Our First Open House

Jon and I have been perusing the realty websites for some time now without any real intentions of making a move. Last week I decided that it might be worth it to take a look at some of these properties; if we really didn't like the ones we could afford, then we could stop looking until we were in a different financial situation. I contacted our assigned realtor on Zip Realty and requested to see 3 properties that seemed to fit our criteria;

Property #1, 13 Fayette St, Beverly ($169,900) was already under contract.



Property #2, 2A Linden St, Salem ($179,900) was already under contract.




Property #3, 40 Bow St, Beverly ($180,000) didn't actually have off-street parking; you had to rent it from the house next door for $25/month! Given that we didn't really like the property to begin with (it had slanty ceilings), we decided to pass.


Then I requested to see 4 different properties that seemed to fit our criteria:

Property #1, 75 Walnut St Peabody ($175,000) was already under contract.



Property #2 was having an open house (yay!)
Property #3 scheduled a showing for 2:30pm
Property #4, 11 Gardner St, Salem ($174,000) never returned the realtor's phone calls.



Property #2: 31 Lenox Rd, Peabody; 2br $164,000 826sf


Jon and I went to the open house today around 12:30 on our own; realtors did not need to accompany the buyers to this one. The property was 31 Lenox Rd in Peabody and had previously been listed as a pre-approved short sale for $181,000. However, someone made a $181,000 offer and the bank realized that the property was worth less than that so would not allow the sale at that price! It was pre-approved 1-2 months later at $164,000; the original buyer had since found a new property to purchase.

When we arrived, the seller's agent handed us a print-out of the property details. He was very nice and did not harass us. He had soft music playing in the background.

For $164,000 on a quiet side street in Peabody, you could get 826 sf, 2 bedrooms @ 10x12, 1 bath, a small living room with bay window, a dining room with a built-in cabinet, an oddly designed kitchen with gas stove and built-ins, a NICE porch and yard, laundry hookups in the basement, and 1 off street parking spot.

Pros: The porch and yard were amazing. The layout was such that it did not feel like 800sf. The location was good. The laundry was easily accessible. The porch will definitely be what sells that place.

Cons: The hardwood floors DEFINITELY needed to be replaced; we wondered what an inspector would say. The floors were pulling away from the walls in some places. The bedroom closets were nearly completely unfinished and needed a lot of work, with cement/brick/ electrical stuff sticking out everywhere.

Our decision: Too much work to be "move-in ready" to our standards.

Property #3: 25 Wisteria St Salem, MA; $189,900 2br 1150sf

Our realtor was 15 minutes late to meet us. It was our first time meeting him so this was
probably not a great first impression to make. The condo had a lock-box outside that is supposed to hold the key, but apparently the people from the last showing took the key with them. We stood outside in the rain and cold for about 10 minutes while our realtor tried to figure out what was going on. It was not his fault, but perhaps if he had showed up on time (or heaven forbid, a few minutes early!), we would have not had to stand in the rain for so long.

He did give us a folder with a print-out of the property details and we noticed that it was last assessed at $230,000.

I am going away this week to Philadelphia so we won't be able to schedule another viewing for 2 more weeks. The realtor didn't seem to like that. Oh well??

Thus, we have officially seen our first property. We realized that 800 square feet is not as bad as we thought it would be. We were also reminded that we have to decide where we are willing to make concessions if we are going to purchase property on a limited budget. We DON'T want to have to replace all the floors as would have been the case at 31 Lenox Rd. It is a learning process!


Getting pre-approved.... not pre-qualified?
Also this weekend we began the pre-approval process. We went to TD Bank thinking we would walk in and be easily pre-approved; everyone we've talked to said that it was a very easy process. The lady at TD Bank said "most banks" no longer do pre-approvals because it costs them money and we are in no obligation to then use them as a lender. However our realtor said that Bank of America does them all the time, so that was interesting. She said they can do pre-qualifications where they essentially use a calculator to determine what you can probably afford. It just does not involve a credit check and doesn't carry the same validity as pre-approvals. Jon and I left, disappointed, to walk back home in the rain.

So, this morning I sent in an application online with Beverly Co-op. I thought it would be an automated, quick process but instead at the end of the application, I was told that someone would be contacting me during the week. More waiting.

But like I said, we are in no rush!