I will try to make this quick...... We have had our house on the market since last year and finally was able to take a offer. We bought our home when it was a sellers market and paid a lot for our ranch with no central AC and electric heat.

. We are walking away with nothing and having to bring 20,000 to the table. (Luckily, my husband and I can use the VA loan to buy our next home). After accepting the offer I had my realtor pull up houses for us to look at in our price range and everything I would want is a foreclosure or short sale. Rentals here in NJ are usually a year lease and don't accept pets. I could do a winter rental on the island Sept-May, but they might not take pets either. Ideally, I would want a home before selling, but we will lose our buyer since she needs to be in a house by Sept. I found a listing that I thought for sure was a foreclosure, but it wasn't. I went and took a look and put a offer in the next day. We just found out Friday that our offer was accepted. It should be in attorney review this week. (hopefully, no one came in this weekend with a higher offer!) My realtor checked out the situation with the home and it is court ordered to sale, because two parties own the home. One wants to sale one dosen't. We had to put in a offer for asking price since the owner can reject offers below asking price. (Luckily, it was lowered 15,000 last week making it a little less then the max we wanted to spend). The house is beautiful and comes with alot of features like granite counter tops, dual zone heating and air, gas fire place, hardwood staircase and foyer, security system etc. It was built in 2006 and is almost 3,000 sq ft. It does need paint inside and eventually new flooring. (not crazy about the carpet down stairs since I have pets). The neighborhood is also beautiful with similar houses through out the development. One downside is ths lot is on the smaller side and the backyard is not huge. (I believe it is about a quarter acre.) The houses are also somewhat close to each other, but I think that is how a lot of these new developments are in NJ now...Big house with a small lot! I just need some outside opinions other then my husband and realtor. I said I was going to take my time and not rush this time buying a house, but I put the offer in on the first house and only house I looked at in person. lol. BTW I am also 11 weeks with twins due in Jan/Feb. I really don't want to be in a rental when they come. This will be my only pregnancy and I want to be able to nest. I knew the pregnancy and house would come all at once. lol Sorry this was long and lack of paragraphs! I am on a iPad!
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Re: Put a offer on th first home we looked at. (Am I crazy?).
Waiting longer and looking at more houses does not always make a house that is a better fit appear on the market.
Location is important to me - so that would be a big consideration -- and we waited 4 years for our second (and for us our forever) house.
Good luck and enjoy your new home.
Our new home will also be on a 1/4 acre lot. For us, it's enough. We can garden, let our future dog out for a bit, and have some space to explore. Some people need more, and that's fine. You just need to know what works for you.