房事中的后悔药

A realtor called me this afternoon to ask if I still remeber her. I said no. American female realtors sound the exact same person to me: polite and political.

She told me that the house that I put an offer on went back to the market.

I was glad.

But only for a few seconds because she went on to tell me that the seller now asks for $100k more than he orignally asked.

I told her not bother me because I won't give it a second look any more. I'm pretty sure it is over priced now. And I won't go back.

On the second thought, I have to admit that the house was significantly under-priced at the original price. Yes, it was a fix-up. Yet, it is literarily sitting on a beutiful golf course and looking into the beautiful Charles river. And it is located in one of the most prestigious towns in great Boston area. The land alone would be worth more the orginal asking price. But the three offers that went to the house 2 months ago on the same day did not recognize the value of the house, including mine. I thought of putting a full price offer. But I did not. That is against my principle: I walk away whenever mutliple offers come.

Well, the lesson learnt is that even in a soft market, you can still find good deals. Suppose that I bought that house two months ago. And I now I can put it to the market $100k more than I bought. Of course, I might not make money after realtor's commission. But just thinking that you got a house with $100k less than it is worth would be a great psycological comfort.

Of course, compared to millions of opportunities I lost in the past few years due to my weak financial situation, this loss might not be big deal. Yet, it happened in a soft market. That makes it a good case study for real estate talks.