At this point we don't want to seem desperate so we're stuck in a high school lover's dance of trying to act nonchalant and not call him more then he calls us. Needless to say Dave and our broker are doing a better job of acting cool. During the 1st week I was practically a mini tyrant bouncing off the walls. Poor Dave got a dozen emails, texts, and phone calls a day from me asking "has our broker heard from the seller's agent yet?" This week I've been a bit better. I've even agreed to look at new houses that have just been listed. Already we've found one that seems awesome. C'est la vie.
I think the part that upsets me the most is the potential reasons why the seller's agent is giving us the cold shoulder. Our broker thinks that either he has an interest in the property (which by law he should have disclosed) or the agent doesn't think his commission is worthy enough to demand more then the slightest of attention. Here in California, the typical agent receives 3.5% of the sales price. For our $400,000 home that means that after a sale the agent walks away with $14,000. Back in the day when houses flew off the shelf faster then they could be listed, agents had one open house and then (typically) the house would receive multiple offers and sell within the same week. These days most houses in our price range have been on the market for 3-6 months before being sold. (Which I should add for clarification that $400k is the BOTTOM price range of houses on the market in this area) Agents would rather focus their time and efforts on houses in the $750k-1 million price range because their potential commission is much higher.
In other news, we were pre-approved for our loan last week. Our new mortgage payments for our 30 year fixed loan will amount to $3k per month. For the first time ever in our relationship, Dave and I worked on a household budget. For the past 2.5 years Dave and I have had more money then we knew what to do with.
Play Station 3? Okay.
56" plasma tv? Why not!
All inclusive trip to Cabo? We deserve it.
We'll be going from a lifestyle where we spend money willy-nilly (and still save $1000 per month) to a lifestyle where we'll have to actually restrain ourselves from time to time. We'll still be saving some money per month ($500) and we'll still have money to go out to eat once a week so it's not like we're going to be poor but it is a big change. Honestly, it's a good change. I had started to feel like a spoiled glutton with our impulsive spending habits.
And in a last bit of news, Dave quits smoking today at 8pm. Updates to follow.
