Trying to get over the over priced house we just bought

[Anonymous]

We offered the asking price without any closing credit. I think we paid around $30k more than suppose to be, the townhouse was $320k.
We love the house and location, and during this crazy market, we rushed and made an other in a way that intended to win this house.
(We lost a few bid on other locations)

Now kind of regret that we should have at least ask for closing credit.

Just trying to get over it, but my heart still hearts because that's a lot of money to me.

[Anonymous]

The idea of paying $320k for a townhouse is why we ended up looking and buying in PG County. Paid $325k for a 2000 sq ft SFH built in 2011 in College Park.

If you love the house, it'll be okay, just don't expect to get your money back if you have to move too soon.

[Anonymous]

It sounds like you are having buyer's remorse, which is not unusual when making big purchases. Maybe you spent more than you needed to...but try to amortize that over 30 years or however long you will be in the house. Hopefully the house will appreciate enough over time so this money is just a drop in the bucket. There is no way for you to know what might have happened if you had bid less aggressively.

We bid aggressively on our house because it was the house we really, really wanted. I was a little uncomfortable with it -- and of course when our offer was accepted immediately regretted that we had paid too much. 12 years later, we are still in the house, still love it. Our house has doubled in value and now I laugh at the "extra" money I thought we paid at the time.

Just be happy you got the house you love -- and congratulations!

[Anonymous]

Buyer's remorse is a common experience. This will pass.

If you're really unhappy, walk over something in the home inspection.

But as I said in the other thread you posted, yes, it's too late to ask for closing credit unless it's related to items in the inspection (and in that case the credit would be in lieu of the items being fixed).

[Anonymous]

OP - if you love the house and can afford the payment, you need to get over it. in no time at all that $30K you over paid will be distant memory. $30K amortized over 30yrs is nothing.

[Anonymous]

OP, financially, it's done. So don't think about the money, think about the intangibles. Focus on what you love about your house and the wonderful memories you will create there with your family.

The peace of mind from being in a house you love, that you can afford, in a location that you like-- PRICELESS!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It sounds like you are having buyer's remorse, which is not unusual when making big purchases. Maybe you spent more than you needed to...but try to amortize that over 30 years or however long you will be in the house. Hopefully the house will appreciate enough over time so this money is just a drop in the bucket. There is no way for you to know what might have happened if you had bid less aggressively.

We bid aggressively on our house because it was the house we really, really wanted. I was a little uncomfortable with it -- and of course when our offer was accepted immediately regretted that we had paid too much. 12 years later, we are still in the house, still love it. Our house has doubled in value and now I laugh at the "extra" money I thought we paid at the time.

Just be happy you got the house you love -- and congratulations!

Appreciate for the cheer and congratulation to you as well on the houses appreciation in value.

[Anonymous]

Thanks all for commenting!

[Anonymous]

And now you're done with the crazy process of trying to find something! All that time and energy now saved is worth something. Enjoy making your new place Home!

[Anonymous]

OP, I totally get what you're saying. I think you've posted in a couple of other threads.

There really is absolutely and positively NO way to know if you did in fact "overpay." I've been through what you're going through now, and I realized that no one can really say at any given time that they're house is worth X amount.

I always get irritated when people say "my house is worth X because the house down the street just sold for X." Well, I saw houses in my neighborhood sell for high amounts and then houses in the same neighborhood sit for MONTHS at a price lower than that amount.

You're house is only worth what someone will pay for it. You can use comps, et cetera, to make a guess, but it is still just a guess.

I've also seen people all in a fuss over tax assessments being lowered, because they were under the mistaken notion that tax assessments reflect market value. The two have NOTHING to do with each other.

Where I am going with this? I'm telling you that you may think you "overpaid," but you don't know that. The only way you would know is if you tried to sell your house right now and no one would buy it for that price.

but you're not going to sell it. So you will NEVER know if you overpaid.

Why obsess over something you don't even know for certain and will not know with any certainty? It's a waste of energy and time.

You can afford the house, it meets your needs, and you are not planning on selling any time in the near future. If all of those things are true, then stop focusing on whether you "overpaid." In fact, my advice is to stop focusing on what your house is worth.

I watched for the last decade as people delighted in their house being worth X amount and then people grieving over their house losing Y amount in value. And these are people who weren't planning on selling and haven't sold. It's all sort of ridiculous.

You have to let it go.

[Anonymous]

Which area is the house?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We offered the asking price without any closing credit. I think we paid around $30k more than suppose to be, the townhouse was $320k.
We love the house and location, and during this crazy market, we rushed and made an other in a way that intended to win this house.
(We lost a few bid on other locations)

Now kind of regret that we should have at least ask for closing credit.

Just trying to get over it, but my heart still hearts because that's a lot of money to me.

At this point, the best way is to try to look at things from another perspective. If you had bid $5000 less or asked for 3% help in closing costs (about $10K) and then LOST the house to some other bidder who bid $1000 less than you won the house for, would you have been happy to lose the house and have to keep househunting possibly not finding another good option this season?

You bid what you felt you needed to win the house against multiple offers, which you admit that you've lost in the past. The fact that you won a house that you love in the location that you love for a price that you felt was worth it, should leave you feeling that you did good. Believe me, having been in the opposite camp of losing a house and then thinking, "But we could have afforded to pay $5K more" or "We didn't really need the closing help, why did we ask for it?!?" is equally depressing. I understand that you don't want to feel that you overpaid, but if you think of it as you paid something that you were comfortable paying and won the house that you wanted, in the end, it should be more satisfying that continuing to lose bids.

[Anonymous]

Really stupid to not ask for closing credit. Don't know how you can spin it to anything else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Really stupid to not ask for closing credit. Don't know how you can spin it to anything else.

Eh, you can't make this statement. Even during the down market, it was hard to get closing help, because sellers get squeamish about the appraisal. If there are multiple bids, frankly, a seller is more inclined to go with a lower overall offer price than a higher offer price that includes seller-paid closing, because at the end of the day, it reduces risk.

So no, it's not stupid to not ask for closing credit. It all depends on the list price, comps, the market, whether there are multiple bids.

I lost a bid on a house a year and a half ago (yeah, during winter when it was still a BUYER'S market) because I asked for closing help. There was 1 other bidder who offered less than I did but didn't ask for closing help. The seller went with that person. I regret asking for closing help, because I could've afforded to pay the closing costs myself, and the house was worth it. After I found and bought another house, for months I compared the house I bought to the "one that got away."

I'm convinced that no one ends up completely happy in real estate transactions, except maybe the lucky person who bought in the 1990s and sold in 2004/5 and made a crap ton of money and moved to a lower-cost area and was able to buy their dream retirement house for cash. But outside of that scenario, in this area, it's just bizarre and usually painful, filled with uncertainty and rife for buyer's remorse. But you have to just do the best you can, then let it go, and live your life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Really stupid to not ask for closing credit. Don't know how you can spin it to anything else.

That is the dumbest thing I've heard. We did not ask for closing credit...because we could calculate our closing costs and know what we were getting. We chose to ask for repairs for (and had accepted) things in the inspection (not a lot but a few key ones) because those kind of things are unknowns when you offer. We made the better choice.