Hello personalfinance. My fiancé and I are in contract for our first home together. I was very excited, but it's starting to turn into a sinking feeling, worrying that I'm getting a bum deal.
We live in a mid-sized, growing city. It's absolutely a sellers market here. We had been home shopping for months, and put offers in on multiple homes, before our offer was accepted on this one.
We offered $8,600 over asking price, with a $1500 appraisal bridge, and waived our right to remedy. It's an old house (built in 1919), in a neighborhood that is a bit rough, but which we believe is 'up and coming'. At first we were happy with this - we do really love the house - and we were happy to be done searching.
But our inspection came in yesterday, and the house needs a new roof. Immediately. The chimney is in poor shape. There are high radon levels in the basement. Looking at comps in the area, we're definitely on the high side. Like, maybe 10-20k on the high side.
Our appraisal hasn't come in yet, so we'll see what that says. But I have heard that appraisers in the area are likely to just quote the selling price, trying to help the neighborhood come up.
Am I making a big mistake here? I don't mind overpaying slightly to be in a house I enjoy, but I definitely don't want to end up underwater in my first home, and put myself in a situation I can't get out of...
None of us can predict the future, but does anyone have any educated advice here??
EDIT:
More clear information: The asking price for the house was 163,400. I offered 172,500.
My fiancé has spent most his life in construction, and can do many of the repairs himself. We were okay with a 'fixer-upper'.
I should add, rents are also high in the city. I would be saving money on the mortgage, over what I would be paying in rent.
Submitted August 09, 2017 at 09:03AM by dingatron http://ift.tt/2vNvL76
