Buying a house ****ing sucks.

[George Liquor]

Originally Posted by Coyote

Yeah the whole process sucks. Just embrace the suck and do the best. I’ve done this many times under many conditions to/from mostly high cost sellers markets. So Cal, Northern Virginia, Hi., etc.
As a seller, in those markets I’ve had all kinds of letter attempts made . None worked with me. Many were plays on new wives, sob stories and multiple Chiefs fans plays given my man caves decor and it’s out of norm for the locations. Most were above asking price.
My last 3 moves involved homes that were only hours on the markets with multiple offers. Hell, 2 houses ago, I left my power of attorney with an agent I just meant and instructions to buy me a house in a certain neighborhood . Nothing I would recommend or ever thought I’d do as a Midwesterner. But if your market is approaching this kind of crazy I’d be surprised but don’t truly know.
What as worked as a buyer and seller in sellers markets;
No B. S. No contingencies. Have your financing locked down. Show it.
No quibbling. The market sets the price. Don’t initially include allowances or low ball your offer over carpet, water heater, roof,etc.
No weird requests. What does or does not convey. Don’t fall for or try stunts about flat screens, refrigerators, etc. I’ve had people try to get me to leave plants and aquariums, etc. I probably would have if they just didn’t ask in their initial offer.
Be flexible on closing and move in dates. State that in your offer. Defer to the seller or negotiate it.
Use your inspectors findings as negotiating points after your initial offer has been accepted.

We've pretty much done all this. We've basically done everything short of me dipping into my 401k and/or completely exhausting our savings account.

Like I said earlier, we have to compete with 4-8 other offers every bid we put in on. We can't come in 12k over asking and at least 1 house we got beat out by straight cash, homie.