Our realtor had made us an appointment for 10am this morning with the 2nd house we now have an offer on. The realtor (a close fishing buddy of my dad’s) picked up my dad and met Mr. W and me at the house. Since we were early, we walked thru the 1st house (vacant, so we can do that with our realtor’s lockbox access), my dad was okay with it altho he thought it was surprisingly small, and then went to the 2nd house. Both houses were better seeing it again than we’d remembered, but the 2nd one was still more impressive. I admired how each room was laid out at an angle so instead of rooms above or next to other rooms, these fanned out like wedges in an orange. The unique floorplan got my dad, and they noticed some new things this time around. The boiled water dispenser built into the large deep kitchen sinks, the redone 2nd fireplace in the family room, the mature peach, avocado and loquat trees in the back yard. When the four of us left that house, we stood outside by our cars and chatted for a bit, comparing the two houses. And then we watched an SUV drive up the cul de sac street slowly, with people staring out the windows. The SUV took a u-turn at the end of the street, then slowly parked in front of the 2nd house! “Uh-oh,” Mr. W said under his breath.
“I think this is not good,” our realtor said, making a face.
We only stayed long enough to watch two Asian women and an Asian man walk out of the car up to the house and ring the bell. Apparently the seller’s agent had updated the computers to reflect the new reduced price, so now this house was getting more attention. It’s way underpriced for the current neighborhood presently, and is so nice on the interior we can’t imagine someone not liking it right away.
Mr. W is, of course, perturbed. Through all our many errands this morning, he kept thinking about those visitors, how they’re older Asian people so they can probably afford a better down payment than us and would likely buy the house in cash anyway, how the house is good feng shui to Asian standards, and how he wishes we’d left and not seen those people drive by.
As for me, I like that 2nd house. It’d be really cool if we could get it. But I keep telling myself that I like the 1st house, too, and I’d also be happy in it, and I’d connected with it right away. Even today, the 1st house felt like home to me, more so than the 2nd house. Maybe it’s because it’s vacant whereas the 2nd house is still occupied and those people’s personal stuff are all over the house, so it feels like someone else’s house.
Speaking of connecting with the 1st house, our agent heard from that seller’s agent today. He’d called to ask for an update to their counter offer, since he hadn’t heard from us. Our agent explained that we’d put an offer on a short sale property a long time ago (only the timing was a lie) and that we’d just heard from them. He said that it was unexpected and that we’re waiting to see what the short sale’s response is, which we will likely hear by Monday. I guess the 1st house’s agent was understanding, altho understandably if he gets a better offer before we get back to them, we’re at risk for them taking that offer and losing ours. I guess Monday is d-day.