully this means no surprises once we do our inspection. As long as it appraises, we should be set.
Eep!