There are more cliches I could use to describe the events of the last few weeks.  Jenn and I have been going back and forth with a family up the road from our condo over the sale of their property. When we first looked at the property, the listing agent told us “we’ve had several offers on this property so you’ll have to move fast.”  Umm, yeah, no.  When it finally got time to put an offer in, our agent asked if there were other offers on the table to which she said, “no, there are no standing offers on the table.” Hmmm.  Since we put an offer in,  we’ve gone back and forth on price and closing dates and strange legal terms in contracts.  A few days ago, the sellers of this condo came back and told us that they’re no longer willing to sell unless we offer the listing price because they think they can convert a loft area into a 3rd bedroom and make more money on the resale. Hmmmm.  Jenn and i thought about it and their listing price was only a few thousand dollars over what we thought was market value so we put in a full-price offer.

Step back 8 years.  Jenn and I are newlyweds and we decide to go house shopping.  Within six weeks of our house hunting we settle on our “dream home”  in Schenectady.  We paid full price for that house on the day it was listed!  Common theme here?  The Austins are not good negotiators.  After 7 years we lost about $30,000 on the resale. Needless to say, we didn’t want to put a full-price offer in again.

Step forward again to yesterday.  We put a full-price offer in… again, not good negotiators.  Late yesterday afternoon we received word that there were “multiple bidders” and that the sellers would need our “best offer” so they could decide which one to pick.  Ummm…no thanks.  We immediately responded with a lower than full-price offer and prepared ourselves to walk away.

We’re living very comfortably in our condo right now so there’s no rush to move and there are times when you just need to walk away.  Unnecessary bidding wars are one of those times… the hot dogs at gas stations would be another time.  Maybe the Austins are good negotiators after all.