I moved from Texas to Las Vegas in the middle of July.  I lucked out selling my 2,500 sq. ft. house on two heavily wooded acres in Texas for about $35,000 less than I was expecting to.  The asshole that bought it from me put so many contingencies on the sale; I thought he was going to stipulate that I would have to wear my underwear outside my pants for a year.  I would've agreed too.  After my house was sold, I thought my problems were over and it was going to be all butterflies and sunshine.  After all, Vegas has one of the highest foreclosure rates in the country and it's a buyers market.  My wife, dog, cat, son, daughter, and I are living with my mother in law until we sold the old house and purchased a new one.

After I sold my Texas house, I put an offer in on a Vegas house on November 9th.  Im preapproved on my loan and have $25,000 in cash for a down payment and closing costs.  Because it's a foreclosure and people are bidding on it, I offered $5,000 more than the asking price.  This might sound dumb, but I'd been living with my goddamn mother in law for four fucking months.  It's time to go!  I got jerked around for a month without having my offer accepted.  "We're waiting on an inspection."  "It's pending approval."  I thought if you offered more than somebody was asking for something, they'd sell it to you.  "How much for that gallon of milk?  Three dollars?  I'll give you three fifty.  What do you mean you'll get back to me?"

My wife found another house we preferred so we withdrew our offer and put a bid on the next house (also over the asking price) thinking this bank would be more motivated to sell.  Same shit, different seller.  We hung in there making phone calls from the middle of December until the beginning of this month.  Nobody accepted or rejected our offer.

This was outside of my expectations.  I thought banks would be getting in fist fights to get me to buy their foreclosures.  I've got my loan, I've got cash for a larger than necessary down payment.  WTF?  Are these dumbasses waiting for home prices to go back up?

I finally got my offer on a third house accepted.  I just had the inspection done today.  We're getting a really nice five bedroom, 3,200 sq. ft., about five years old, all wood floors, granite counters, plantation wood blinds, etc. for $261k.  Bank pays for closing costs, 13K down payment to get a 4.5% 30 year loan.  Hopefully well be able to close and move in by the end of March.  This is about five more months in my mother in laws house than I was expecting.  She's been better than I had any reason to expect, but it's still a living hell for me.

Selling a house is a nightmare, but it turns out buying one right now is a pain in the ass too.  The two homes that I didnt get my offers accepted on are now selling for even less than they were before.  Maybe Im just not savvy about mortgages, but this sounds like epic stupidity to me.

Here's a picture of the inside:

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/pictures/view/80547187/