If you love the house that much, I would make an offer contingent on yours selling in a specified amount of time. The seller will probably want a "kickout" clause and will take backups, but you would still be able to remove the contingency if you want if they receive another offer. That house looks beautiful, I don't blame you for wanting it! I would call it Victorian style.

Good luck!

If you really LOVE this home, than you should make an offer with a contingent;just make sure not to get attach to this home, just in case you're unable to sell your home and the sellers get another offer. ( I hope this doesn't happen)

Wish you the Best of Luck !!

And that house does look great- no wonder why you love it so much.

jiggreen, I was in your shoes this summer. Husband and I weren't even thinking of selling but stumbled upon a beautiful house at an amazing price. Our seller wouldn't accept a home-sale contigency so we just had to take a deep breath and roll the dice. It all worked out for us, mainly because we priced very competitively--about 10% below comps. We used a flat-fee agency, so not having to pay a selling commission took some of the sting out of that price. But the important thing was that we sold fast and our mortgages only overlapped by a week.

First off, are you working with an agent? If so, maybe your agent could make some inquiries about the seller's timetable. Maybe a longer close would work better for them and give you some breathing room with your home sale. (This is what we did.)

If not, then I would make an offer with a good-sized escrow deposit (shows you're serious) and a home-sale contigency. I would structure the contigency so that if the seller received a non-contigent back-up offer you had 48 hours to either drop the contigency or cancel the contract.

Finally, you can tap into your current home's equity by opening up a HELOC (also something we did) and taking out the amount you need for the down payment. We did an interest-only HELOC with no upfront fees but a $300 fee if we closed the account within a year. It ended up costing us not very much money and we were able to stagger the closings so that we had about 10 days to move between the two homes.

One word of warning, though: You can not get any kind of home equity loan if your house is on the market. That's why you have to start the loan application well before you list.

I hope this helps! Good luck with the house. It's really beautiful.

I'd say you have a couple of options. We are afraid to put our house on the market (sellers market) before we find anything as we've been searching in the area where we are moving for the last 8 months and not found what we can afford and like at the same time. We are now starting to look at land and building.

Since we can afford to make the payments on both places our plan is one of the two below. We qualify for both.

1. Finance 100%. 80% regular mortgage and then 20% with a fixed interest with mainly interest paid and a balloon payment in a few years. Then when we sell the house we'd pay the 2nd mortgage off. No PMI required. This is our first option as the payment on the 2nd would be pretty low and interest isn't too bad either and it only involves one appraisal.

2. Do as mentioned above. Take out a home quity on our house and use that for a down payment and do a regular as above. However it would involve 2 appraisals.

ALERT critical error.
Figure out why you have fallen in love with the house and un-fall-in-love with it. Your emotions will cause you to do foolish things in haste. If it was meant to be, it will work out.

Wants and desires are a short lived buzz when satisfied.

If you REALLY like it, crunch the #'s and see if you can afford both, and if so how long could you do so...yes, you can make a contingency offer, but as a seller, i'd be skeptical of closing the deal, but would accept the contingency and continue to show house..
Now, if another offer comes along before you sell, you'll need to know your next step, hence crunching the #'s NOW

Unless you can afford to carry two houses indefinitely, or are willing to rent out one of them, you need to sell your house first. A contingency offer is just not a very reassuring prospect for you and might actually excite other buyers into making an offer.

SLOW DOWN!!

This house looks similar in style to my house. My house is about 100 yrs old. Is this house of similar vintage? You mentioned that it "needs some work". Are you familiar w/ working on houses? Are you familiar w/ working on 100 yr old houses? Are you familiar w/ contractors charging you extra for all of the "unique" features of your house?

Repairing and old house can be very costly!! I suggest that you talk to someone experienced w/ the challenges of owning a house like this. I can give you a list of things to consider but I may have stepped on your dreams enough already.

And whatever you do, DON'T purchase until you sold your current house.

Emotions when buying/selling a home is the worst thing you can do! The advice here probably would have been different a year or two ago when the market was in favour of seller's. However, it has taken a complete turn. Unless you can afford two mortgage payments for a year (that is the time period I would project for yourself), don't buy anything until you have your house sold first.

Also, check the comps in the area where your love house is. It could very well be that they are not getting snatched up and that you're emotions are getting the best of you.

Sell your house first!

jiggreen, find out what the market is doing in your area before allowing anyone else residing in a different region to declare your area a buyers or sellers market. Since real estate is regional, not every market is currently a buyer's market just as not every area has been a seller's market the last few years.

If you truly feel this house is "the one" for you, have your realtor run the comps on that house as well as the comps for your home. Find out what the average DOM are for that home as well as for yours. While the holidays traditionally may not be peak selling time, the people who look are normally serious buyers not lookie-loos. After all, you are prepared to purchase a home during the holiday season. :-)

Good luck.

"jiggreen, find out what the market is doing in your area before allowing anyone else residing in a different region to declare your area a buyers or sellers market."

Darn tootin'! Do folks remember a poster from a week or two ago--she had found a perfect house but was dithering on a few details? Plenty of people told her--don't worry, you'll probably be able to buy this house for less in a couple months.

The house went under contract with another buyer that weekend! Not everywhere is stalled, not every home will take a year to sell. I give the OP the benefit of the doubt that she is clued into her market.

I used to live (as a renter) in a house just like that - it was built in 1896, and I think it still had all the original insulation (that is, NONE). When it was windy there was a breeze inside the house. The electricity was not original to the house, it was added sometime in the 1930's (and was mostly 1930's-era quality). The plumbing was a nightmare - it took literally 30 minutes to draw a bath.

In the winter we kept the thermostat at 64, and even then the utility bills were outrageous. We had an occasional mouse or bat (I think they kept their numbers in check - when the bats ate all the mice, they ran out of food, when the mice got too numerous, they attracted bats) and there were also a lot of squirells in the attic.

But it had character, I'll give it that.

Well, I'd take a deep breath and figure out the best way to sell my house so I could buy this one. This is the great dilemma of real estate.... we want to make money on our sale and get a good price for a house we are buying, but we are also buying a HOME with all the connotations involved in what we think our home should be like. Sometimes these goals can appear to be at odds with each other, yet they are equally important.

If you really, really love that house, go see it again. Take tons of pictures and make many notations. Get your house on the market right away, and if you want to, make a contingent offer. Good luck, and I agree, the house (ahem.. HOME) is beautiful.

Toni

when the bats ate all the mice, they ran out of food, when the mice got too numerous, they attracted bats

bats don't eat mice. They eat bugs.

I'm w/ tonilynne. more info, another look at the house, and yes, a realistic, nonemotional assessment of actually what you would need to do.

Make a no nonsense offer contingent on selling your house and inspection.

Hire a really, really good inspector.

Price your house aggresively.

I hope you get it, and I hope it's everything your hoping for.

Nat :o)

I like sully6's advice.

It sounds like you can easily afford this beautiful house, since you're approved for the entire amount but plan to put down 20%.

Get your HELOC so you can have your downpayment (I did the same thing, it worked great) and make the contingent offer with the clause to remove the contingency if someone else makes a non-contingent offer. Have an attorney write up the offer so you're covered.

And congratulations on finding a house you LOVE. Personally I think it's all about emotion (with some financial smarts thrown in for good measure). Keep us posted and best of luck.

WOW! Thanks for all of the responses!!

I admit that I am letting my emotions rule my head, but...

DH and I have dreamed of owning a home like this one for a long time. We both went through divorces about 11-12 years ago, and have spent the time since then repairing the financial ruin that accompanies divorce. (Prior to my divorce, I did have the big, beautiful houses, all were brand new when I purchased them...I don't want to do that again). We paid 800.00 a month child support to his ex wife for years, my ex had our old house foreclosed on and my name was on that mortgage too, as well his blazer which he had repoe'd. DH and I drove beater cars, lived in rental apartments, finally purchased the home we live in now (a very large, gorgeous doublewide, but on rented land). And all this time we dreamed about one day having a house that would be a "forever" home...something that we could put our hearts, our money and our muscle into. When I first saw that house in the picture, my heart said...this is it, this is the one. And then we talked to the neighbors, and realized that it wasn't just the house, it was the street and the community that also was appealing to us. (walking distance to the appalachian trail, 2 blocks away from the center of town with little eateries and shops and a lake smack dab in the center of town, it's all quite "Mayberry-ish"!) I guess I sort of feel like, up until now, I've lived reality, now I want to live my dream.

We could conceivably afford both homes until ours sells, I could come up with the 25% down payment without selling my house, but I prefer to just use the equity in my current home. I do not currently have a mortgage, our place is owned free and clear with the exception of the monthly lot rent. The value on our mobile is about $70,000.00 right now and the asking price of the new home is $160,000.00. That would still leave me some cash after the 20% down payment and closing costs. The new house is in a different town, about 15 miles away, but both our town and the other town still have a fairly hot real estate market, prices are still going up. One plus in our favor is the low price of our current home. There is barely anything available (perhaps nothing) in our area for the price we are at. We have over 2000 square feet, 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, huge kitchen/family room combo, formal dining room, living room, and 1/4 acre (rented) lot. In addition, the amenities in the house are wonderful.....we have a jacuzzi tub in the large master bathroom, gorgeous cabinetry and built-ins in the family room. The house sits on a quiet cul de sac, we have a large deck, 2 sheds, and our home is in recently renovated, move-in condition. Granted, we do need to find our "niche" buyer, someone who wants all the things a $200,000.00 house in our area would offer, but in a much lower priced package. I call it, mcmansion taste on a mobile home budget! We've looked around and there just isn't really anything out there to compare our current home to. I'm hoping for a quick sale, and I'm willing to put off making any offer on the new home I want for a little while. I am afraid that the house we have our hearts set on will be gone when we are ready, but I'm also afraid of making a mistake. I'm pretty torn as to what to do! The old habit of "let's not do anything, because we wouldn't want to make a mistake" mentality is kind of kicking in. But i don't want to keep being that person, I want to be impulsive and jump in with both feet, but the old fears are holding me back. I realize that we might purchase a "money pit", but it's only money. We've thrown plenty of money away on things that didn't really matter to us in the past.....why shouldn't we throw money away on something that we've dreamed about for years? (plus, I really need that mortgage interest deduction...we get killed in income taxes just taking the standard deduction!)

jiggreen

P.S. our current home goes on the market this coming week, hopefully this will all be needless worrying and things will just fall into place!

I will disagree with several posters here. I don't think anyone should buy a house they haven't fallen in love with. It isn't just a business transaction, this is the place where you will be spending a good chunk of your life. It will be your home.

That doesn't mean that you should buy just because you have fallen in love. At that point, you do your homework on suitability, location, pricing, condition, etc. and be prepared to walk away.

If it is worthy of your love, that same characteristic will be an asset when you need to sell it as well.

We have never sold before buying. We are in our 6th home in 39 years. We have moved in many types of markets. Only once (our first sale) did we wind up owning 2 houses. We rented out the new one on short term rentals and continued to live in the one we were selling.

Do your homework on the selling end before you put in an offer. But move quickly.

I'm with Sharon, as long as you walk in with open eyes which it seems like you are doing as you seem to have thought it through.

It appears like you have your financials in order and if the monthly cost is low to rent the land and you can swing that for a worst case scenario of having to pay both every month then why not go for your dream. Have you talked to realtors about selling your current place and how long you could potentially be having to do it for?

Also you could still make an offer on the house that is for sale and ask to close in longer than standard time (around my area this is 30 days) to give you more time to sell yours. Maybe ask for a closing in 45-60 days. Though this all depends on the seller and how soon they want to move out.

It sounds to me like a great place and I've learned even new houses cost a lot of money because of things you have to add that are not there such as landscaping, blinds, etc.

What town are you in - you mentioned the Appalachian Trail - are you in WNC? That market is hot there, so I do think you need to act quickly. I have bought and sold many homes in my life and when I saw the one that really connected I acted very quickly. You don't need to depend on any of us here to give you encouragement/discouragement - you know in your heart what you are going to do.

Good luck, that house looks like it would make a beautiful home!

"Forever?"
Nothing is forever except death and regret so don't overpay for the house and sell your existing first unless you can afford the house without selling your existing at all. Don't turn way from the things you noticed about the house that subconsciously bother you (noise, traffic, lack of closet space), because they're not going anywhere either.

"It needs some work, so it is a bit under-priced for the area."

The others have given excellent advice. I'll speak about the issue above - one I'm all too familiar with. Mine & DH's first house was one that needed some work. It was smaller than the one you're contemplating. It is a beautiful house. But what type of work does it need? How much will it cost to do the work? Will you hire a contractor or will you & DH DIY? If you'll DIY, have you ever lived in a house that was being remodeled? If you're hiring a contractor, have you gotten any estimates? The amount of money you'd have left over after putting down 20% on the new home (if you sold your current home for the $70,000 mentioned) could easily be spent on improvement projects & you might still have things unfinished.

DH & I tried the DIY route to save money. It was okay at first, but after a while it became old. DH has a particularly demanding job & had to work weekends in addition to his already long week sometimes. Then there were the weekends when we just wanted to do something fun & not work on the house. It can make what might be a "small" project stretch into a lengthy one. It began to get on our nerves. We couldn't seem to clear the house of tools & materials because we always had a project going on. Do you & DH have the time & patience to live in that situation?

Be very honest with yourselves with regards to the work that needs to be done. When dealing with an old house, sometimes small projects turn out to be anything but that.

Someone else mentioned utility bills. You may want to check this out. DH & I added lots of insulation & storm doors. The previous owners had added energy efficient double paned windows. Still, our heating & cooling bills for the size of the house were high. During the summer our bill was only slightly less than my father's, even though his house was twice as large.

I'm certainly not trying to stifle your dreams. Just make sure you go into this with your eyes wide open. Like chrisdoc, I can give you a list of challenges you might face in owning a home like this. My sister used to dream of buying an old house & fixing it up - until she learned of the challenges & expense. If you're aware of the potential negatives & still love the house, go for it. Best wishes.

my two cents....GO FOR IT!

best of luck,
maryanne

I was in exactly your situation two years ago. We weren't really looking, but then found a house that was unique (it had won a major architecural award), and was perfect for us. And we knew it was not going to stay on the market long. We put in a full-price bid contingent on selling our house, and lost out to someone who made a full-price offer with no contingency. A week later our realtor called and told us the successful bidder had left the country on a business trip, and had not completed the deal before leaving. The seller was willing to cancel the winning offer and let us have it...if we went with no contingency. We decided to say 'yes,' even though we did not have our own house on the market. The only saving feature was that the house was being leased and the lease had 3 months to run before we had to close. We put our house on the market on November 1st and got an offer in the first week...that fell through. We got another offer in December...that fell through. We moved into the new house in January, with our old house still on the market.

Even though the market was hotter 2 years ago, Thanksgiving, Xmas, and the first months of the year are not a good time to try to be selling. To make a long story short, it took 2-1/2 months after we moved to sell our old home, and it only sold because we agreed to come down in price by about 8%. Fortunately, we had no mortgage on the old home, but all of our equity was tied up until we sold. We had to take out a humongous interest-only bridge loan, and had about $2300 going out the door in payments each month for the privilege of owning two houses. In addition, we had utility payments and property taxes to pay for both houses, and had to drive across town to check on the old one a couple of times a week to clean up muddy footprints, clean sinks that had been used and left dirty, lock doors that had been left unlocked, and turn down the heat that had been cranked up.

So how do we feel in retrospect? Great! We are really glad we did it, and still love the new house. It was nerve-wracking to have a huge (temporary) mortgage that we had to pay for out of savings, and it was annoying to have to keep checking up on the old house. But it was worth it.

As long as you know what you might be getting into, go for it. Just have a backup plan. If the seller doesn't take a contingency offer, are you prepared to make another offer that's not contingent? (You could make an offer that is not contingent, but gives a closing date several months off.) And how long are you able to handle having two houses, both financially and emotionally?

Location is unchangeable: this house is on a great street.

Check out all your options, but emotions (which aren't a terrible way to pick a house) are important too: you ought to love a new home!

I'm about to have two mortgages too. The nice thing about yours is, if you can't sell the old place fast, you'll have somewhere to stay when fixing up the new place!

Good luck! It does seem awfully appealing!

Two years ago my husband and I found a house that I had to have. Our realtor was relentless that we put in an offer without contingencies and take out a bridge loan and told us how and why we should do this. First, we did not HAVE to move, we WANTED to move and we did not want to take a risk no matter how great the market was. My husband told her under no circumstances were we taking out a bridge loan, because if we did and our house did not sell, we wouldn't have to worry about either house, we'd be living under the bridge. We made a contigent offer and the sellers accepted. Put our house on the market the following week FSBO and sold in 32 days. Our thought was, if it's meant to be it will be. If we're meant to have this house, our house will sell, if not, we're meant to stay put for whatever reason and we'll find out why later.

Friends of ours built a house and put their home up for sale rather far into the building process thinking it would sell quickly. That was 14 months ago, they moved into their new house in June (it was completed in February). They have been paying interest only payments for months, double utilities, taxes...everything. They are in a negative cash flow monthly and may put the new house up for sale and hopefully sell one before they lose both.

Of course it depends on your financial situation, but why pay so much extra to keep 2 homes up and running. IMO, you're burning money. You need to make the best decision for financial well being. No home is worth losing everything over. Just my 2cents.

True, no house is worth losing everything.
But some things are worth taking a financial risk.

It's wonderful that you're feeling the love -- I think that's worth something -- a lot really. Just be sure you're also being clear-headed about the financial risks, the amount of work, and the amount of "time and money play" you have in your equation. In other words, make sure that the "worst case scenario" won't drag you all the way under.

You've scrambled before. And if this house makes you willing to scramble again, then go for it! And Good Luck!

I've been thinking and thinking all week, and still am "feeling the love" for that house. We haven't done anything to initiate a contract on it yet, though. I am heeding everyone's advice and not jumping right in, instead we are weighing all of our options. As of right now, that house is still on the market, and ours is not yet on the market. We're hard at work getting ours "for sale ready", and we're getting close. We discovered a leak in our master bedroom shower, so we are trying to tackle that as well as repair the subflooring in that bathroom today. I told DH, that if all else fails and we end up having to live here for a while longer while we sell this and wait to either move or find a different house, then at least we've done all the stuff that we've put off for years! I must admit our current place is looking great. Isn't it funny how people really get going on projects that they've put off for so long once they decide to sell? I lived without flooring in our dining room for almost a year, and this past week we put flooring down and i love it!

Uh Oh...DH is giving me the evil eye for taking a break while he is working his butt off! Bye for now!

jiggreen

My husband and I, several years ago, fell in love with a house like that. We put a contract on it that day. We lived there very happily, in spite of having to put on a new roof, rebuild the chimney, replace the windows, put up two new ceilings when the bathroom leaked everywhere, etc. It was completely worth it to have that front porch, the beamed ceilings, the stained glass, all the architectural details. We only moved because after we had children, we found the yard was way too small. Now we live in a newer low maintenance house. It's big, it's in a great location, but it's just a house.

If you can swing it, and you love it, I say go for it.