Thursday, October 15, 2009

Offer on a condo - Take 3, the conclusion

An update on this offer. My agent got back to me with the counter offer, which they specified as final offer. It is $20K more than my offer. I seriously considered adding another 5K to my offer – I think the searching is wearing on me and I had thought I would be done after this.

However, the rational side of me took over from the emotional side of me (thank goodness). To begin with my first offer is 5K higher than what I think it should be at in an effort to put in my best. To counter offer by adding another 5K, puts me at 10K. Then they'd probably come back with a counter offer and I have to increase it some more. Likely I will be paying between $10K – 15K more than I wanted plus at least another $10K to upgrade things like the dirty carpet etc.

So finally I decided against putting in a counter offer. Putting in $20K – 25K more than a place is worth is a lot. Especially since I'd be living in construction during the upgrade as well. That was my Thursday night.

2 comments:

seejanegetrich.com said...

It is so easy to get too wrapped up in the home buying process. I considered buying a condo this year but I realized that I was only buying to take advantage of the $8k US tax credit and not really for the right reasons. I am glad that you decided not to stray from your figures too much.

FinanciallySmart said...

Well if you believe that the price of the condo is too high then don't take it. But always remember that the value of an apartment/house comes from the surrounding. If you decide to take it and upgrade it then when you want to sell you can ask for a higher amount. Real Estate is a funny deal but always worthwhile after a couple of years.