我在西雅圖當房奴(2)

(三) 轉移戰場–花明柳暗篇

一個朋友聽了我們的經曆,說:”你們為什麽不去Sammamish看房呀?”
其實在剛看房時就有許多朋友推薦我們去那兒,而且他們中好多人也就住在那裏. Sammamish是一個新開發的處於丘陵 (或高原) 小城, 地勢有起伏, 樹木很多, 非常幽靜, 也非常漂亮.尤其是早晨, 雲霧繚繞猶如仙境.  房子比較新,麵積比較大,結構也更合理, 最關鍵的是學區不錯,價格便宜,而且不象Somerset那麽競爭激烈,或許可以享受一下”上帝”的待遇喲. 我們曾在一個月前去那兒看過一處房, 90年的房子,2300 呎, 結構很好, 要價才40萬. 可我當時就是覺得太遠(離公司10麥),而且去那裏來回隻有一條行車道, 比較堵.尤其要是有什麽交通事故,簡直要堵死了….
可是當我們確定要轉移目標,便開始看Sammamish的房子的時候,才發現那麽寬鬆的競爭環境已是老黃曆了.那裏的價格也早已上升到和兩三個月前的Somerset的房價不相伯仲了. 最可怕的是,出價時也要往上加,因為每家房子都有四五個offer了.看來真是應了那句話”機不可失,時不再來呀” 

不過因為”經驗豐富”,我們終於有機會當了次”候補”.
一天一大早,經濟人就給我們打電話說: 昨天夜裏一個賣房經濟人給他打電話留言,問我們是否還願意出一周前發出的offer的同樣的價格,如果願意,就可以賣給我們. 原來那家房子我們當時加了1.5萬,得了亞軍. 可是冠軍因為家庭的突然變故不能買了. 我和先生早已厭倦了,或者說恨透了這些天的經曆, 自然很高興的說願意了, 晚飯媽媽還做了一大桌的飯菜說是慶祝一下我們要喬遷新居了. 可是可口的飯菜剛吃到一半,經濟人又打來電話, 氣憤地說賣房又反悔了,要重新上市,還要再open house, 再review offer,還說歡迎我們再次竟標!  

（四）破斧沉舟--終於勝出篇 

就這樣在失敗,半失敗,再失敗之後,房價越來越高, 我們終於”找不著北了”.
一個月後我們看上了一棟房子,感覺還不錯. 經紀人看我們對那棟比較滿意,當下便說”根據我的經驗,你們應該至少往上加8萬”. 我先生聽了有點生氣,私下對我說:”他可真黑,沒做任何的市場調查,就讓咱們加那麽多, Sammamish的房子還沒聽說加那麽多的呢,況且房子的要價也不是很低”.  權衡再三, 我們咬咬牙往上加了5萬.寫offer的時候,我們的心都在抖呀.
等待的日子真難熬,一分一秒都那麽漫長. 第二天下午,經紀人打來電話,未開口我就從他呼吸的興奮裏知道有好消息了(畢竟3%的手續費是一大筆收入呢). 不過聽他說完,我們卻雖然高興但又總覺得高興的不是那麽痛快。原來排在第二的offer隻加了1.5萬，所以我們隻需要出比要價高1.7萬的價格就可以了。想想有些後怕，要是再有一個買方經紀人也象我們的經紀人一樣以後要，即使用escalate這種方法，我們也會成為冤大頭的 ( 這裏需要交代一下,盡管原先的經紀人還不錯, 但他主要做Redmond, Bellevue & Kirkland 一帶. 所以看Sammamish房時我們換了個經紀人. 但這個新經紀人讓人感覺不是特別可靠.每次看房他都勸我們加3-4萬, 特別急於讓我們買到房子, 他就可以賺錢了, 根本不管那個價格是否合理. )就這樣，雖然我們在這場戰鬥中勝出，我們對經紀人的信任此刻也降到了冰點，於是就注定要好事多磨了。 

(待續）

[MONKEY_MAGIC]

your article is very interesting, I just want to comment something, if Bellevue is so expensive, the price is comparable as San Francisco Bay, why don't you move over there, I am sure Silicon Valley is a much nicer place to live than Seattle. There are plenty of job opportunity for experienced people down there. Also, why don't people want to move to Tacoma area? What do you think Tacoma, Olympia area? What do you think the potential there?

[還好嗎]

Sorry that I don't know IT companies here. I am working for Microsoft but not as a IT person.

But if you go to the city information in the link I provided, they have the major companies in each city ( at least Bellevue ) . if you search seattle, you may find more companies but definitely Dallas has much more IT companies than here

[spagetti]

Thanks for your reply.

We visited Seattle 2 yrs ago. Both me and my husband love the place, the city, the harbour, the national parks and beach. We talked about moving, but house there is twice as expensive as in Dallas where we currently live. I'm also concerned they don't have as many IT companies as in Dallas. What is your take on that? What are some major IT companies besides Microsoft and Amazon?

[還好嗎]

We bought the house in May, 2005. Yes, I see the market is cooling down.

[spagetti]

Thanks for sharing your house hunting experience. But I do a question: Around what time did you buy the house? Was it last year or this year? I thought housing market on the west coast has been slowing down since the turn of 2006.