Once we put our bid in, it didn’t take long for the shenanigans to start.

Sure, we started the bidding 100k lower than their asking price, but we had good reasons for doing so. We weren’t even planning to see the house at all, but when we took the drive out to look at other properties, the agent pressed us to see this house. He pointed to the original list price and showed us how the sellers had already come down a bit, but that the property has been on the market since June and the house had been showing well, but no one was bidding since they were put off by the high price. To our surprise, we really liked the house. A 1920s Colonial, it was extensively updated in 2006 with a new roof, kitchen, three new bathrooms, a deck, and siding. The first floor rooms are bordered with the original wood beams and French doors delineate the entryways. The wooden banister leading to the second floor is thick and sturdy as are the stairs. New carpeting on the basement steps and steps to the finished attic are covered with paper to prevent viewers from sullying the pile.

Even though we only saw it once, we put in a bid anyway. We figured that we could see it again if our bid was accepted instead of wasting time, as we have in the past, being absolutely certain about a house before putting in a bid, only to find that someone else got there first. Unlike for the big yellow Colonial we just lost, the agent drew up a contract for sale (a frequent tactic used in NJ to present a bid and thus speed up a sale) and we faxed over a copy of a check for a deposit of $5,000. The bulk of the cost of this house would be shouldered by savings as well as the proceeds from the sale of our Manhattan coop. To cover the rest, we have been approved by what most would consider a small mortgage. In reality, this is the highest mortgage we can take and still make monthly payments, we think. We have been hoping that our track record and the small mortgage we are seeking will give us an edge over other buyers who may be turned away by banks seeking to minimize their losses.

After waiting an entire day, the sellers’ answer came back: they would come down in price $4k. Four thousand! But the agent was thrilled. Great bid! They didn’t hang up the phone! You’re in the game! But we had a long way to go. The agent recommend that that we raise our bid by $20K. Then, the head games really began: To further shovel on the pressure, the agent decided to tell Andrew the sale price of the house that we had just lost (after the sellers had changed their mind after we agreed on a price). The agent revealed to Andrew that we had been outbid by $8k. He insinuated that we weren’t willing to raise our bid by that much, momentarily forgetting that we had no way of knowing at the time. A low, mocking blow. If we are so cheap that we can’t raise our bid by 8k, then can’t we also say that the owners were greedy bastards to name their price and then go with another buyer for a mere 8k more while we were standing in the next room! So, it’s fine for us to raise our price by $20k while the buyers can troll around snubbing their noses. We raised our bid by 20k. This time, the sellers came back a day later by lowering 14k.

That’s when the agent began to nag Andrew to spend more money that we ever intended to spend on a house. He asked Andrew repeated times if we could go higher than our last bid on the previous house. He mentioned that this house had almost gone to contract a couple of times, but that the buyers were not approved for their mortgages and so they really like our “terms” (ie, our cash). But which is it: No one wants the house because it’s priced too high, or everyone wants the house, they just can’t get mortgages? At this point, there were lies to cover up the lies. Our suggestion: make up your mind and get your story straight.

After another look at our finances, we decided to bid the suggested amount. We also decided that this figure would not become our new threshold. Every time a new house comes on the market, we cannot keep spending more and more of our savings. We do have to furnish this place, somehow.

Author: Brett