Reasons to reject

In the past few months of my house hunting, there have been homes I have rejected off the bat, after a tour, after a tour & 2 days of thought and because my husband talked me out of it (yeah Jag, I still hold the grudge!).  So why the rejections?

Off the bat rejects

• Homes facing south /west – good energy flows from the north and east or so my mom told me!
• Homes facing a T junction – considered an obstruction to energy flow J (yeah we superstitious nuts!)
  
• Homes backing to a major road – now I’ve got a logical explanation for this: Noise levels! (Ha ! so happy I could redeem myself)

After Tour rejections

• Layout – master bed up; a narrow and closed in stairway in the middle of the house; no flow
• Kitchen - cramped kitchen; kitchen does not have an exterior wall (totally rules out the possibility of installing a “vent out” mechanism – essential for Asian cooking)
  
• Cosmetic - wall paper nightmares
  
• Other - no gas for heating/cooking, high cost and more must-needed renovations

After tour & thought

• Pricing – most expensive home on the block
  
• Unusual upgrades – 50K pool but laminate countertop kitchens (priorities come into play here)
  
• Location – near a landfill / car junk yard / opposite a school / cemetery
  

Ask for the moon!

Well, ppl call it a buyer's market but being a "buyer" in this market, I really don't think everything is out there and I just need to ask for it. Well, I'm not talking about the sellers... the issues are with the lenders.  Second loans are almost non existent these days. So if you are planning for a 80/10/10 - forget about it. Also no watercooler wisdom is valid anymore. This economy is a one off. So if you see a rate you like and you are planning to close soon, then please lock it. Don't wait for the perfect Monday! :) 

Watching these rates over the past 6 weeks is liking watching a roller coaster. It dropped like crazy in Sept, was back up for a few weeks and dropped again in the beginning of Oct and has spiked back up again! It makes me ride the roller coaster too... emotionally!  

So... it looks like the only place you can ask for something and have great chances of getting it, is on the offer and ensuing amendments. Here are some things worth asking for:

• 24 hrs offer expiry time - helps keep the seller "shop around" time to a minimum.
  
• closing date - for you apartment dwellers this clause will give you your "move out notice" time.
• contigent upon inspection  -if something big comes up on inspection like foundation problems, you'll have the option to walk off from the deal. This clause can also be covered by putting in an option period by which you should plan to get the inspection done. This will also help warm up your cold feet from buyer's remorse! :)
• contigent upon mortgage rate agreeable to the buyer - you can put in a more specific rate and state that the deal holds only if you get a rate within that number.
• closing costs - ask for closing costs and do mention that any leftover monies should be used for a price adjustment.

 

POPCORN!

No, I’m not talking about the yellowish white fluffy stuff we gorge on while watching movies. Look up… I’m talking about your ceiling. Popcorn ceilings are the worst. I hate it and it’s almost the first thing I notice while walking through a house!

If the ceilings are not high enough, you tend to notice it more. Especially the dirt that sticks to it! It’s so hard to clean, expensive to remove and if it’s been painted over… then definitely forget about DIY!

Thanks to the construction workers who lived in the 70’s and their need to cover up the imperfections in their work, we ended up with this horrible technique.

What's on my priority list?

May 08

• new construction
• good school district
• 2800 sq ft or >
  
• 230K or <
• big kitchen with island
• gas cooktop
• 3+ bedrooms
• 2.5+ baths
• master bedroom down 

September 08

• atleast within 10 years old
• Plano / Allen
• 250K or <
• North or East facing, no T junction locations, not backing to major roads
• 2800 sq ft or >
• master bedroom down
• 3+ beds
• 2.5 + baths
• gas cooktop vented out
• solid surface countertop
• study or extra bedroom down
• pool
• hardwood floors