Weddingbee boards

This Valentine's Day, we spent the morning taking a drive to a nearby town we've never visited before. It was finally sunny and the perfect time to "visit" a house that we missed an Open House for since the Fi was out of town (visit as in drive-by very slowly and check-out without getting out of the car). The house wasn't all that awesome, the yard was smaller than I'd hoped, the neighboring homes were a little too close for my taste, but the town ... that town I liked.

It's a small town with a population of under 3000 people, the entrance has an old stone bridge on a beautiful lake with a hotel that was featured in an old movie. There was a cafe near the lake and the whole area just seemed like it's been untouched for a long time.

In our short drive-by we saw 2 or 3 large grocery stores, a main medical center, 2 large bank branches, a pizza place, a photographer, a cafe, and an actual tourist information building. It had pretty bus stops with a special sign and picture of the animal that represented the street it was on. There's supposed to a few daycares nearby and the best part was the place is small so the lake isn't that far of a walk from the house.

I had to talk the Fi into going to see it at first, but now he's the one doing calculations and contacting the realtor. The Fi looked-up bus routes, since it was my main concern - that it would be too far from his work, but he found an "express bus" that takes 30-mins. He just called me saying he contacted the realtor and set-up a private showing on Wednesday night.

It looks like the process is starting. But I'm wondering if we're rushing it. We're not in a rush to find a home, but the size and location of this place is pretty nice, but the yard just isn't as big as I expected. With such a tiny population, I wonder when a house will be available ... but yet I don't want us to kick ourselves for not getting this home, especially since it looks like we might even get it under the price they've listed --- which is totally unheard of here since all the homes we've looked at sold for at least 20% OVER the list price. The realtor did say there's 2 couples that were interested in the home but said they wanted to look around first.

In Sweden, the whole house-buying process is lightening fast! Homes will be shown twice (30-minutes each time), then after the last open house, the bidding is on. The house is usually sold within the first week! All homes we've looked at have been sold the very first week. It's rare to see a house on the market for a month, in fact that means that no one wants it and it can be bought for under the price listed ... which is what I'm hoping for ... but ... but ...

it's not totally the house I imagined in my head. I imagined a larger yard and a more open plan and a larger kitchen. The plus side of this house is the floor plan is unusual with a lot of open space, there's a lot to play around with. For instance, we can take down the kitchen wall and integrate it with the living room.

I can go on and on and I will likely post again to continue since it's only 4am in California. But I'm just wondering if my concerns are normal. It'll be our very first home and reselling here isn't as common (with the very high fees).

Is it supposed to be love at first sight?

MrsJKH2be, thanks for your advice! I definitely don't want us to regret a thing. It is a large purchase, and will likely be our largest purchase ever! We've made dinner plans with his parents tomorrow night to discuss the area and get some advice. But I've been playing around with the floor plans and it really looks good if we just break down one of the walls to open-up the kitchen.

30-more minutes and my Mom will be up so I can finally call her! Thanks again for the adivce, I really appreciate it!

I just got done talking to my Mom and just from pictures, she said she LOVES IT. She went on and on about how this house looks like a home and she prefers it much more than all the other homes I've been interested in. I've sent her pics of so many places and I've never heard her rave so much. But I just don't get it cause I'm not completely convinced.

But she did provide some insight - if I want "my dream home" I won't be the only one wanting it and it'll sell for 20-30% over the list price like all the rest. She also thinks I'm imagining all the things I'm picking at, she thinks the yard is nice, and the kitchen is a little small, but nice. I guess I'll see for sure this Wed.

I still think the area is ideal. I love love love the area and the lake/downtown is just a 10-15 minute walk away. We'll see it on Wed and know for sure ... but the thing is, if we do like it, we'll have a house by the end of the week (at least on paper) ... it's crazy scary how fast the normal process works in Sweden. Being such a small population, it's pretty rare to find a home in the right size within the area you want and the population is so small there's no large developments so when one is available, it's like a huge bidding war.

Having already been shown and no one placing a bid definitely increased our chances with this place. We'll see how it plays out ... but I still don't know why I'm not super excited. Maybe it's because I wasn't expecting to find it.

I think I figured out at least some of the reasons why I'm not as excited as I should be. I was emotionally invested in the last house we looked at - it was my like dream home ... I liked everything about it, from the red, shiny doors to the warm yellow paint and the dark hardwood floors and exposed beams. I even liked how the owners decorated the place. It looked a lot like a barn conversion but it was super modern inside. The floor plan was sleek and the kitchen was integrated with the living room. The house could have been in a magazine. I adored it more than I admited ...

That house sold for 20% over the list price, way more than we can afford. I even stalked the owners on Facebook when they first put it up, hoping I can find tidbits on why they're selling on their statuses. It was just so pretty. The only downside was the location ... it was in the middle of nowhere, so there was no grocery stores, which is something I'd want and need when we start to prep for a family. It also had no garage and the yard wasn't as huge as I wanted, but all of that apparently didn't faze me since I totally imagined my family sitting in that living room.

This house is nice, it looks well maintained and not a fixer-uper at all. But the floor plan is odd with a lot of scattered spaces, which is not necessarily bad, but it's harder for me to connect with it when it's not obvious on how to decorate it or which rooms to convert into something else. I also don't like the flooring color - I know it's super minor, and the kitchen isn't a vital part of the home since it's so small. The backyard is actually bigger than "my dream house" but still not as large as some others I saw.

I think I just haven't completely accepted that I can't have a HUGE countrystyle yard (aka land) when I want to live near the convenience of a store nearby. This is actually the first house we've seen that has real neighbors - before we were only interested in homes out in the country, but after seeing a few and driving on a few gravel and dirt roads, we realized we're not that hardcore farmers afterall

I'm gonna list some pros and cons and I know this is long, but it's 11pm now and this helps me organize my thoughts <3

Pros

• Location, I absolutely love the town it's in. It's almost magical.
• It's spacious.
• The upstairs looks a little like a barn conversion (that I like so much) with the exposed beams.
• With so much room, I can totally customize it as my own.
• It has hardwood floors and tiles.
• It's a corner lot.
• The backyard is secluded with the way they planted trees.
• It has a little sun deck.
• It has a separate laundry room (some older homes here don't).
• It has a small sauna.
• It has a walk-in closet in the master bedroom and the bathroom is semi-connected (it has 2 doors, one from the bedroom, the other from the hallway) and it has 2 sinks.
• It's in our budget.

Cons

• As is, it's not my style.
• The kitchen is small and narrow.
• The kitchen isn't the main part of the house at all.
• The layout is a little odd because it's segmented so there isn't a main part of the house.
• I don't like the color of the tiles.
• I'm not completely digging the outside style of the house, but I don't hate it either.
• The street it's on seems a little tight ... not that tight but I really like huge open spaces.
• There's one fireplace, but it's upstairs?!
• I wish a space was reserved for a pantry.
• The back yard is actually nice, but I think the front yard is ugly as is.

Easy remedies

• Paint the outside of the house
• Knock-down one kitchen wall to open the floor plan to integrate the main living room and dining room
• Pull out the awful looking, super thick bushes

Wow ... that's it. I just realized I'm being too picky since a most of my gripes can be easily remedied. This is the first house that feels "close" even though we haven't been inside yet. This is the first time we're gonna have a talk with his parents specifically about a home so I guess I'm freaking out a little.

After all of this, we might even get outbidded by the other 2 couples that're supposably interested. But knowing it's just those 2 and they obviously don't like it enough to actually bid, makes it seem "serious" even though it's just the start of it all.

I'll see how I'll feel in 2 days after we see the inside.

To anyone that's actually gotten this far to read this whole message, sorry if it was torturous! It's tough looking for a first home especially when everyone I'm close to is in another part of the world.

Thanks for letting me think out loud! *HUGS FOR ALL THE ADVICE AND KIND WORDS* I really appreciate it!

Everything is very secure here, I don't even think there's AS IS sales. If the house doesn't pass inspections, then you're not commited to buy automatically. Also, you can bring someone you know to do various inspections, get their estimate for repairs and re-negotiate the price after you made a bid. So basically, houses sell fast because it's covered, and if there's anything wrong, you won't have to buy it. That and the fact that there's so few homes and no large new developments since the population is small.

But the home we're looking at has JUST had it's Open House. It's only been a week after the showing - it's recent. But most homes sell within the first week after it's been shown. It's not as popular because it's in another city (that's 30-mins from the main city). It's technically a small city outside of a bigger city, yet that bigger city is still smaller than where I am now. (Whew, I think I confused myself writing it out that way!)

We're gonna meet with my future in-laws in a few hours and get advice. We've been looking around on and off but this is the first time we're formally asking for advice. I'm a little nervous about it because I'm afraid to hear someone bad about the neighborhood. As for the home, even if it doesn't work out, there will be others available in the area.

This will sound like I'm a stalker, but last night I looked up the "neighbors" since we mainly only saw senior citizens walkig around. I wanted to know if there's actually younger people living there. The results were: 4 out of 7 direct neighbors were senior citizens (from age 63 - 87!). 2 out of 7 were younger (ages 26 - 35) and the last couple was middle aged.

I'm thinking at least a few of them might sell sooner or later to move into a nice retirement home. For me, this takes down the pressure a little bit.

BTW, it's really common for people to check addresses and birthdays here since it's all public knowledge. (Though I still feel like a stalker doing it ... but it's a little fun playing Private-I).

No we're not working with a realtor. The whole process works a little different here - the seller chooses a specific bank to handle the sell and it's governed by their real estate department. All homes are added to an online database about 2-weeks before it's shown. The open house usually doesn't require an appointment and it's normally for 30minutes to an hour on 2 different days.Then the bidding war is on.

The population here is so small that everything works in small scale. So when a house is up for sale, it's listed on a public database. Everything is public (not everything, but a lot), so there's no inside info you can get ahead of time unless you specifically know the person selling the home. Selling price on similar homes that have sold in the area is just a click away. Realtors here have it easy compared to the States - and I know, I had my real estate license in California.

I've been monitoring homes online since fall of 2008 and there isn't much. This town currently has 4 homes for sale, including the one we're interested in and we're not at all interested in the other 3.

The house is definitely renovatable! After talking to his parents, I feel much better looking at it!

If anyone's interested, here's a better explanation of how it works here. The article is about apartment buying, but it works the same for detached homes, it's by SMS.

Buying a Swedish apartment: an auction by SMS

http://www.thelocal.se/6760/20070321/property

We saw the house yesterday. There were 2 other couples there so it wasn't a private showing afterall, but one of them didn't seem interested and didn't stay long. The other couple sounds very interested since they have to move out by May.

But we weren't WOWed. The house was nicer in person than I had expected - they took good care of it, but still, I have a hard time connecting with it, even after itemizing the "easy" fixes.

BUt I love that neighborhood. I mean, I really love it. All of you that's lived in a small town know how limited housing can be in certain parts. The population for the entire town is less than 2,800. I can literally count the houses in the area I want -- it's equivalent to 4 to 6 blocks, and it's not because it's a specific area, it's ALL that's there. So when I say it's limited, Google map confirms it!

But after saying all that, I'm still not convinced, so we're waiting for someone else to send in a bid. I was wrong when I said there's 4 homes in the area that's on sale now, it's actually 3 in town TOTAL, 1 home is south of town center and is decked out in 70's wallpaper, and the other is too small.

In late 2008, early 2009 there was a really pretty house in this town as well but way in the outskirts of town - way too far since we're far arleady. But that's it. There may have been 1 other, maybe 2 but they weren't homes I liked at all so I never noted it.

This is the rough reality of wanting to live in a small town, but we're in no rush. We like it, but not enough toplace at bid right away. If we can get it at a reduced price to offset the alterations, then that's a different story.

One of the neighbors (see picture) will eventually sell to move in to a nice retirement home (I'm sticking with that line cause it sounds nicer). There is hope.

ages of direct neighbors

the town

I'm really horrible cause I'm eyeing the next door neighbor that'll turn 87 this year (I rounded it off to 80's since his wife is 77) ! The lady with the bigger house in front is 77 but lives alone, we were making jokes about her being a single gal with possible house parties ...

We're waiting to see what the other couple does, if they underbid it or not. As soon as they make an offer we'll get word and decide from there. I'd be happy with it if it if we can get it for 5% under the asking price. We found out the owners have already bought a new house but is renting it out, so they're not in a rush either.

If no one bids on it, then the realtor will have to schedule another Public Open House, and I know they don't like to do that cause it's more time on their part. We found that realtors here would rather try to haggle a lower price with the seller. It's a weird system cause houses here usually sell on their own.

Just got a call from the realtor - someone had placed a bid for 11.5% under the list price. I'm betting it's the couple that stayed as long as we did, and it very much well have been their 2ndtime visiting the place.

It's Friday and so we think it's better to wait. The realtor hasn't even updated the website yet, we will surely get another call if someone else had bid. We're thinking of bidding 10% under the list price and then see how much higher it'll go from there.

To be continued ...

Thanks so much for the all the luck, we're gonna need it!

April, wow ... thank you for those links! You're right - I'm feeling a lot more excited after seeing them! I'm inspired now and actually a little nervous!

Floor plans

bottom floor

upper floor

Note: it looks a lot bigger on paper. That "hobby room" is barely a closet and the kitchen is as wide as my current apartment kitchen.

I have to share how I explained the house to my friend the other day:

Try to imagine it with 1) a different color 2) without the dried up, massive pube-like bushes 3) a bigger kitchen 4) different colored walls (in some rooms).

Here's my favorite part of the house and my not-so-fave:

the pubes!

my fave part of the house, minus the deer head ;o

narrow kitchen with old appliances

kjpugs. I needed to hear that! Thank you!

Last night, I found another house ... it's pretty with a nice garden, a balcony, it's almost perfect minus the bathrooms and replacement of some kitchen cabinets. But the location isn't so nice ... there isn't any shops in the area, it's in the outskirts of a small boonies town (no tourist agency or tourist come to visit that area at all). I kept looking at pictures and started imagining all sorts of stuff with it (open house is not until March 7th) and was almost falling for it all based on the pics - even though we agreed to find a place that has a store nearby.

You post, woke me up a little and made me remember our list of "wants". Thank you, thank you, thank you!

I'm still crushing on that town. Here's a picture I found online of a canal near it:

http://bighugelabs.com/onblack.php?id=3649323725&size=large

Sigh ...

wow what a picture perfect place, sounds like the things you dont like are mainly cosmetic and you can easily fix with remodelling and landscaping

I can see why you fell in love wiht the town, which would you prefer living in a lovely little pictureque place in a house you can remodel? or a spacious yarded house with everything you want but back in the dumps or boondocks

oh my gosh the town is gorgeous, the living room is spacious, you can easily redo the kitchen

good luck!

Last night we decided on a price we'd be happy with. It's under the list price but 2.5% above the last bid. We figured out the price for renovations and went with that. We're both really hopeful that more homes will be available in the area later this year so even if we don't get it, it'll be completely fine.

We also don't think the house is worth the price they're asking for and the few bids confirms it. The area is OUR IDEAL location, but most people will think it's too far from the bigger city where they likely work (no large industries are located in this town).

This morning I had a very vivid dream about us getting the house! I called the Fi at work right away and he said the real estate agent hasn't contacted him yet -- and she also hasn't updated the price to show the first bid. We're thinking of waiting until she calls instead of calling her first. We told her we were thinking, so she will call again.

We put an offer and now waiting. I'm so anxious! We currently placed the highest offer, but it's still under the list price, so even if the other couple doesn't raise, we'll still have to negotiate with the sellers. This is very uncommon here, but we LOVE it cause it's nice and calm and never required SMS bidding like the other homes we were looking at.

I'm really, really loving this home now. I realized it's just perfect for us ... fugly bushes, small kitchen and all! (FYI, those bushes are even more massive now compared to the picture ... they're like a car's length wide! The long way! First thing we'll do is hack those away. If we get it, that is.)