So Darin and I have been shopping around for a home of our own. We found a condo that we really liked and decided that it was in our price range and we would make an offer. We had a very stressful weekend and once Monday rolled around we got together with our Realtor to sign the offer. This wasn't your typical offer, because we had to fill out addendum pages and many other things went into it. 20ish pages turned into about 60 or so! I mean c'mon. This is just for an offer that might not be accepted. We signed all the necessary pages, gave her our credit scores, (which I was pleasantly surprised that we were above average and in the excellent category) wrote the check and off she went. A little bit of a weight had been lifted but now there is the waiting game.
Tuesday we go into work like normal and have our normal days when around 11 o clock we get an email from our Realtor. Subject line: REQUEST FOR HIGHEST AND BEST. This means that the property got multiple offers on Monday and the seller is requesting that we put in our highest and best offer on the property. My father-in-law and our Realtor had done comparable research and we were right in the competitive area so I was annoyed that they were asking for us to reconsider our offer. To keep us in the running we decided to increase our offer and to write a letter to go with our offer so that we would be seen as people instead of just dollar signs. Since this property is a bank owned I knew it would probably not get seen, but at least it made me feel like I had done everything in my power to get the property. See letter below:
Dear Seller,
Hello! My name is Diane Kimball and my husband is Darin Kimball. I was raised in the Simi Valley area and graduated with a Bachelor’s degree from Cal State Northridge in 2007. My husband has spent the majority of his life living in the Santa Clarita area and went to Valencia High School as well as College of the Canyons. I am an interior designer, with The Wren Group, and my husband is a personal banker, with Wells Fargo Bank. We met in 2001 through a mutual friend and it was love at first sight. We were married in 2007 at the Wood Ranch Golf Club in Simi Valley. We have been renting from the Promenade Apartments for the last 3 years, and have really had a large desire to purchase a home so that we may progress to the next stage in our life; starting a family of our own. Because of Darin’s love for this city and his many years living here, we both know that this is the best place for us to put in some roots and start our family.
We are thrilled by your properties proximity to urban areas, as well as being convenient for my commute to Pasadena and my husband's drive to work will be simple as he also works in Santa Clarita as well. The openness and light of the living space made us feel welcome, and the extra bedrooms made me think of the pitter patter of my future children playing in those rooms. With a well sized kitchen and loft, we felt that it has the perfect amount of space for us. The community is wonderfully maintained and seemed like a perfect place to meet new friends and neighbors.
We hope that you will carefully consider our offer, and we hope to meet you in person soon.
Sincerely,
Darin and Diane Kimball
I went into our Realtor office to sign the amended offer and make sure everything was ready to be turned in by the 1PM deadline on Wednesday. I was told that all offers were going through the selling realty office and they would pick the best offers and send to the bank.....why not ALL go to the bank? So here we are 24 hours and counting. Waiting to hear back if our offer was considered, rejected, countered or accepted. I HATE THIS! I will keep you posted on all things, but until then I am waiting by the phone.......
Good things come to those who wait.
ReplyDelete