wooo Hooo! You go girl! sleep tight!

Congrats! Please tell me that you also put a kick out clause into the contract!

Woot! As I was waiting for the page to load I was thinking "Please let it say they got an offer." I am so happy for you. And I know that it is hard not to focus on the drop in price but you did quite well to get them up to $304,000.

We ended up reducing by $11,000 then coming down another $22,000 during negotiations. I was very mad at the time but we decided it was more important to be able to move on than to sit around waiting for the price we wanted. It was a good move as the houses are starting to drop. One comparable house was reduced $30,000 and is still on the market. And the house across from us, which is also comparable, was just listed almost $40,000 less
than what ours sold for. Now I am thinking that we made out pretty good!

Fingers crossed that the buyers sell their condo and all the other conditions are removed so you can focus on your new home without the stresses of selling.

Congratulations :-)

You got over 98% of list! Remember, their offer is based on $309K they know nothing of the $319K original listing price (and you got over 95% of THAT list price), so their offer was marvelous as long as the contingencies are not too restrictive.

Best wishes for a smooth closing.

As others mentioned I hope you have a kick-out clause.

... and Congratulations - which should have come first if I had any manners at all.

Well Celle, what a nice way to wake up today to see good news! I'm so happy for you! Guess that dust worked! Woo hoo!

So, with this offer you can still show on the MLS so you get showings?

From what you've posted, it seems the Canada market isn't as bad as the US; so hopefully them having to sell won't hurt anything. In our NJ market, I wouldn't have accepted the offer.

Good luck & Keep us posted.

sorry about missing the "h" in your name! Saw it when I hit submit.

Guess I need more coffee.

Chelle:

Congrats. I was checking here daily because I knew you would be getting an offer soon.

It was very fun to read your posts (even while you were stressed out) and you have been very gracious with constructive feedback from others.

You did very well negotiating and came to a very good price agreement. Congrats again.

Please keep us up to date on the sale and closing.

Thanks for the support everyone! :)

Yes, we definitely have a kick-out clause. We'll continue to market and show our home, and if we get a better offer, these people have 24 hours to remove their conditions or they have to walk away.

We've also given them 1 week to get their financing firmed up and remove that condition, and they have until the next day to do their home inspection. So, hopefully by Wednesday the only condition we'll be dealing with is their condo sale.

I'm not unhappy with the price. We bought it for $285K only 3 years ago, so that's not a bad return. And we're fortunate that we have over 50% equity in the house, the bank is happy to let us bridge for however long, so we're not pressed for time with a closing date. Our market isn't quite as bad as the US, but we're getting there. "Take the money and run" was our thought process in this deal!

I have to say though, as much as I've fussed about my realtor's performance, he really pulled through in the negotiation process. He's in Remax Canada's top 100 negotiators, and I see why. I thought he was going to rip their agent's head off when she first came in at $290, LOL.

So, a lot can still happen in the coming weeks, but we're certainly one step closer than we were yesterday.

I do hope it works out though, they really love the house. They sound like a nice couple, and they have a 7mth old baby girl. It'll be a great house for a growing family.

Thanks again for the support!

Wow, those turnaround times are really tight! Our kick-out clause on the house we bought was 72 hours (3 days). In my neck of the woods, 7 days is the norm for completing the inspections. The next day? How can you get an inspector that fast??

terrig,

I think they have a week plus a day to get the inspection.

I want to make sure I understand correctly - they have to remove the financing condition within a week. No problem there if they don't have another house to sell. However, unless they are very well off and have a huge stash of cash, how can they remove that condition if their condo has not sold?

sparksals.. they are two separate conditions, well three actually. One is on financing. They were pre-approved at a certain amount, and they need a few thousand more. The condition of their house sale is a separate condition. So even if they get the extra financing, they still need to sell their current house before they can remove that condition. but basically, if they don't get the financing, the other two conditions are moot... they'd have to back out.

With regards to the home inspection, yes.. you can pretty much get a home inspector on a moment's notice around here. That's not a big deal.

In the meantime, it looks like we have another offer coming in tonight! They're aware there is a conditional offer on the house, so if they want it, they have to make it good (and hopefully unconditional!)

Chelle, I'll hope that it's as good as the last one with no contingencies.

We actually had a bidding war between the current buyer/owner & someone that came the day after we started negotiating. Couple 1 came in at $207k, couple 2 went up to $210k, with couple 1 doing the same. We then stopped it as the house had to appraise, nothing was selling so there were no comps. We knew we could get them higher but neither had cash to make up the difference if the house didn't appraise, so we chose by who had the better loan. It ended up backfiring, couple 2 pulled out during attorney review; no reason why, couple 1 was still interested but only with the $207k we were about to sign when offer 2 came in.

Will cross my fingers & toes for you!

Thanks rose! Well, Conditional Offer #2 came in at 7:30 last night. They came in at $307K ($3K more than the first), but with pretty much all the same conditions... except a closing date a month earlier than the first (August 28 rather than Sept 28). We considered it carefully, and decided that #2 was more stable, as these people are a little older, have an existing single family home with a fair amount of equity (so they say). Couple #1 are very young, and they had to re-submit their whole financing over a few thousand dollars. The also have a condo to sell, and considering their age, probably don't have much equity in it.

Anyway, we countered at $309 with the conditions intact - and they accepted. We have given people #1 their 48 hours notice. I thought we had given them 24 in the offer (our agent prefers 24, but their agent insisted on 48, which I forgot).

Their condo doesn't even go on the market until today, so there's a pretty good chance they're going to have to pull out. Though, I'm told they are disappointed as their financing was approved yesterday.

I don't know, this may backfire on us too... you just never know, do you? If it all goes through, we'll end up getting 99.7% of our asking price.

People #2 have until July 17 to remove their financing and home inspection conditions, and until August 10 to sell their home. How they're going to do an August 28 closing I don't know, I hope they get approved to bridge as well.

So, of course we were hoping for a firm deal, but at least we're getting there, slowly!

Thanks again for the support :)

Holy cow, I just got a message from my agent. Couple #1 is going to firm up!

Sounds like things are finally happening for you guys, Chelle! Could you send any left over magic dust in my direction? I just found out my mom could have lung cancer [collapsed lung with a mass, further testing required] and I want to get to town even more so I can be closer. Yikes! This waiting with absolutely nothing happening is frustrating!

Good luck and blessings!

Sweeter, I'm so sorry to hear about your mom :( Hopefully they caught in an early stage. That's scary.

We still have nothing confirmed here. Couple #1's agent has 'said' they want to firm up, but they haven't committed to it yet... they're within their 48 hour window. I'll feel better when I start seeing some signed stuff :p

What if couple #1 firms up, yet their condo doesn't sell. In that case, you keep their earnest money but they can't close, right? This isn't too good - it is still a risk that they can't close the deal and the only different between removing the current contingency and 'firming up' is the fact that you get to keep earnest money.

i was selling and had a buyer's agent willing to remove the contingency of the buyer having to sell their home, and she commented that this(removing contingency) would simply mean the buyer would lose their earnest money if they couldn't sell their home (thus, couldn't buy mine).

Chell, I think your preference is buyer#2. If buyer #1 firms up within the 48 hours and follow all rules, then see if your agent can have buyers #2 secured as a back-up contract.

If buyer#1 doesn't follow all the needed rules to firm up, then maybe you should toss them in favor of buyer #2.

I wonder if 48 hours excludes Sundays (or Saturdays)?

How much earnest money do you have from buyer#1?

Wow, very exciting! Good luck!

Ok, I have an update! Couple #1 couldn't firm up, so they've pulled out. It's probably just as well, that one felt very shaky to me. I feel kinda bad that they got bumped like that, but, then I remember the lowball offer they first came in with (20K under asking price), and I don't feel quite so bad ;)

So, we're dealing with couple #2 now, which we feel better about. Plus, we're getting 5K more than the first offer. We drove by their house tonight, it's a decent little starter home (bungalow), sitting on a HUGE lot. They shouldn't have too much trouble selling it.

They have until Thursday (17th) to do their home inspection and remove the financing conditions. Then they have till August 10 to remove the condition of their home sale. They're asking for an Aug 28 closing, so they must be going to bridge. Even if they sold their house tomorrow, the chances of them closing on their house by then is slim to none. According to their realtor, they have a good chunk of equity in their home, so it should be fine.

I think the rules of closing are a little more lax in the US. In Canada, if you don't honour your contract and close on the scheduled date, it's not just a matter of losing your deposit. You're on the hook for the whole thing. You guys also use title companies to handle the transactions, and here we use actual attorneys (mandatory). Only under extraordinary circumstances does a house not close when it's supposed to. In fact, I've never known anyone who got burned after a contract has been signed, sealed and delivered.

The risks still lie in the conditions being removed in their time frames, and until that time, we continue to show the house. Their realtor says he should be able to firm everything up in 10 days... we'll see!

Congrats Chelle! I'm glad it's working out!

Well, it ain't over, and these people are turning out to be PITAs. They had until today to remove their home inspection and financing conditions. They didn't want to hire a real home inspector, so they had my agent do some questionnaire thing about any known problems... which we did earlier this week. They wanted to do an walk-through from 1:30 - 2:30 today with their realtor, to do their own 'inspection'. No problem. My realtor made a point of being there during that time.

I got home at 2:30 and they were still there but just leaving. There's also a home inspector there. Okay. My realtor calls me in while they hang outside, and goes over a few minor things that need fixing. The screen on the basement window had a little tear I didn't know was there. No biggie. A hinge needed on the door from the garage, per bylaw. No problem.

And - apparently there are 3 VERY superficial cracks in the foundation. The kind you get from the foundation settling. You'd probably be able to find at least a few in any house you looked at. They're not causing any structural or leaking problems. They know it, we know it, and the inspector knows it. But, they took the opportunity to try to get us to knock $5K off our price. There is also a couple VERY small chips in the grout in the main bathroom, and they wanted that all re-done. Our realtor told them to blow it out their ass (not in those words). He told their realtor that not another penny was coming off the house, so if they want to walk - do it now and stop wasting our time.. and that we'd go back to our first buyers that they bumped out. He grudgingly crossed those last 2 items off the list.

The house is 12 years old - give me a break. We're building a brand new home, and our site superintendent told us to EXPECT a few foundation cracks from settling. They'd come back 48 month later and assess if they were worth fixing or not.

Anyway, these people still have to sign the release for the financing and home inspection conditions.. and I haven't got word that they've done that yet, so we'll see.

They're also wanting an August 28 closing which means if they're removing their financing conditions that means they've gotten approved to bridge, but they're going to drag out the house sale condition until their August 10 cutoff date JUST FOR THE FUN OF IT.

ugh.....

I'm not saying whether or not these people had valid concerns or are or are not a PIA but

Well, it wasn't everything we'd hoped it would be.. but at least it's something.
A few hours and a lot of negotiating later, we agreed on $304,000.

Huh?

Offer #2 came in at 7:30 last night. They came in at $307K
which means if they're removing their financing conditions

Do you realize how lucky you are? 307 on 309 would be fantastic in almost any market 3 years ago.

I feel glad for you but I'm feeling a little sympathy for the buyers too.

marys, I know I sound a bit like an ingrate, but the thing to understand is the market isn't quite as bad here as it is in the US.... yet. It's definitely softening, but the average DOM here is I think around 56, and houses are generally selling within 98-99% of asking price. We also already reduced 10K, and an identical house down the street recently sold for $317. We lose a little by being on a corner lot, which I understand, but I wouldn't want to go much under $304.

I'm more concerned with the multiple conditions on both offers that we got. Conditional on financing, insurance, home inspection, house sales, etc. I understand the home inspection, and as our house isn't in the 'starter' range, the odds of a buyer having a house of their own to sell are pretty good. But financing? Whatever happened to getting pre-approved before you go out looking? Maybe it's just me, but I wouldn't dream of putting an offer in on a house before I had my financing lined up. Anyway...

I'm more anxious about getting it wrapped up. I'm at the point where I need to start packing, and I need to focus on our own move rather than showing the house and having it spotless 24/7. I fully understand why some people get to a point where they take their house off the market temporarily until they get themselves moved out.

Maybe it's done differently here, but when i'm buying a home , even though I've been pre-approved for a specific loan amount, I still put a financing contingency in a contract for a home I'm purchasing. I don't remove that contingency until loan committment. Here, pre-approval means the bank took a cursory look at your finances and says yes you can afford a home for x amount of dollars. Committment comes after the bank has looked at everything in depth and had an appraisal done etc. I personally would never dream of removing the financing contingency with just a pre-approval letter, because quite frankly in this real estate climate, anything can happen. But then again, maybe in Canada it's different.

cordova, it may depend on the bank, or how good a relationship you have with them, but whenever I've got a pre-approval, it's a green light all the way. Actually, I don't know anyone who has gotten pre-approved, then had to go back in to have it finalized.

I think the case with our two people was, the first people were pre-approved to a certain amount, but ended up needing a few thousand extra. The current people were also pre-approved, but needed the green light to bridge, which would explain their closing date.

When most folks are pre-approved, they still put the financing contingency into the contract. This is because financing can fall through for many reasons - such as the property doesn't appraise for enough, survey issues that make the bank back out, with condos there are all kinds of things with rental percentages and reserves, etc, etc.

Also, even if you are pre-approved, it is possible that you lose your job 15 days before closing. If the bank finds out and if you can't pass their financial requirements, then they won't finance the purchase.

Congraulations, Chelle. I guess you'll be getting into packing mode now and excited about your new home. Will we be seeing you on the decorating board soon?