Day 264

We officially put an offer in on the house yesterday afternoon.  It was kind of a whirlwind and a little scary to be doing it so fast, but after looking at approximately 28 duds we knew a gem when we saw it.
Now, we're playing the waiting game in the middle of a heated negotiation...

Here's a little timeline:

Wednesday
4pm: Put in official offer of $155,000 plus asking seller to pay for 1 year home warranty

6pm: Speculate as to whether Jeannie will call with the counter-offer tonight.  Will we get the deal of the century and the seller accept our initial offer?

8pm: Conclude that Jeannie will not call tonight.  Seller is old and a time zone ahead of us, she's definitely gone to bed by now.

Thursday
7am: Wake up bright and early in case Jeannie calls first thing with an offer.

9am: Decide to head for home from Rick's parents.  Make bets on whether Jeannie will call before noon.

noon: No call.  Call Jeannie to see if our phones actually work.  She hasn't heard anything.

2pm: Counter-offer!!!  $166,000, home warranty out.  Curse Esther for being so stubborn.

2:03pm: Call Rick's parents for offer advice.  Try to get inside Esther's head and figure out her strategy.

2:45pm: Counter with $158,500.

3:45pm: Esther counters in record time... $162,000. Final Offer.

3:48pm: Again try to figure out Esther's strategy.  Call Rick's parents, my dad and Rick's realtor friend for advice.

4pm: Decide we really don't want to pay more than $160,000.  Offer $160,000 plus home warranty.  Tell Jeannie this is really as high as we want to go given the comparables.  Reiterate that we just started out home search and we are totally willing to walk away and keep looking (haha ya right, wonder if she bought that).

5pm: Go to dinner with friends.  Discuss how we might buy a house while at dinner.  Place cell phone in middle of table with vibrate and ringer on, so we don't miss the call.

5:45pm: She's calling!!!  Rick runs outside to talk.  I try to analyze his body language... it's not looking good.

5:50pm: Esther countered with $162,000... that stubborn old bird, how dare she!  Rick is really, really disappointed.  He really wants this house.  At this point I thought it was all over, Rick didn't explain that we could still counter again.  I'm a little disappointed, but know that we'll find something eventually.

6:30 pm: Head home.  Realize the negotiating is not over.  Discuss all options.  Conclude almost immediately that we're willing to pay the $2,000 more because, even with interest, we would spend that on a rental and other moving costs.  Do a bunch of math.  Determine that I am stubborn and would rather win the negotiation war than the house.  Decide to sleep on it.

Happy Cinco de Mayo!!