We got a house!!

After backing out from the building idea, and placing a long shot offer on a house in September we were exhausted and decided to lay low key for awhile. It was quite discouraging and we had had enough house hunting for a while. As mentioned before the housing market is disgusting out here. Old, outdated homes with no backyards for lots of money~ not of interest. Duluth certainly isn't the on the up and up for new development...I guess building on rock isn't so cheap and easy.
Anyway the house that we made the long shot offer on in September, continued to sit on the market, so just a few weeks ago out of curiousity we had our realtor inquire about it to see if they had changed their minds and would be willing to entertain our offer again. They came back with a rock bottom price that was almost $50,000 less than their original listing price... and only $8,000 more than our offer. So we went for it! Throw in all appliances (inc washer/dryer), play structure and window treatments and we've made up the difference. After a week long scuffle of paper between their lender and relocation we are good to go and signed the purchase agreement last Friday, locking in on a 5.125% interest rate :-)

The sellers are in a tough spot on this deal. The husband was relocated to Minneapolis for work (already living there), and with the financial loss on the sale of their home they were working with a relocation company to help with the process. Now I'm not sure how relocation company's work and what help they give to recoup the costs, but I do know they got in our way, and drug out the process to getting a purchase agreement signed. Part of the issue is that we are buying the home for $23,000 LESS than what they paid for it in 2006. So as a seller they have to bring a big wad of cash to the closing table. YIKES-crappy for them... But Sooooo good for us ;-) We were good on our end... just waiting for them to get their crap together.
We set Feb 3rd as a closing day (moving in day) as we are still tied to our townhouse lease until April 30th. Unless our unit gets re-rented before April we will be paying rent and a mortgage. That would really suck- so If you know anyone looking for housing in Duluth PLEASE send them my way. Thankfully we have the ability to close and move in earlier should we find re-renters.
Its a great house, with lots of space (2738 sq ft) and a gorgeous back yard. I'll post some pix and more specific next time.
FINALLY FINALLY FINALLY FINALLY is all I've got to say in closing.