Part 5: Offer Accepted! Now We Wait…
Home, Massachusetts
Part 5: Offer Accepted! Now We Wait…
July 5, 2021
You can also find the Vlog Series on YouTube (see below!).
Let’s be honest… in today’s competitive housing market, we did NOT expect for our first offer to get accepted (and so quickly)! It truly felt meant to be. With that said, there were still many hoops to jump through and a couple of problems to overcome before closing day… read on to hear about our closing experience!
If you haven’t checked out my latest blog posts sharing about our homebuying journey in New England, I’ll have the links listed below. This entry is Part 5: Offer Accepted! Now We Wait..., the final entry of our House Hunting series!
Part 1: We’re Homeowners
Part 2: How to Find the Perfect Realtor
Part 3: Our House Hunting Checklist: How to Find Your Dream Home
Part 4: Putting in an Offer for Our First House!
Part 5: Offer Accepted! Now We Wait...
Submitting Our First Offer
Lucas and I submitted our offer letter on the morning of March 22nd, and I have to be honest, I sort of had cold feet that morning…? I wasn’t exactly willing to back out of buying the house, (because I truly did want this home!), but to me, buying a house was a big deal, and it was hard to truly know if we were making the right choice.
We spent the morning talking through my worries, which basically sum up to the fear of a “better” house coming onto the market after we put in an offer on this one. But ultimately, I made peace with knowing that there’s nothing we can do about that scenario even if it does happen. You can really only make the best decision you can with the information you’re given. And at that point, the Acre House was absolutely the best decision for us, based on all the research we made and the houses we’ve seen.
So on that note, we left it up to the sellers. We included a 24-hour clause in our offer, but luckily we didn’t have to wait that long! The sellers were able to give us an answer about 9 hours later that our offer was ACCEPTED! Just like that!
We didn’t have to offer $20,000-30,000+ over the listing price, we didn’t offer an all-cash down payment, we didn’t have to waive inspections, and we didn’t even have to counter-offer if they denied it the first time. We were (and still are!) feeling so very blessed.
As soon as we got the call, we immediately called our parents to share the good news, but we decided to hold on telling anyone else. After all, just because your offer was accepted, it doesn’t mean you can pick up the keys the next day… you still have inspections, appraisals, and more paperwork to conquer before being able to say, “Home Sweet Home!”
Inspection Day
A few days later, we scheduled our inspection with a company recommended to us by our realtor. We were a bit nervous at first because well, inspections are basically when problems are identified, which can be a bit disheartening depending on the findings. That said, we found comfort knowing that our house was built in 2010 (rather than the 1700 and 1800s like other houses we looked at!).
The VA loan also has certain inspection requirements that need to be met in a house in order for the loan to process. For example, a required pest-inspection to make sure there aren’t any termites or carpenter ants onsite. Thankfully, everything went well! The inspector even said that looking at our home was a “breath of fresh air” compared to the other homes he’s been inspecting for first-time homebuyers lately. So that alone, was pretty reassuring that we made the right choice.
Purchase & Sales Agreement + Problem #1
Once the inspection was done, we had a ton of paperwork to complete for our loan officer. Our Purchase & Sales Agreement was also due by the following week. Everything seemed like it was smooth sailing… until we received an update from Lucas’s work.
Let’s just say that the military has a way of keeping you on your toes… We heard the news that Lucas had to report to a military assignment out of state during the week of our projected closing date in mid-May. Once we found out the news, we informed our realtor, then went back and forth on our options for a few hours. While I could’ve filled out Power of Attorney paperwork to sign for him while he’s gone, buying our first home was something that we really wanted to experience together. So because of that, we decided to switch to a different lender who was able to guarantee an earlier closing date.
Our new lender was also recommended to us by our realtor, and we are SO blessed to have her awesome recommendations (inspector, lender, and attorney!). She saved us sooo much time trying to find the right people/team to work with, and that alone, should really encourage you to take the time to find the right realtor when looking for a home.
Once we were able to get all set up with our new lender, we signed our Purchase & Sales Agreement, and then had to wait for our loan to be approved with conditions, followed by the appraisal. The new closing date was projected for April 30th!
Appraisal + Problem #2
We thought we were in the clear at this point… but we were not. A few weeks later, we were told that Lucas’s military orders were moved up. He had to report to his out-of-state assignment on April 27th now, the week of our new closing date… I know.
It’s not a good look to switch your closing date, let alone, switch it twice, so I remember feeling pretty stressed at this point. The stress didn’t last long, however, because after we spoke to our realtor to give her the update, she didn’t even hesitate when she suggested that we’ll just close even earlier. She made a couple phone calls and before we knew it, we were projected to close in 10 days (April 23rd)!!
We buckled up for the whirlwind that was the remaining few days before closing, and thankfully were met with easy-to-track-down paperwork and an appraisal that showed that we were going into the house with $5,000 equity. We were SO excited to hear this news, especially in a world where most homebuyers were overpaying for homes. We got lucky!!
Closing Day
The homebuying process felt much faster than we originally anticipated, but we were so lucky to have had such a great team to guide us through the whole process. Although we were moving quickly, we never felt lost. By the time closing day arrived, it was a sunny day in downtown Boston, and it only took us about half an hour to sign/initial papers. In just 6 short weeks, we went from seriously looking at homes, to becoming first-time homebuyers!
Thanks for following along in our House Hunting/First-Time Homeowner Journey! Stay tuned for our House Tour (coming soon)!
Cheers to buying our first house!
Gen
