House Hunting: We Find a Winner

After attending a few weekends of open houses, we learned that there was a certain process for selling homes in the DC area.  We were purchasing during the most popular time of the year (late spring) and while mortgage rates were still incredibly low, but set to increase any day.  It was the perfect storm for a hot, competitive market.

Therefore, the market worked something like this:

Thursday:  house goes on the market

Saturday/Sunday:  open house

Monday/Tuesday:  deadline for offers/offers presented to seller

Wednesday:  house is under contract and off the market

Basically, if you found a house you liked, you had to move fast.

Complicating things further is the fact that investors with all cash offers and no conditions were clamoring to buy the best properties, preventing those of us trying for a traditional sale from being competitive.

Thus, when we saw a house with promise, we knew we would need to put our offer together quickly.

We didn't expect to find a house we both loved in one of our first outings, but it worked out just like that.  It hit all the marks, it had a garage (and nice curb appeal):

 

 

It had plenty of original character and charm from the wainscoting and built in cabinetry:

 

And I loved the original varied width hard wood floors:

 

The backyard was beautiful and flat, which can be quite a luxury in this area.

 

 

Not pictured, but worth noting:  this house had five bedrooms, and four bathrooms, including a master en suite.  It was in one of our preferred neighborhoods and priced below our budget.

 

Basically, this house was everything we were hoping to find and then some.  After seeing only a handful of houses, we were ready to make an offer.

Next,  I'll discuss how we structured our offer and the outcome!

 

Do you live in an are with a competitive real estate market?