March 7, 2021 felt a rollercoaster ride for us, with peaks and valleys. It was a good news/bad news kind of day.
THE BAD NEWS - The day started off good, but around 11 a.m., our Real Estate Agent, Gary Julian, called and informed me that the sale of our house fell through. Ours was a contingency sale so we knew there was a possibility that it might not go through. However, things seemed to be moving forward with that sale so we thought we were safe. Unfortunately, the buyer of that home backed out. That meant that our own buyer needed to back out of our agreement. We are hoping that our buyer can find a new buyer so she can re-purchase ours.
THE GOOD NEWS - Later in the day, we received a phone call from our Real Estate Agent in Utah, Ashley Jensen. She called and informed us that a house in Riverton that we had made an offer on was ours. Out of thirty offers, miraculously ours was chosen. We couldn't believe it! She told us that that particular house was visited by potential buyers more than any other house in Utah that week. It was, by far, the most popular house on the market, and now it is ours! Amazing turn of events!!!
The housing market in Utah is crazy right now. The inventory is low so most homes get multiple offers and are sold waaaaay over the asking price. So, how did our offer get chosen out of thirty offers? That's a very good question! We have some idea, but not a sure answer to that question. We felt that the house was undervalued so we submitted a high bid. The house was selling for $675,000 and we bid $735,000 with an escalation clause of $5,000 over the highest bidder up to $770,000. As it turns out, there were 2 or 3 bids that were higher than our $770,000 but ours was a cash offer. We also offered to allow them to stay in the home for up to two weeks after closing if they wanted and we would pay for any necessary repairs. Basically, we were buying it "as-is." Another thing that helped is that Ashley added a paragraph which kind of pleaded our case for the home. She said that we were an older couple who was relocating to Riverton to be near their son who lives in Riverton and could help them out if needed. She also said that we needed a single story home, a three-car garage, and RV parking. No matter how we were chosen, we are just glad that we were chosen. God is looking out for us and we appreciate that.
We wanted to downsize when purchasing a new home, but it doesn't look like we will be doing that. Our Lancaster home is 4,523 sf and the Riverton home is 4,323 sf. A little smaller, but not much. Most homes in Utah are large, have several bedrooms, and basements.
The craziest thing about purchasing this house is that we bought it without even seeing it first. We viewed (several times) the pictures of the home on the Internet, plus our agent took videos and sent them to us, plus Eric and Ella went to the open house and gave us their seal of approval. Knowing how hard it is to get a home in Utah right now, we felt we had to hurry and put in an offer. My oral surgery was scheduled that weekend so there was simply no time to drive up there to see it in person before bidding on it.
The best thing about this Riverton house is that it's only a few streets away from where Eric & Nicole live. So close! We have never lived close to any of our grandchildren, so this will feel like a luxury.
Right now we are in the process of de-cluttering the home so we can start packing things up. I just hope we can sell it soon. The thought of owning a soon to be empty home in Lancaster is kind of scary!
Our new home (built in 2003)
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