House #28: First Contract

February 22, 2012 · 6 comments

It’s been over 6 weeks since we listed it for sale, but we finally got our first contract on The Full House…and I’m happy to say that it’s a full price contract…

We’ve had a lot of interest and a couple other offers on the property, but unfortunately, it didn’t appear that they could qualify for financing, so we refused to even move forward with a contract with those buyers; we’d rather pass on an mediocre buyer than lock up the property for a month hoping they can get lucky and get their financing…which they rarely do these days.

The big problem we’ve had getting offers on this property is that it’s only a 3-bedroom, and it appears that most of the buyers in our market right now are looking for at least 4 bedrooms. It seems a lot of buyers would rather have a not-remodeled 4-bedroom at this price point than a fully remodeled 3-bedroom; this is good information as we focus on our buying criteria for the upcoming months.

I’ll have more to say after inspections and appraisals, but we’re scheduled to close in about a month, so hopefully there won’t be any major roadblocks…






6 responses to “House #28: First Contract”

  1. Luis@ says:

    I am glad to hear you say this because in my area I noticed the same and have stopped looking for 3 bedrooms unless they have a basement.

    (Sorry for the multiple posts, it had been a while since I last visited…)

  2. Justin says:

    It seems like you’ve been expanding your investment area lately. How much larger is it now than when you started?

  3. Kristine-CA says:

    J: congrats on the full price contract. Worth waiting for. Are you seeing any differences in buyer interest in regards to fireplaces? How many of the houses that you’ve worked with have been without a living room fireplace or wood stove?

  4. J Scott says:

    Hi Kristine,

    I honestly don’t remember the last time we rehabbed a house without a fireplace (if ever!). In fact, I’ve never really thought about it until you just pointed it out. Honestly, I don’t know if it would make a big difference or not, but it may considering that most houses here seem to have them.

  5. Kristine-CA says:

    Hi J. The reason I asked is because I don’t remember seeing the fireplace for this house in the photos and some of your exterior photos of houses don’t show a chimney on an outside wall. Where I am there are plenty of mid-range to high-end houses built in the 1950s-60s without fireplaces. I would think it would be a deal breaker, but it’s not. I’ve sold more houses without than with.

    That four bedroom thing is definitely an issue in the markets I work. Families have ideas about what their needs are and if they think they need 4 bedrooms they will overlook all the other great houses. I have friends who bought houses they didn’t like in neighborhoods they didn’t prefer because the number of bedrooms and baths “met their needs”.

  6. J Scott says:

    Hi Kristine –

    I didn’t capture it in the pictures, but there is a fireplace in the living room (on the opposite wall from what I photographed). You can see the chimney and chimney cap in the first (exterior) photo.

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