Today I checked out two houses. One I keep calling the "Mexican Church" because when you look at the front that is the impression I get. It has this great stone front with a peak in the middle. The second is a possible short sale house where the owner started to work on the house but did a half ass job at it. I will give him credit for the effort, redoing a house is a huge undertaking.
"Mexican Church" - like I said I love the front but I did know going in this house was priced WAY over my comfort zone for a mortgage (not that spending $100K is nothing to me but WOW!). It is listed as a 3 bedroom 1 1/2 bath with full basement. I must say the realtor that listed this house was creative but I guess you need to be. We walked in expecting a dog by the name of "Pickles" (cute name for a dog - must remember that) but no dog. First impression - small living room & my God what is that smell?? We poke around more & see two bedrooms and a bathroom to the right. Straight back is the dining room then a decent size kitchen with a fireplace - very cute & unexpected. Bedrooms and bathroom needed some updating but the kitchen needed to be gutted!
We go to the basement and are immediately hit with an overwhelming smell of what I think is mildew. The so called half bath is nothing other than a toilet in a makeshift room. This is what my sister's boyfriend called the "men's bathroom"...I called it disgusting. I can only imagine that prisons have better bathrooms that's how bad this was.
Finally making our way up to the third bedroom, it is HUGE with a smell to match. I could barely get up the stairs because of the horrible smell. If you've ever been in a kennel or a pet store that is badly kept you konw the smell. I couldn't believe that someone lived like this, to say the house was dirty was an understatement! It was beyond filthy. I couldn't get out of there fast enough.
I needed fresh air before passing out, while outside we contemplated pitching a tent in the very large back yard, tearing down the house and rebuilding from scratch. But I will admit I'm not a patient person there is no way I could wait for all that to happen. So let's move on...
The next house is listed as a 3 bedroom 1 bath with a partially finished basement, newer kitchen and bathroom, main floor laundry, a fireplace and a stand alone garage. The house is adorable from the outside so I checked out the backyard first and I was pleasantly surprised. It is a good size with plenty of space for the kids to play or have some people over for a gathering. After finally getting in the front door the space is open and flows well from the living room to dining room to kitchen. There is a bedroom just off the dining room, good size, then the one & only bathroom in the house is off the bedroom with an entrance from the bedroom & another towards the front of the house off this strange little hallway by the front door. The stairs are right by the front door so you could open the door & go right up...odd. There are another two rooms upstairs, one a bedroom the other technically cannot be considered one as there is no closet. The upstairs is a bit like an attic with the slanted ceilings and only 1 bedroom up there.
So the house is technically a 2 bedroom 1 bath with a den perhaps an office which can work especially since the basement can be finished out to form another room, playroom maybe for the kids.
After a complete look throughout the house (twice), taking pictures of everything and everything just in case, talking to my sister, mom & sister's boyfriend I've decided to put in an offer. While standing out by my truck we discuss what kind of an offer I want to put in and he's surprised even after I've told him several times my philosophy of being able to go up in an offer but that I can never go down.
Starting low, especially in this economy with a house in possible short sale, makes sense!
BUT the realtor that I've been using is having issues with what I want to put in as an offer. I thought the buyer's realtor job was to make sure the buyer got what they wanted which means putting in an offer where I want it. I'm the one that knows where I'm comfortable and I'm the one that is paying the bills!!!
Since I haven't signed any paperwork I can go to another realtor but I feel terrible but on the other hand he is there to help me find a house not help the seller move the house. So when we got back to my mom's my sister called another realtor that she knows and will put in any offer I request to put in on a house. This is what I believe a buyer's realtor should be doing not worrying about what the house is listed for vs what offer I want to put in.
Oh well...we'll see if the first realtor calls tomorrow if not I have an appointment set up to meet with the second realtor my sister called. He'll put in any offer I want which is what I need.
Which one will help me buy my first house?
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