A series about a young family’s search for that first resale home.
We’re homeowners! Finally! And we became homeowners just 12 hours after viewing the house and at $20,000 over the asking price.
Here is why we did it.
A tightening marketplace
After viewing a dozen homes and making two unsuccessful bids, Craig and I had decided to take a bit of a break until the spring. We were feeling discouraged and wanted a chance to regroup. And even though the supply of resale homes in Ottawa has been steadily tightening, we were hoping for more inventory and less competition if we waited.
In the meantime, I decided to monitor the listings just in case the perfect house came up. But after a couple of weeks, I realized that things were not getting better; in fact, they were getting worse.
I started noticing an alarming trend in the neighbourhoods where we wanted to live: the prices were rising and quickly. Whereas in early February, houses were appearing at the $350,000 or $375,000 mark, now many of the same types of houses were being listed at well over $400,000. Our real estate agent suggested that the selling agents were now listing at the prices that they were expecting to actually get for those houses.
Read more in this series
The right house comes along, so we’re homeowners
Market conditions and the NAFTA negotiations, which were making me worried about mortgage rates rising further, prompted me to act as soon as a I spotted a great looking row unit in Greenboro East for around $360,000, which was well under our upper limit of $400,000.
The house had just been put on the market, and they were accepting offers the following night. We managed to squeeze in a viewing at 9:00 the next morning, and it was a good fit. It had all the things we wanted: three bedrooms, a finished basement, and a private backyard with a nice patio. The house is only 18 years old, and as an added bonus, it has no rear neighbours as it overlooks a park.
After seeing the house, we drove around a bit and were thrilled to see that the Greenboro Community Centre and a branch of the Ottawa Public Library are just around the corner. There are many parks nearby, an elementary school within walking distance and many others close by, and the South Keys shopping centre is only a couple of kilometers away. In short, this is a neighbourhood with which we can live.
The decision
But we had competition — five other offers. So our real estate agent told us if we really wanted this house, we had to offer our best, which is how we ended up with $20,000 over as well as a closing date that accommodates the owners more than us.
We were willing to offer this much over asking because we knew from our experience that that is what it takes to win a house in this market. Also, it was still below our maximum price.
A few short hours later, we were able to say, “We’re homeowners!”
Next we had 24 hours to make a $5,000 deposit and do a bit more paperwork. Then we had a week to fulfill the other conditions: financing and inspection. But more on that — especially the inspection — in the next column.
With the deal now done and as we await our move-in date, we are by turns excited about settling into a bigger space and terrified about the huge financial responsibility that comes with home ownership.
But mostly we’re celebrating our victory and, of course, obsessively re-reading the listing.
