Negotiating Update

Turns out I wasn't very in the loop, I'm going to blame the stomach bug. Our plan for last night was to revist the townhouse to decide whether or not we want to negotiate with the developer on one of the mid-sized units (not the model unit and not the smallest one).  My mom and her friend L, tagged along, since my mom was in town for a trip the two were taking. 

We didn't spend very much time in the units last night, just long enough for my mom to get a feel for them and for me to measure the width.  Would you believe the width difference between the model unit and the other units is only 10 inches?  We were shocked - glad we had our tape measure with us!  The smallest unit, the one that we could afford (at the top of our price range) with the funny staircase (from now on I am just going to refer to it by its address - 1925 Kimball)..... So, the only difference between 1925 Kimball and the other units was the wacky staircase.... All are the same size - even if it doesn't appear that way.  Hope that made sense...

So, our broker told us that the contractor would be willing to negotiate an offer, with upgrades, 10-15K higher than our offer.  We only saw this place in the first place because we thought we could talk down 20K or so from the 1925 list price, now we are talking about another 10-15K higher instead?  I don't think so.  Our offer was already at the top of our range, and he was trying to tell me that "what's another 10-15grand if you really like it?"  Listen buddy, this is our money, and our financial health, and we are already at the top of our comfort-limit, so back off!  (can you tell we are sick of our realtor? - I didn't get to actually say any of that). So, we made no decision last night and decided to think it over. 

Pros: we really like the block (new construction surrounding us), the construction is well done, its a good size that we can grow into, and we can move in soon. 

Cons: The price "creep" that is going on, the construction noises we will hear over the next year, the financial strain it could put us in, the comps that don't make this a clear deal. 

Perk to not taking this place is that we would find ourselves a new realtor.  It was a tough call.  We really like the place, but do we want to overextend ourselves?  We are already well above our initial price range.  Just how much higer are we comfortable going?  This morning we decided to stick with our initial bid and not cave in to the "creep".  We told our broker we were willing to negotiate at our previously stated price (with upgrades) for one of the smaller units (actually one of the non-model units).  We'll have to see what the developer says. 

In the meantime, I have done more homework on the development in the area.  The closest comp in the area is a block and a half away.  18 units are being sold, with the same BR/BA figures, an additional 800 square feet, AND a garage, and are listed only 10K higher than our offer....  so, well below our developers list price.  This makes me feel like our offer is right on the money.  We like this townhouse, but decided we were prepared to walk away if the developer didn't want to talk at our price point.  The obvious question is, "why not put in an offer to buy one of those places?" - Well, surprisingly, we aren't too keen on having a garage - it throws off the house layout.  We're going to look into it anyway -- gotta be open-minded.