QFT!!!! good friggin point
Just got preapproved for a new haus
- Thread starter Sandwich
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QFT!!!! good friggin point
The best price for any transaction is the one that nobody is happy with. If someone is happy the other got screwed.
very wise words.
Jeebus. 411K for a fixer-upper? If it needs that much work and assessed value is 360K, I wouldn't spend a dime more than 330K. Not here anyway. It speaks volumes that houses are languishing but prices aren't dropping in your area. IMHO, stay where you are and save your money. Wait 6 months and see what happens, there is still a huge "shadow inventory" out there. If things continue to turn south economically a lot of these people are going to find new "motivation".
If I had to do it all over again I would not buy, the future of real estate is too much of a gamble.
My house came with one of those too. I like talking dirty to my wife from the bedroom when she is in the kitchen.
Well, we went and put an offer on the house. Right around 380, 12% off. We'll see if they bite. Every email I get today is like the most exciting email ever.
I wouldn't buy a house as an investment right now but I would have no problems buying a home. The problem with the housing market started when everyone started considering it a market.
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exactly...and this is one that we could live and grow in for 20+ years, not 5-7 and then flip/upgrade.
Here in the Bay Area, it's a PERFECT time to by investment property. Prices are very reasonable, and with the banks still foreclosing on homes, rentals are huge and getting top dollar. What people fail to get is when someone goes into foreclosure and still has current employment, they are still making money. They just haven't paid a mortgage in maybe 2-3 years. Typically all the money goes into their savings account. People have to live somewhere.
If this part of the state is any indication, those Californian people are coming to live HERE.
Impossible for any of us to say. This is where a *good* real-estate agent is helpful if you have one. Look at what comparable houses in the area have sold for in the past few months. Find out how badly the sellers need to get rid of it - if they've already bought a house they might be desperate, if there are renters in it they might not really care about selling. The fact that other houses have been sitting for so long gives you a little bit of leverage; the sellers might be happy to sell it and be done quickly.
well, realty can eat a dick.
We went from 380 to 397 after a week of negotiations...they had come down to 410 before our final offer. Some cash cow swept in and made a better cash offer than ours and took it. I hope the contractor they hire to do the ****ty renovations as they flip it takes a huge upper decker in the upstairs toilet.
Looks like the house hunt is on hold for a couple weeks until the market cools off.
We went from 380 to 397 after a week of negotiations...they had come down to 410 before our final offer. Some cash cow swept in and made a better cash offer than ours and took it. I hope the contractor they hire to do the ****ty renovations as they flip it takes a huge upper decker in the upstairs toilet.
Looks like the house hunt is on hold for a couple weeks until the market cools off.
At the rate we're going it shouldn't be too long. Just keep saving away.
I hope so. I don't want to hear any complaints or bailout bull****. If these bag of dicks can sell a house in a week without even asking us whether we wanted to beat the competing offer, then the market doesn't need any help.
Cash is king. Suck for sure though. I've read/heard several stories like this where investors/speculators with $$$$ snatch a place out from under people. I also encourage you to wait, this could be a good thing.
the wife is freaking out but I'm confident we'll find another place for less money that makes us similarly happy. I'm just upset because we were so close and those cock-gobblers snatched it out from under us, and they'll likely do the same crap "renovations" everybody does around here and then try to sell it for 100grand more in a year...and it won't move, just like every single other house that's feebly attempted to be flipped around here. It's disgusting, complain to me about a slow housing market, but the only things worth buying are snatched up by realtors themselves to be flipped for a quick profit, where they rot on the market. ummm...ur doing it wrong.
Why are you mad at the "cash cow" people who swept it up? It's a market. They were willing to pay more. It's not your problem if they can't flip it successfully and it "rots on the market", and it's not their problem that your offer was lower than theirs.
Another option, if you can do it near where you want to live, is to buy a piece of property and build. I've had some family that have done that and it worked out fiscally in their favor.
They bought a piece of property that had the features they wanted then bought a mid-sized used RV and a shipping container for stuff and tools. They had the property wired, sewage and water lines installed, then lived in the trailer while building the house. They had the foundation and initial wiring/piping done and then the house framed. One they were framed they mapped out how they wanted to build out the rest of the house and went room by room. Bathroom and master bedroom were firs, then a simple kitchen.
Once the house was at least livable with one bedroom, bathroom, and small pre-final kitchen, they moved in and sold the RV. Across the board it took everyone 3-4 years to finish the house, but all saved over 50% for an equivalent house. They had plumbers and electricians do their thing, but spent weekends and free time work on a per-room basis.
They bought a piece of property that had the features they wanted then bought a mid-sized used RV and a shipping container for stuff and tools. They had the property wired, sewage and water lines installed, then lived in the trailer while building the house. They had the foundation and initial wiring/piping done and then the house framed. One they were framed they mapped out how they wanted to build out the rest of the house and went room by room. Bathroom and master bedroom were firs, then a simple kitchen.
Once the house was at least livable with one bedroom, bathroom, and small pre-final kitchen, they moved in and sold the RV. Across the board it took everyone 3-4 years to finish the house, but all saved over 50% for an equivalent house. They had plumbers and electricians do their thing, but spent weekends and free time work on a per-room basis.
exactly. its still a ton of coin for a "fixer upper"
or if you can't afford custom digs, buy proper, get your utils dug, have a slab poured then slap a pre-fab on it.
I'm mad because I didn't get the house that I wanted. In a supposedly slow economy where the wealthy's investments are uncertain, somebody decided at the 11th hour that the house I had an offer on was a good investment so they could turn their wealth into more wealth, not a house into a home. They don't care about me and I don't care about them and that's fine, in two weeks I'll have forgotten this whole deal....but if all it takes is a week to sell a property in this market for your asking price, then everyone else is asking the wrong price and there should be no complaints.
I also wanted to make sure that everyone who told me I was stupid for making such a large offer on this house knew they were wrong, as somebody with more money than me was willing to pay even more money than I was.
I also take offense to the fact that any house worth buying in this town is quickly snapped up by investors, so that people who can actually buy these houses (call them end-users) can't afford to buy a home. How can you complain about a lack of buyers if you use your wealth to bully out a potential homeowner so that you can flip it and price them out of competition, then there's nobody to buy the house because it's too expensive for the neighborhood! It's idiotic.
I can't do that, unfortunately. Not financially and there's no land to be bought up either. It's not a bad idea, and plenty of investors buy houses like the one I wanted just to tear them down, divide the land, and build two ugly ass identical houses in its place.
Prefabs are a great idea, but you are still looking at $500k for a 3-br
but time for completion would negate the need for an rv / temporary housing solution. they can go up in what, 4-6 weeks tops?
After land purchase, permitting, foundation, sewage/electrical/water, etc.
Sell bikes, live in truck, park at work, no commute!
You liked it enough to pull the trigger despite having looked at a bunch of other possibilities. There was something about it to make it stand out for you. Well, someone else liked it too, for whatever reason, and regardless of what they want to do with it. And they were willing to pay more. End of story.
How much will any of that other stuff matter when you decide to sell in the future? Do you plan to screen your potential buyers to make sure they have good intentions?
Anyway, you'll probably find a better place. That's what happened to me. I lost two places I was really stoked about, but thinking back now I'm glad I didn't get either one. In time you might see this as a dodged bullet.
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Pretty much exactly what I told him Saturday. 3rd house I put an offer in on was the one I wound up with and actually love it a lot more than the first two.
Our real estate agent told us if doesn't work out it just wasn't meant to be and that something better will always come up. Everything will work out when its meant to be. Pretty solid advice.
Is he the lama or real estate? Or at least rocks a Seagal ponytail?
Though it is true. Even if you phrase it like the gods of real estate have a plan for every decent buyer.
It sucks being chum but sharks gotta eat too... when its time for you to sell I bet the bottom line is all you'll care about. 
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Running on WGBH right now. Saw it on Sunday. Good watch to determine if you are ready. She's changed her tune a little. Personally, I think people should wait longer and have more of a down payment, but I can understand this logic as well as long as you're planning on living here for 20 years.
Kind of like ex-girlfriends.
Oh, and by the way, Here's my old apartment.
http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/24-Crescent-Rd-Needham-MA-02494/57477942_zpid/
I was tossed out in June 2010. At the time there was an agreement with a selling price of 469. The zestimate is 531. 14 months later and it's still not sold and they're selling for land only. I suppose since they are selling for land only, the zestimate doesn't reallty apply, but it's way off what the property is worth.
Just some food for thought.
http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/24-Crescent-Rd-Needham-MA-02494/57477942_zpid/
I was tossed out in June 2010. At the time there was an agreement with a selling price of 469. The zestimate is 531. 14 months later and it's still not sold and they're selling for land only. I suppose since they are selling for land only, the zestimate doesn't reallty apply, but it's way off what the property is worth.
Just some food for thought.
$530k for a 1/4 acre lot.......disgusting.
well I watched that, and living below your means is good advice at any time.
but to make a counterpoint, I'm not sure there's a better time to live above you means. Finance rates are so low and they probably won't get any better, only worse. If you have stable income and good credit you can nail down some ridiculous finance rates that you won't be able to get in a year when the markets rebound.
I'm no financial guru but it seems to me that it's wiser to buy a house at 4.2% now that's a little bit more than you can really afford now, than to wait 5 years, need the space, and have to pay 6.5% and have more competition.