A few weeks ago the wife found a house for sale she liked. By coincidence, they were having an open house that weekend. We went. We looked. We loved the place. It was a bit bigger than we need at our stage in life, but it was as close to a dream house as we could get in our price range.
I called the mortgage company to see if we could make it happen financially. We scheduled another visit to the house. We liked it even better.
I spent a few days traveling on business. The wife wanted to look at some other houses, because that is the way she shops. Compare, contrast, compare again -- then think about it for a long time before you repeat the whole compare thing. That is just the way things are and after almost 30 years of marriage I know her decision making process is not going to change.
We got a pre-approval letter from the mortgage company and finally made an offer. So did another party. The sellers came back and said, "give my your best offer".. We upped the ante a bit. We offered the asking price.
We live in a small town and through the grapevine we learned the sellers were showing the house again Monday evening -- after they looked at the offers from the two they already had on the table. A third party offered more than the asking price and we lost out on the house. I have no doubt the sellers told the people viewing the house what they needed to offer to get the property. No one offers more than the asking price without a hint or two.
My wife cried.
I know what happened, but I cannot prove it.
The fatalist in me opines that it was just not meant to be. The realistic me is more than a little disappointed.
6 comments:
That sucks, Joe.
May there be something even better in the future.
Having been in the RE biz, yes, they were told that they had an offer at the asking price, so they would have to offer a higher one. It sucks doing it that way, but happens when either the selling agent or the sellers are greedy mofo's. Best of luck if you guys decide to keep looking!
Sorry man.
I'm not a good negotiator.
I always figure the asking price is the asking price.
The only time I've gotten great deals is when I had no intention of buying something.
It's embarrassing.
I long ago lost any respect for anyone in the RE scams. I was told I need a buying agent to talk to the selling agent and I couldn't talk direct to the owner. These people make used car dealers look good.
James Old Guy
Any time you pay someone based on commission you add possibilities of problems.
The sales guy I work with is in the habit of trying to sell any case he can get info on, whether it's worth the effort on my part or not. It's now extra work for him, so volume works, meanwhile our vendors get irritated at quoting garbage and I get unnecessary wear and tear for me.
There is something wrong with a system where you have to use a third party to negotiate who has a financial interest in the outcome of the negotiations -- and that interest is in direct conflict with your goals.
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