the sale is on...

on thursday december 15th we got our first offer on the condo in san jose. we had listed the place for $489,000 and got an offer for $470,000. Somewhat dissapppointing. Part of the reason for the price we wer asking was how much we would 'net' in the sale. Mainly we wanted $### to be able to apply to our purchase in West Hollywood. The entire goal of the buy/sell condo is to keep our monthly expenditures, mortgage payments, etc the same. So the offer $19k less that what we were asking led to hand wringing. We were wondering what our counter offer should be (do we really want to take $480k or so?).

This entire time Gary is travelling on business in Vienna, Virginia . Very convenient.

Anyway,on Friday December 16th I called back our San Jose Realtor, Brian, to discuss and he mentions we have a second offer. This takes the pressure off, 'cause now Brian tells the 2nd offer there is a 1st offer, so that one better be good and he talk tell the 1st offer there is a good chance their offer will be outbid. The 1st offer is recinded, the second offer comes in at asking price ($489k). On Sunday, December 18th, Brian presents us the offer and paper work. The offer looks great, the only real issue we made in our counter offer was the potential buyer wants the fridge, washer & dryer and we were planning to keep them. Our counter was that he could keep the fridge.

We didn't ask for the fridge, washer & dryer in the place in West Hollywood, it kinda slipped our mind. We found out they will not be included (we could buy washer + dryer for $500) but the dryer there is gas, ours is electric. So we think we may offer the same deal to our buyer. Keep the washer & dryer for $5-600, seems fair, i think we paid $1000-1100 for the pair. Now we get to buy all new appliances. You know, 6 months ago when we paid them all off, it felt very good, now we get to feel that sense of accomplishment all over again.