Yes, as Viktoria said we have signed on the line for a new house. It cost a mind-blowing amount of money but some friends have commented that we got it cheap. It is pink and not that big, but we think it has some character. It was built in 1951, the same year as my mum (was born not built). It has a cellar, which they simply just don't build anymore (for good reason unfortunately, they are prone to moisture). It has a small garden too, hopefully big enough for a Kubb match in the summer, and maybe Elias and I will be able to practice our keep-me-ups out there.
It all began last weekend. We decided to sacrifice poor Elias' baby swim class because it was our last chance to go house hunting this year. We went to three "visnings" (public showings of the homes before the bidding process begins), one in North Stockholm and one in the South. The first in the North was a no-no. Like so many others we've seen it was loads worse than the published photographs on line. The second house was in quite a quiet green area that felt like it was miles from the city. It was nice, one of the best we've seen, semi detached. We were put off perhaps sillily by the cold floors underfoot downstairs. By the final house poor Elias was nearly at the end of his tether, but we ploughed on. We both liked the house straight away although I was more enamoured than Vickan. The selling point for me were the lovely warm floors in the basement, which were heated. We had our usual whispered conversion to each other to decide what we would pay for the house and agreed on 3.7 million.
We thought we'd give the bidding a go for this house, mainly for practice, we did not expect to get it because there were many other wealthy looking speculators at the visning whispering excitedly to each other. The bidding lasted over two days. Bidder 1 opened on the asking price of 3.2 million. We were the next bidders and we didn't mess around and layed 3.3. I knew bidder 3 were real players when they took it straight to 3.4. We were quickly running out of playing room since 3.7 was our limit. Then bidder 4 came in with a laughable attempt to get the house for 3.425. Bidder 3 quickly cut them down to size taking it to 3.5. The last bidders, number 5 also tried the same trick, showing their poor grasp at bidding psychology with a paultry 3.525. Bidder 3 quickly snapped back with a bid for 3.6. Then Vickan played her master stroke (who I should add was giving all our bids to the estate agent). She took it up to 3.7 just before bidding closed for the day. Getting in the last bid of the day is a great strategy (we thought) because it forces everyone else to think carefully about their bids. While the bidding is happening, it is all too easy to have an emotional rather than a rational response to another bidder's bid - you are tempted to bid on just to win the game rather than because you really want the house!
Anyway our trick nearly worked because the next morning the two weak bidders (4 and 5) dropped out. The agressive bidders (3) bided their time. We sensed it was not over simply because they had not dropped out. Bidders 1 had perhaps gone on holiday because we hadn't heard a peep from them since the opening bid. Time passed and just when we thought we may have got the house bidders 3 struck with a 3.75. Still a strong bid, but less agressive. Clearly we were finally converging on the true value of the house. Then we had a crisis of confidence. We had only planned to go to 3.7 but it did not feel good to let 3 have it for a mere 3.75. We had a signed letter from the bank saying we could spend up to 3.8. I was very keen on the house and wanted to make the bid of 3.8, vickan was not so sure. I managed to persuade her, one of my arguments being that I thought there was at least an 80% chance of bidder 3 topping 3.8 anyway, and it would be a shame not to at least try. Anyway in the end we made our 3.8 bid, but a lot of time had passed possibly giving away to the opposition our weakness. A swift bid would have hidden the fact that 3.8 was our limit. And sure enough, without much delay, bidders 3 brushed us aside with the final decisive bid of 3.85 million crowns. It was a bit disappointing but at least we'd tried and I think played our cards the best we could. I had a feeling however that it was not over.
That was wednesday. On Friday Vikoria got a call from the agent, bidders 3 had pulled out of the deal. Apparently they had been bidding on two places all along and had chosen the other place. Maybe if we hadn't made our 3.8 bid, they would have chosen our house for 3.75. So anyway we got the house. We had already decided that if this situation arose we would offer 3.7 million instead of our 3.8 bid. We could have offered less, but we thought then it would be tempting for the sellers to start the whole process afresh. As for bidders 3 - that behaviour is frustrating, although you can't really blame people for doing it if it maximises their chances of getting the place that want - it is not against the rules. Of course it should be against the rules because the practice of making phoney or hollow bids artificially fuels the prices to rise higher.
That's not quite the end of the story. It was not happily ever after because Vickan had serious doubts about the house through Saturday. Suddenly everything about it was wrong - it was too much money, our current home is too good to leave, we won't know anyone, there was nowhere to keep the pram. These were all genuine worries that I shared although I kept trying to convince her anyway because I thought it was a too good opportunity to miss. Anyway, I finally managed to drag us to the signing of the contract on Sunday, and things immediately felt more positive. The existing owners turned out to be really nice and they agreed to let us come back with them to show us personally around their home. After that things seemed much better, and now we can't wait to move in!
You can see some pics of the house
here
