The last few hours have been quite crazy on the house front. We have learned, yet again, that nothing is as simple as it seems.
Instead of a simple ‘yes’ to our bid, the bank decided to come back with a counter– the full asking price. While it was only a few thousand above what we bid, it still wasn’t what we were hoping for. So we decided to bite the bullet and go with the full price. Sounds simple? Not so much.
The listing agent then tells us that they do not want a 203K loan; their counter is for full price and traditional FHA financing. I called our loan officer, who said she still highly recommends the 203K loan, since you can never tell what might come out in the inspection. Brian talked with our Realtor Anthony, who said the bank didn’t look like they were going to budge on the 203K loan– he said we are risking losing the house if we do not change our minds.
To top it off, another bid came in during this entire process, so we are now at risk of losing the house regardless of what financing we have. The listing agent sent us a multiple offer form, where we have to provide our “highest and best” bid. We REALLY don’t want to lose this house. So we decided to give in, and go back to traditional FHA financing. Our loan officer was able to get us the approval letter in less than 10 minutes. To really increase our chances, we are also bidding slightly higher than the asking price– Anthony said that even a minuscule amount is sometimes enough to win a bidding war.
I am waiting until Anthony faxes over a few forms to be resigned, then everything goes back to the selling bank for approval. They are requiring all documents for both bids to be in by 4 p.m. tomorrow. I am not sure if we will hear back tomorrow since the listing office closes at 5 p.m.– we might be waiting until Wednesday. I just hope we come out of this with a house– this is getting exhausting.
