So I'm buying a house....
Update Post #43
Photos Post #35 
Three weeks ago I was looking at houses with my parents.
I'd print out listings and we'd drive out to the property and take a look at the exterior of the house, the property, and, if the house was abandoned, peer in the windows. We'd also get a general feel for the neighborhood.
In the list was a house on Gibson. It was a bank forclosure built in 1965 (3 bed, 1 1/2 bath) listed at $38,000. It was in a quiet neighborhood on a dead end street, fenced in back yard, deck, basement, and from what we could tell the inside was in very nice condition. I called my buyer's agent right then and left a message to schedule a day to go inside and check the house out.
We continued to look at houses and got to the listing on Valencia. This was a HUD manufactured home built in 2003 (3 bed, 2 bath) listed at $25,000. Situated on a quiet dead end street with a large mostly fenced in back yard, deck, basement, and again the inside looked pretty good. My parents were hooked and we called the listing agent directly to see if we could get inside the house the next day.
We were scheduled to see it at 10 a.m. the following morning.
The inside needed a little work but overall it was a great starter home for the price. The agent, Jeff, explained that the way HUD homes work is that you place in a bid by the 10 day deadline. If you are the highest bidder, you get the house. However, you have no way of knowing how many other people are bidding and how much. It's pretty much all left to chance.
My parents and I mulled it over, found a lender that would give me a loan for a HUD manufactured home, and placed a bid with 24 hours to spare.
The next day we got the news that we were not the highest bidder.
Disappointed but not discouraged, we continued to look at listings and scheduled to look at the Gibson house on June 1st.
My parents and I were charmed by it and wanted to put a bid in, but the bank had it listed as Cash or Conventional loan only. I was FHA pre-approved. Jeff contacted the listing agent that evening to have him contact the bank to see if they'd make an acception.
This morning Jeff called and said he had good news and bad news.
The bank refused to take an offer backed by FHA and besides the point, someone had offered the bank $40,000 cash for the Gibson house the very same day we looked at it.
However, HUD had emailed Jeff.... the winning bidder on Valencia had decided to not purchase the home and because I was the second highest bidder the house was mine if I wanted it!!!
And so, at 4 p.m. this afternoon, I signed a purchase agreement contract. It'll be overnighted to HUD and if they are in agreement, they'll sign it, and then I'll finalize things with the lender and if all goes well, I will be a home owner in less than 60 days.
Woo!!
*EDIT* Photos Post # 5.
Last edited by ramanth; 07-22-2010 at 10:00 PM.
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Nice to see the details! Congratulations!
12/02
) When I went to see the house, people were walking out w/their agent as we were walking in and another person was walking in as we were walking out. Made me very nervous. Mine wasn't the highest offer but the couple still accepted it after much drama. Sometimes I think they get a kick out of doing that to us. 
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