08_Second House Hunting

By this time, we couldn’t find any house in Haymount and Cottonade for under $100K anymore. Even though we still had more on our budget, we preferred to use one third of it for renovation. However, things didn’t go our way and we had to adjust. The most rational thing to do was expanding our price range with hope that we would find a move-in ready house that needed little renovation.

While waiting for the Fenwick house, we prepared a backup plan that was keep looking for potential houses on Zillow. This time we expanded the budget to $200K and mentally prepared ourselves for having a mortgage. We found 6 houses that we like in Cottonade area.

On June 3^rd, we had house tours to the 6 properties. Of all the 6, we liked 2. The one that we liked the most was, not only, the most expensive one; it was also a new listing, only 1 day on Zillow. The house was on Hallmark Rd. for $163K. If we put our offer on this house, we would most likely encounter the multiple offers situation again. So, as much as we liked it, we had to be realistic and crossed it out from our list.

Our second best was a house on Southwick Dr. for $140K. The good thing about this house was it wasn’t a flipped house. In fact, the house had been owned by a couple for the last 10 years, so the house had been taken care of. Furthermore, this house had been on the market since January; the multiple offers situation would be unlikely.  

Putting Fifth Offer

After receiving a rejection on the Fenwick house, we move forward by putting our fifth offer to the Southwick house. We put an offer for $130K on June 6^th and received an answer instantly; they accepted our offer!

Another Home Inspection

On June 7^th, we had another home inspection. In general, the house looked solid. There was a drain problem at the kitchen sink and we also found an oil tank. However the oil tank was clear, no more oil remained when we put a stick in it so there wouldn’t be any soil contamination problem.

Luckily, the owner stopped by during the inspection. We got to meet and showed him the problems. He was surprised to know that there was a drain problem, and he also didn’t realized that the oil tank could cause any problem. Anyway, it was nice to meet the seller directly, so we didn’t have to be in a ‘he said, she said’ situation on discussing the house.

Plumbing problem and oil tank at the Southwick house.

On June 8^th, we received the home inspection report. This house was more solid than the Wakefield one. The main problem was plumbing system. The pipes were old and the plumbing had a history of water damage. By now, we realized that plumbing system seems a feature that people consider the least, because we kept seeing water damage problems in houses that we visited. People seemed careless with small leaks and the marks caused by them. Over time, the leaks might corrode woods and other stuff.

Another problem was with the roofing. Although some parts of the roof had been improved by covering them with new patches, the roof itself was an old one. It was better to replace it with a new one. Considering these two problems, we contacted roofing and plumbing company to get estimation of the repairs. If the costs were to high, we would ask for further reduction of the house price.

Renovated roof.

Roofing Cost

On June 10^th we had MNDConstruction to estimate the roofing work. In the beginning, we wanted a steel roof because it lasts forever; but of course the price wouldn’t be cheap. After talking to Ruben from MND Construction, we decided to go with architectural shingles. It wouldn’t last forever, but it had warranty for 50 years. Since we were 99% sure we wouldn’t stay there for 50 years, we thought this was the best option. Beside, the price was reasonable. For our 34 sq. ft. roof, the cost was $7,990. This was a relief; we thought we were going to spend almost $20K for the roof.  

For the color, Ruben suggested us three options that match with our brick house. They were hickory, misty brown, and bark wood. He gave us addresses to see those roofs in real; and after seeing all of them; we decided to go with hickory color.

Plumbing Cost

However, none of the plumbing company replied back to us. My husband browsed on the Internet about DIY plumbing. After being confident that he could do it by himself, we checked the price for the materials. They cost for around $1K! So we decided to do the plumbing by ourselves.  

Buying A House, Finally!    

After having some estimation on the roofing and plumbing works, we contacted Kristin to inform about our decision in buying the Southwick house. We decided not to lower down the offer further because the price we had now was already $10K less; and we didn’t need much for replacing the roof and plumbing system. If we asked for more reduction, the seller might reject it and the loss might be bigger on us than them. The Permanent Change of Station (PCS) season had started; there would be more buyers flooding the real estate market. We would found more competitions in getting a house that made us more stressful. So it was a ‘now or never’ time for us.

On June 14^th we signed the purchasing agreement for $130K. We paid it cash by wire transfer. Finally, we owned a house. By this time, all houses that we had put offer on were still on the market, including the first two houses that we were interested but never put any offer onto.

Receiving The House Key

Even though we transfer the payment for the house on June 14^th, we didn’t receive the key until June 20^th. We didn’t really sure why it took so long, we could only assume that the seller needed some time to take out of their leftover belongings from the house.  

Some leftover belongings. 

When we decided to buy the house, we had started to talk about renovation. The house has many walls that we thought unnecessary. We wanted to open some walls at the living room, kitchen, and dining room to create an open space. We also wanted to put hardwood flooring to replace tiles on the kitchen and laminate floor on the dining room. Those were the most priority renovation for us, because our stuff from Germany had limited time to be in the storage. If we didn’t unload them by July 20^th, we had to pay for the extended period of storage. So we had to arrange that the furniture come after we fix the walls and floors, rather than covered them from dust during the renovation. Further renovations might follow afterwards, as we had an apartment until end of August.

So when we received the key on June 20^th, we rushed to the house to start our renovation project. However, we found out that all the energy was being cut off. No electricity, no water. So nothing we could do other than contacting electricity and water & sewer companies to get their service. We closed the day by unloading our tools that we brought from Pennsylvania.

For stories about our renovation projects, please see House Renovation topics.

07_Putting Fourth Offer (On The Same House)

On May 31^st we saw on Zillow that the Fenwick house was back on the market; and even better, the price was going down to $75K! We contacted Kristin, and she told us that actually the realtor reached her after we withdrew. He asked whether we were still interested because all other potential buyers also withdrew. We didn’t waste any time, we put another offer as of the asking price. We were so optimistic that this time, it was going to work. If the realtor had pursued us, this means he wanted to close the deal a.s.a.p., right?

Apartment Leasing

Realizing that our house hunting was not over, we looked for a cheaper place to stay. Again, we relied on Zillow for it. We found a fully furnished 1-bedroom apartment in Kings Pointe for $1.6K/month. However, the minimum period of leasing was 3 months. This might be too long for us, but we would never know. We might need some time for house renovation. Beside, the price was lower than the Residence Inn by half, so it was a good deal for now.

The living and dining rooms in Kings Pointe.

The bedroom.

The kitchen.

The bath and laundry rooms.

Overlong Closing Date

We didn’t hear any news about the house until the next two days! In between, we saw a new listing at Greyfield Rd., Cottonade for $80K. We looked at it, but this house even had more problems on water damage. In addition, it also had an oil tank; so we skipped.

We discussed with Kristin about the Fenwick house situation. She said that the realtor wanted to wait until June 23^rd for closing the deal. We didn’t like the idea. June 23^rd was too long to wait and we still had to renovate the house before we could move in, which might take 8-10 weeks. On the other hand, we had limited time of our apartment leasing and storage; extending these periods would add unnecessary cost. This was just not feasible for us. However, the Fenwick house was budget-friendly for us. We decided to put an ‘ultimatum’ for it. We gave them time until June 5^th to accept our offer, or we would withdraw. As it had been expected, they rejected our offer.

06_Putting Third Offer

We didn’t wait long after our second offer went south. On May 23^rd, we put an offer to the house at Wakefield Dr., Summerhill. This house had been on the market for 3 years, there was no way that we would encounter the same ‘multiple offers’ again.

Before we put the offer, we walked through the house again. Visually, we could see some water damage and some cosmetic works to cover up other flaws. Based on this walk through, we decided to put an offer for $110K or $5K lower than its asking price. However, I personally thought that $110K was overpriced.

The response came fast. In the same day, the seller accepted our offer. So to keep the ball rolling, we asked Kristin to schedule a home inspection for the next day.

Home Inspection

On May 24^th, we had a home inspection by ADG Inspection & Services, LLC. at the Wakefield house. The inspector, Brian, said that it would take him around 5 hours to conduct the home inspection. He promised to send the report on the next day.

We didn’t receive the report until the day after, or on May 26^th. The report itself basically confirmed what we had seen and beyond. The main problem was water damage, particularly around the chimney’s flashing. This caused some moisture areas on the interior walls. In addition, the sink drains at the kitchen and bathrooms were all leaking.

Examples of the Water Damage.

Counter Offer

On May 28^th we asked further price reduction for $100K based on the home inspection report. The seller responded that he was aware of the chimney flashing problem and willing to fix it. However, he asked that the price stay on its asking price: $115K.

We were not too keen with such response. First of all, if he was aware of the problem, why didn’t he fix it before selling it? Secondly, we had seen what he had done to the house and it was not convincing. How could we be sure that the fixing would meet our standard? So, again, we withdrew.

05_Putting Second Offer

Since our first offer didn’t go through, we looked again on Zillow. We saw a listing at Greyfield Road, Cottonade for $77K on May 18^th. We had seen it before but the house didn’t have a garage, so we passed it. But now, we thought with that price, we still have budget to build one.

We also reconsidered on two houses that we visited earlier. The first one was a house at Fenwick Pl., Cottonade for $79K. It was a fixer upper house, but again, with that price, we still had plenty to renovate it. This house had been on the market since early May. The second option was a house at Wakefield Dr., Summerhill for $115K. This house was a move-in ready; however it isn’t in Cottonade. It is at the opposite of Cottonade from the Yadkin Road, with a busy street nearby. This house had been in the market for 3 years, so the chance to get multiple offers was slim.

Summerhill & Cottonade

However, we decided to put an offer to Fenwick first. It was cheaper and it is in Cottonade; those were plus points. Learning from the Rollingwood experience, we put the offer exactly as it was: $79K. Logically, if we were willing to pay the asking price, we would get it, right?  

So we put our offer on May 20^th. However, Kristin informed us that the realtor for Fenwick didn’t work on weekends; so we had to wait for a while.

On May 22^nd, we finally heard from Fenwick. However, we heard the same ‘song’ again. The realtor said that he received multiple offers and he expected us to put our ‘best offer’. We didn’t like to be played like this, so, again, we withdrew.