We Put Down an Offer
So, we finally got in to see the unit we could afford (third time's a charm, I guess).... and low and behold, it was over 2 feet narrower than the model unit we had seen on Tuesday. It's frustrating that the selling agent listed all of the units as the same size, when that was definitely not the case (EXTREMELY DECEPTIVE), and its even more frustrating that our realtor is so clueless. I noticed immediately that the place was smaller, and for the first 10min we were in there, he was trying to tell me otherwise!
It was nice that we each had some family come to weigh in (and a civil engineer and a lawyer familiar with real estate matters, even more so). The families really appreciated being included, so we didn't feel as though we were imposing. After we saw the "cheaper" unit, we saw the model unit and one of the others (which size-wise was in the middle). We decided to write an offer for the model unit at the price we could afford (70K below the asking price), we also threw in a bunch of additioanl requests about picking our own appliances and paint colors, getting an additional allowance for electrical and bathroom fixtures, and some other stuff that Dan suggested. Honestly, I don't think the developer is going to accept our offer. Its unlikely that if he counters with an offer between what we proposed and his list price that we would be able to afford it.
Luckily, we are both really OK with walking away from this townhouse, if that's the way things go. We both did some homework this morning looking at comps in the area, and we honestly don't think that our offer was unreasonable. There is tons of development going on within blocks of this townhouse. Many of them are larger, with garages, and are selling right around our offer price. This afternoon, we walked down to the new townhouse from here. I wanted to get a feel for what the new commute would be. The walk wasn't too long, although its about 4-5 blocks longer than I would like. It was 15 degrees today, so we were pretty cold by the time we got back home. The walk was nice, it gave us a chance to take in the neighborhood and see what other places are out there. There are 18 townhouses going up one block over and we walked over there and poked around as well.
If this doesn't pan out for us, we are confident we will find something else. And, if we continue our search, it will be with a new real estate agent - our guy stinks! The developer has until noon tomorrow to make a decision on our offer -- STAY TUNED!
