So as I discussed last week in my post Our Hectic Week and Big Secret Revealed, I left off that the bank owned home we were interested in purchasing was requiring pre-approval through their bank with all offers after we already received pre-approval through our own bank. So after a three hour wait, I finally got in touch with someone at Wells Fargo to walk us through the “pre-approval” process again. After explaining where we were in the process, and that Wells Fargo already owns the home we were interested in, the agent explained that we did not need pre-approval, only pre-qualification, which did not require a credit pull.

Yes, finally some good news and luck! Nothing makes me happier than another credit pull not being required. So I quickly reviewed all of our information with the Wells Fargo agent and she issued us a pre-qualification letter to submit with the offer. Here is the kicker though, all it was was a sales pitch. Wells Fargo just wanted to be able to try and encourage us to use them for a mortgage. Was it smart of them? Sure, I will give them that. However, it was just a major inconvenience considering we were already pretty stressed. However, we submitted the information and again waited for a decision.

Honestly, no one even expected to hear a decision considering the Memorial Day weekend was looming. So just to recap, Sunday we went and looked at some open houses. Monday we went and saw a listing my wife liked. Tuesday we were having to get pre-approval lined up, as well as conduct our own due diligence, as well as submit an offer. Wednesday we were having finalize our offer since the other interested party had 24 hours to submit their best offer. Finally on Thursday we received a decision whether we won the house or not.

Yes, we won a new home! It was a whirlwind of work to get it all done, but we really think it is well worth it. The home directly next door sold 6-months prior for $12,000 more and it has 500 less square feet than our new home. The development has other new construction going on all around it, and one just sold for $86/SF. Our home was being purchased for a mere $77/SF. This is for a new construction home (5 years old) that is fully developed with a yard, landscaping, large multi-level deck, and full finished basement. Basically, we feel like we practically stole the home because we purchased it for far less than any of the competition. Awesome; instant equity in a horrible housing environment. The neighborhood luckily is an excellent rated, growing community. According to a local publication, the community we are moving has 2005-2010 home sale prices increasing an average of 9.09%. That is great news considering most communities around the country have been experiencing major losses in home values.

We will have to see how the appraisal comes in, but the difference between the current taxable value of the new home and the purchase price is $50,000, and home around there are on average selling for $25,000-50,000 more than we purchased. The plain fact of the matter is that for once, we feel absolutely no buyers remorse, and feel like we got an unbelievable deal! It is a pretty amazing feeling when it is the biggest purchase of your life.

I honestly think one of the major reasons it had not sold prior to us showing up was because it was horribly marketed. The pictures were not good, which is pretty typical it seems for realty listing. I have no idea how my wife was able to realize the great potential in this home. It is absolutely amazing!

Stay tuned for future information on the financing and other related news.