For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for August 08, 2018

don’t get ahead of yourself, Philip

He’ll make them an offer they can’t refuse!

Love that smug “Gotcha” look on the agent’s face.

In these cases, it’s usually best to listen to the experts; in this case, the real estate agent. If Georgia allowed Phil to do what she suggested they probably would still get the house but for a couple thousand less.

I bought later in life and put down 3/5ths of the price. My agent when told what my down payment would be almost fell out of her chair. Even though the rate was 10.5%, my mortgage payments were low.

The old fellow (owner_ is sly and I doubt there is another couple. Better to low ball and offer 150 and I’d bet they take it. Three K is ridiculous.

If they really have that much “cash” for the purchase, they could use part as a more-than-decent down payment and use the rest to make some renovations. On the other hand, telling them “cash” is a lie on par with the owner saying there was another interested party.

Agent used to deal at a casino

The original comic strip from 1989 had home prices that were $100K less. Phil’s dialogue has been changed to say “almost $3000” instead of “$3000”, because 29 years later someone decided that readers could not understand rounding up.

When I was trying to purchase a first home, it was during the housing bubble of the early 1980s. I offered full price, as my agent advised, only to be outbid! People were bidding OVER the asking price and houses were selling within a week. Crazy times. Still bugs me that my agent didn’t advise me to bid OVER the asking by a few thousand.

When we sold our house last year, we set a price that was higher than average for the area with the idea that we could negotiate. We got a full price offer almost immediately.

This was when the competition for houses was fierce in Eastern Canada and prices were on the rise. If you didn’t offer the asking price, you didn’t have a ghost of a chance.

I can’t figure out how to pronounce “Geo”? ‘go’? gee-oh? help!

Must be nice.

Interesting real estate system. The agent doesn’t show the house, the owners do that but the agent still gets a commission.

I’m at that point in buying a house. I may get outbid.

Just because you get out bid dosen’t mean you don’t get the house. When we bought our house the housing market was starting to get tight and prices were going up. There was another family who also wanted our house and offered 3 or 4 thousand more than our offer. We got the house because we where already approved for the loan the other family hadn’t been approved.

Phil’s gonna need a cigarette…

Is that a smirk I see on the agent’s face?

Cue the “Whip” phone app!!!

Sometimes it is better to keep on renting, if you have a nice apartment with a patio, if you take all the costs of renting vs owning into account.

I’d bet they’re being suckered. Know the market ahead of time, how briskly houses are selling. I knew someone in Colorado that said in his area, a house could go on the market that morning and have three offers above asking by noon! When I tried to sell a house in Quincy, Ill. it sat for six months. Know the market.

In a similar situation, I offered asking price – if the seller would pay closing costs. This let us maximize the down payment (25%) for a lower mortgage payment – but the seller felt good about getting their asking price (less closing costs).

How the hell do they have that much cash sitting around?!? They don’t seem to have lucrative jobs or trust funds.

The wife’s expression in the last panel makes it crystal clear that Phil had better “make her happy”……or else.