It looks like a great house Lars. I wish you and Kevin the best of luck!

That does look like a great house, Lars, and the kitchen is way bigger than the one you have now.

Good luck, I'll be watching to see if you get it.

Annie

Hey, good luck with your bid. Looks like a great house for entertaining.

I agree, looks like a great house and I know you will love the extra space in the kitchen. Sending postive vibes to you and Kevin that it all works out! Guess you will have to plant some new fruit trees...I know you have lemon for sure and???

David

Good Luck! Sounds like a great home.
I hope it is yours!

Love it Lars and what a great kitchen. Fingers crossed for you!

It looks really good and Westchester is such a nice neighborhood! I'm shocked that you're leaving the beach area, but will think positive thoughts that this house will become yours!

Very cool! Good luck Lars and Kevin!

Don't fret Lars, if not this house, you can find another one you like just as well -- and prices are continuing to come down.

Looks like a great house Lars and with a nice private back patio and lawn area.

Kitchen is spacious and well planned too! Hope you get it.

SharonCb

Good luck, Lars. They will pick the bid that offers the most. Not necessarily the most financially. You already have a strong financial position, now see if you can do anything to make your closing date strong too. Do they want to get out asap? Make a short closing date. Do they need to stay for a bit, school year kind of thing? Make your closing date more flexible. When all things are equal, it often comes down to who has the best closing agreement.
Crossing my fingers for you.
Jo

Keeping my fingers crossed for you, too!! Looks like a great place....

Fingers crossed for you both!

Alexa

Good luck, Lars! That is a very cute house! Love the gardens, too!

Linda

Lars, Here's what you get in my neighborhood in that price range:

Here is a link that might be useful: Odessa, Florida

It's a darling house and it looks like a nice neighborhood. I hope you get it, but as others have said, there is more than one house out there for you. I can't get over what real estate costs in CA. My son bought a fixer in Ventura for $750,000. Now that he has fixed it, I wonder what it is worth.

I love the yard and the kitchen!

We've been watching HGTV lately, and we're shocked at the low prices in other parts of the country. The good thing is that when we decide to move to in our retirement, we can sell here and be able to afford something nicer somewhere else - we're thinking Mexico at the moment. That house in Odessa is gorgeous, but we have to live close to work!!

Thanks for the good thoughts! If we don't get this house, I think it will be a while before we find something as nice, although I do know that that would be possible. I don't know how much lower the prices are going to go, but the good thing is that we got a good interest rate, which makes our payments affordable.

We're definitely flexible with the closing date, etc. We told them May 31, but they might want to stay in the house for the month of June and pay rent, and we said we would be okay with that. They don't have to sell in order to buy, but they do have to buy in order to move.

Westchester is not all that far from the beach, but it is a slightly different microclimate; i.e. it will be slightly warmer in the summer, but at least we will have ceiling fans. I like the vaulted ceiling in the den area. We were looking in Culver City before, but we found much nicer houses and neighborhoods in Westchester.

Lars

Lars,

I think it's a darling house also! And, it's move-in ready. That's a huge positive, IMO. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you! The kitchen is great & you've got plenty of room for a couple fruit trees.

I think the price is reasonable. It's probably down 20%-30% from spring '06.

We could not come close to that price in our area for a renovated home.

Here's a listing for a 1950s ranch just down the cove from us. Anyway, to clarify the location, it's within the 06355 zipcode. That means that this home lies within the area known officially as "Historic Mystic - Settled 1654". Part of "Historic Mystic..." is within the town of Groton & the other half is in the town of Stonington. It was confusing so the USPS gave us our own zipcode. From the pictures, this house needs (by our prices) about $50K in landscaping renewal & another $100K-$125K to upgrade the interior (assuming the roof & HVAC do not need replacing).

Alexa, the farmhouse is wonderful. It would be magnificent restored & with gardens. Have you had a chance to do any research on the property at the historical center?

Cathy, I know Florida's real estate market is suffering but, gosh, that house you posted seems really inexpensive to me!

Please let us know if you offer is accepted, Lars.

/tricia (crossing fingers & toes for Lars & Kevin!)

Here is a link that might be useful: 1950s Ranch

I couldn't find a house near me for exactly the same price as yours, but here is one that's close. I think it is a horrible house. I have a feeling it would be a knock-down because the lot is large and flat. I can't imagine anyone paying the price they are asking for this house, as-is.

Here is a link that might be useful: Ugly house for sale

Lars , I'm rooting for you mostly becasue I can't bear the thought of you being sad......not you.

Sharon

Hey Lars!!
I was thinking of you and Kevin the other day...I was watching house hunters and the couple chose the house in Venice Beach!!
Tried to spot you when they did some exterior shots LOL!!

I really like the house. Its very nice and I love the outside patio...as well as the kitchen!

Good luck to you and Kev!!

Cheers!
Susie

Good luck on this, Lars. It will be so nice to be closer to work, and there's room for new fruit trees.

I'm sending you and Kevin all the good MoJo I can conjure up! It's a great house. If you guys get the house I'm sure will have a great time with all the storage space.

I'm with Chase on this one. I can't bear the thought of you being sad.

Lars, I'm so in hopes you get this house, mainly because you want it so bad. You will really love that kitchen after what you have now. And I can't imagine being three minutes from work. That's a real plus that I've never had. Please keep us informed. I can't wait to see you get the house and get it decorated to suit your tastes. I know it will be lovely.

We can get even more for the money here than Cathy can, but that doesn't help you at all. Most of us have to bloom where we are planted at least until we retire. And there's a downside no matter where we live. Good luck to you and Kevin on getting this house!

Beverly

Lars and Kev, I also have everything crossed and hope you will get the house. It will be fabulous to have more room and you two will be great at making your own. The kitchen with all the cabinets and countertop will be a dream.

I'll be watching for updates.

Lee

Lars, I hope you do get the home. I really like the wood floors, kitchen and the yard. The commute to work is worth the price alone IMHO. Good luck!

Lars, that house is lovely. I'm keeping my figures crossed that you get it.

Ann

Oooh, that's a nice kitchen. I'm planning on showing up with marshmallows to roast in the cute little firepit after the open house BBQ you'll want to throw for us all! (if only we could all transporter there)
Hope it comes thru for you (fingers crossed)
Lisa

Here's a house near me for a similar price to what you would be paying.... still keeping my fingers crossed for you!

Alexa

Here is a link that might be useful: development house

Lars, that house looks great! Hope things fall into place for you -

Good luck Lars. Is it your first house? Be sure to let us know if you got it.
Sherry

Yes, it is my first house, and my rent went up in April to an outrageous amount. So... we qualify for FHA, which I think is really good.

It was great seeing the other houses in other parts of the country in my price range - I liked them all - even the one that Pam didn't! It just had horrible decor, but that could be fixed. I can't believe anyone lives with vertical blinds inside their house!!

Susie, Kevin and I also watched the House Hunters where the couple bought a house in Venice. That house today would be twice what they paid for it, and Kevin and I couldn't believe that they didn't want to live in Venice, but then we prefer Venice to Santa Monica. Right now we live on Abbot Kinney, and so it's a very walkable neighborhood, but there's also a lot of traffic. In Westchester, the neighborhood is extremely quiet, and we could ride our bikes comfortably in the residential neighborhood. I'm a bit tired of the beach bike paths because I have too many accidents on them - there are always too many pedestrian tourists getting in my way walking on paths that are clearly marked "BIKES ONLY"!

There was another bid on the house, and today both of us got counters from the sellers asking us to name our best offer, and so we will be making that offer tomorrow. Whoever bids higher will win, and we should know by Friday. We had already bid about as much as we could at the beginning, and so we asked our sister if she could help us. She said she could lend us up to $25,000, but I don't think we will need more than $15,000 for what we plan to offer. We're going to drop the $15,000 back for closing costs. We'll get $8,000 back on a tax credit, and that can go a long way to paying our sister back. I think she really wants us to get this house, and if we do, we will have a nice guest room for her and her husband when they come to visit! I've searched the rest of Westchester, and I can't find anything comparable for anywhere near the price, and so I'm not completely surprised that the price is going up. If we do get it, I expect it to increase in value quite a bit in the next couple of years.

Thanks for all your positive thoughts! I really do think we have a good chance, and I checked my transits, and they are excellent!! I told the real estate agent about this, and she told me that her sister is an astrologer, and both of them follow this as well. I only hope that my transits are stronger than the transits of the other buyer.

P.S. I'm extremely nervous now and am on pins and needles! I was almost sick at my stomach at work trying to figure things out, but I've relaxed a lot more now that I'm home. We have to meet with the agent first thing in the morning to sign more papers, but her office is between here and where I work, and so it's not out of the way for me, although it is for Kevin.

Lee, I'm sorry to say that we will be postponing our trip to Denver if we get this house, and I was so looking forward to seeing you, but we will definitely book another trip there in the near future. Our cousin there is going to have heart surgery (not as drastic as yours, I think) in the next couple of weeks, and so it might be best to wait to visit her as well.

Lars

Lars, as much as I truly want to see you and Kevin, I really, really hope you get the house. I understand the rent increase too - we are facing that in the next few months at our store, and the increases from our new California owner are insane in this or any other economy. Our landlord is a major CA real estate player.

If the trip doesn't work out for May I will just hope it can be sometime this year. I'm sure you know that Tony's is opening an edge of downtown Denver location in May. It's been on our news that the new store will bring 70 more jobs into Denver.

Wishing you the best for the house,

Lee