school17777 Posted February 6, 2021 Share Posted February 6, 2021 On 1/29/2021 at 7:56 PM, Jenny in Florida said: Realtor just called. There were eight offers on that house. We came in second. Will your realtor offer you up as a backup in case the first one falls through? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hippymamato3 Posted February 6, 2021 Share Posted February 6, 2021 I'm curious - what type of home are you looking for that they are getting so many offers? Real estate is selling quickly here but mostly in the lower price ranges. The higher priced homes are sitting a bit (but not too long...just longer) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenny in Florida Posted February 6, 2021 Author Share Posted February 6, 2021 2 hours ago, hippymamato3 said: I'm curious - what type of home are you looking for that they are getting so many offers? Real estate is selling quickly here but mostly in the lower price ranges. The higher priced homes are sitting a bit (but not too long...just longer) Somewhat above mid-range, I guess. We're looking at 4 bedroom, 2-3 bath homes in nicer areas of town. Nothing super fancy. The first couple of articles I found say that the median cost for a home in our area is just under $300,000, and we're okay spending more than that. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hippymamato3 Posted February 6, 2021 Share Posted February 6, 2021 5 minutes ago, Jenny in Florida said: Somewhat above mid-range, I guess. We're looking at 4 bedroom, 2-3 bath homes in nicer areas of town. Nothing super fancy. The first couple of articles I found say that the median cost for a home in our area is just under $300,000, and we're okay spending more than that. I hope you find the right one soon. Buying in this market is stressful, as you are experiencing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klmama Posted February 12, 2021 Share Posted February 12, 2021 Jenny, would your realtor send postcards to addresses that fit your criteria for size, neighborhood, etc? Sometimes people are thinking about selling, but haven't yet gone through the major hassle of downsizing their stuff for showings, and they would be glad to find a buyer without having to vacate multiple times for showings. That helps them as a seller, while seeing houses without having to compete for them helps the buyer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vonfirmath Posted February 12, 2021 Share Posted February 12, 2021 (edited) 5 minutes ago, klmama said: Jenny, would your realtor send postcards to addresses that fit your criteria for size, neighborhood, etc? Sometimes people are thinking about selling, but haven't yet gone through the major hassle of downsizing their stuff for showings, and they would be glad to find a buyer without having to vacate multiple times for showings. That helps them as a seller, while seeing houses without having to compete for them helps the buyer. Has anyone ever sold a house based on one of those postcards? We get them occasionally, but I always figure its either a realtor trying to get business or someone trying to scoop up houses for less than market value. Edited February 12, 2021 by vonfirmath Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenny in Florida Posted February 12, 2021 Author Share Posted February 12, 2021 38 minutes ago, klmama said: Jenny, would your realtor send postcards to addresses that fit your criteria for size, neighborhood, etc? Sometimes people are thinking about selling, but haven't yet gone through the major hassle of downsizing their stuff for showings, and they would be glad to find a buyer without having to vacate multiple times for showings. That helps them as a seller, while seeing houses without having to compete for them helps the buyer. Not something we've explored (or even thought of), honestly. I didn't know that was a thing people did. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenny in Florida Posted February 12, 2021 Author Share Posted February 12, 2021 On 2/5/2021 at 11:17 PM, school17777 said: Will your realtor offer you up as a backup in case the first one falls through? The buyer's agent said that they wanted to keep us in mind as a back-up, but we haven't heard anything suggesting they need one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klmama Posted February 12, 2021 Share Posted February 12, 2021 36 minutes ago, vonfirmath said: Has anyone ever sold a house based on one of those postcards? We get them occasionally, but I always figure its either a realtor trying to get business or someone trying to scoop up houses for less than market value. When we were looking, our realtor suggested it. I doubt he would have offered unless it sometimes produced results. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenny in Florida Posted February 12, 2021 Author Share Posted February 12, 2021 I talked my husband into trying a new strategy of focusing on houses that have been on the market for an extended period of time. He was hesitant, because it makes him worry about what's wrong with a house that doesn't sell. But I was hoping maybe it would help us avoid a bidding war if we found something we liked enough to just make a good offer. We did find one we liked a lot that has been on the market on and off for close to a year. After researching the area and recent sales, our realtor thinks the house is way over-priced. So, we made an offer that is a little higher than the likely appraisal value, which was promptly rejected. The seller's agent claims they have "a lot of interest" and a lot of people coming to see the house and they expect to be able to sell it for at or above the asking price, even though it seems that in the entire time they have had it on the market, ours may be the only offer they have gotten. We went back with a slightly better offer, but we don't want to get in trouble with financing if the appraisal comes back a lot lower. So we've decided on a hard cut-off, and if they don't take it, we'll be back on the hunt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Storygirl Posted February 12, 2021 Share Posted February 12, 2021 I hope it works out! We once made an offer and were worried about whether the house would appraise, because it was the highest priced home in the neighborhood. So we wrote a contingency into the offer, saying that it was based upon the appraisal. And it appraised for $40,000 less than our offer, so we bailed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MooCow Posted February 12, 2021 Share Posted February 12, 2021 My neighbor got into her house by writing a letter to the owners that shared why she needed a house with a master downstairs. Her agent sent that letter to everyone who had a master downstairs. We’ve also received postcards from realtors whose clients wanted to move into our neighborhood. We’ve even had realtors knock on our doors to see if anyone was interested in selling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenny in Florida Posted February 12, 2021 Author Share Posted February 12, 2021 (edited) Honestly, I'm losing heart for this process. I saw a house online several days ago that I fell in love with immediately. I showed it to my husband but said I didn't even want to go look at it, because I knew it would break my heart. The asking price was close to the top of our budget, and I had a hunch my husband wouldn't love it like I did (mostly because it's an older home). He showed it to our realtor, just as kind of a "This is exactly Jenny's style, so let's keep an eye out for others like this." The realtor said he thought it was worth seeing in person, because he suspected it would not actually sell for much more than the asking price. We went. We looked. I loved it so much I could have cried. It just felt like home to me. My husband found a variety of maintenance-type issues and quirks associated with it being older than most of the other houses we've gone to see. He was willing to go ahead and make an offer, based on how strongly I reacted to it, but--having lived with him for a few years in a rental in which he was constantly irritated by dealing with the quirks and issues of older construction--I was unwilling to go down that road unless he loved it, too. We had words about it in the car on the way to the next house, but ultimately agreed that it made more sense to find something we both liked a lot than to go for something one of us loves and the other finds just tolerable. I made the mistake of looking up the house just now and seeing that there is now a sale pending. I haven't really been able to cry ever since my big depressive episode several months ago, but I'm tearing up now. Edited February 12, 2021 by Jenny in Florida 1 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheReader Posted February 13, 2021 Share Posted February 13, 2021 Oh, ((((Jenny))) I'm sorry it's so rough. Big, big hugs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madteaparty Posted February 13, 2021 Share Posted February 13, 2021 I’ve been looking in a couple areas as potential to move to in the future, as well as maybe a second home (different area, different state) and the inventory is shockingly low. There’s just nothing. We will end up renting if we have to move. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KungFuPanda Posted February 13, 2021 Share Posted February 13, 2021 (edited) If I was renting, didn't have to move, and didn't need to sell a house, I think I'd be tempted to wait until it's more of a buyers market. These things come in waves and right now it's a huge seller's market. You really can afford to relax and wait for just the right house to come along. There are already several articles circulating about how people rushed to buy homes during the pandemic and regret is setting in. The Wall Street Journal published one just two days ago. People are making emotional decisions because the pandemic has us seeking security and it's not working out for everyone. https://www.wsj.com/articles/these-people-rushed-to-buy-homes-during-covid-now-they-regret-it-11613062856 Edited February 13, 2021 by KungFuPanda Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kristin0713 Posted February 13, 2021 Share Posted February 13, 2021 On 2/6/2021 at 6:43 PM, Jenny in Florida said: Somewhat above mid-range, I guess. We're looking at 4 bedroom, 2-3 bath homes in nicer areas of town. Nothing super fancy. We are in the exact same situation as you and it's SO disheartening. We've been looking since we sold our house in October. Homes where we are looking have risen drastically in price in the past year and just keep going up. We are driving two hours today to look at a house and most likely put in an offer. It is not exactly what we want, but close. Who knows if we will get it. Who knows if we would even like some aspects of it. The road that it is on is busier than we'd like. We really wanted three full baths upstairs, but this one only has two. (One kid is miserable about this, which makes me feel like a crappy parent that my kid is upset about not getting his own bathroom 🙄). It needs more updates than we wanted to do, but the price is low enough that we could do the updates. The location is perfect and the yard is sizable so something has to give. Would we regret that the road is busier? Should we hold out for another bathroom upstairs? But then will something else even come up in this location that is more like what we want? I don't want to be living in my parents' house forever. I really, really want to get the kids moved and settled by the summer so that we can start the school year in a fresh place, get involved in some activities and get connected with other people again. I have no advice, but I totally understand where you are at. Best of luck to you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ktgrok Posted February 13, 2021 Share Posted February 13, 2021 Ugh, we want to sell/buy this year, and this does not sound heartening! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kanin Posted February 13, 2021 Share Posted February 13, 2021 Where I live in Maine, it's somewhat touristy in the summer, and very pretty all year round. It's not as popular as other parts of the state - it's been relatively undiscovered until recently. Since the pandemic started, tons of people have been moving here from out of state. A house that's $350,000 and therefore impossible to even consider for me, is nothing to wealthy out of state people. Houses are selling in a day. DH and I are kicking ourselves for not buying two years ago, but back then we thought $200,000 was pricey and now we think it's pocket change. It's so strange how perceptions change depending on the market. I don't feel like we can trust our own opinions right now because everyone around us is rushing around trying to buy a house, any house. It stinks! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaSprout Posted February 13, 2021 Share Posted February 13, 2021 (edited) We're also in a touristy second home market and have a local housing shortage. We've bought and sold/houses and rentals over the last 10 years, and 3 out the 4 never involved a realtor. or were even listed. It's all been through networking and watching for personal property auctions, usually a friend of a friend kind of thing. We did buy a bank repo that was seriously dirty through a realtor. ETA- four bedrooms is hard! Good luck. Edited February 13, 2021 by MamaSprout Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommyoffive Posted February 13, 2021 Share Posted February 13, 2021 Can you build? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fairfarmhand Posted February 13, 2021 Share Posted February 13, 2021 Middle Tennessee is the same way. I love looking at real estate websites and houses online, not because I want to move but because I'm nosy about the insides of the pretty, historical homes in my area. Houses are moving SO FAST these days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arctic Bunny Posted February 13, 2021 Share Posted February 13, 2021 On 1/28/2021 at 9:58 AM, Jenny in Florida said: We are looking at one today selling "as is." Our realtor did some research and discovered that the house has polybutylene pipes. There have been no issues with them thus far. Apparently, the homeowner didn't even know they had them or that there was a problem until a sale fell through when it turned up on the inspection. They have had a couple of estimates done that suggest it will be approximately $5,000 to re-pipe. Given that the house has everything else we want and is priced at $15,000 under our budget cap, we could absorb that expense and still wind up ahead of the game. We passed on a house with poly-B. It was our dream house. The estimate was 25,000 to repipe, as all the walls would have to be opened, tile work, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SanDiegoMom Posted February 13, 2021 Share Posted February 13, 2021 The house we are living in now we were rejected on originally. We were the second offer, but the first one fell through. The owner wasn't easy to work with and refused to do any work. The first buyer walked. My husband is very handy and the market is so crazy, we took it basically as is. (they did termite tenting, but otherwise nothing else). It was about 10 days after the first offer that our realtor contacted us again to ask if we wanted to resubmit our offer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katilac Posted February 13, 2021 Share Posted February 13, 2021 20 hours ago, Jenny in Florida said: Honestly, I'm losing heart for this process. It can be very discouraging when you're ready to buy and things keep falling through, but you've only been seriously looking for about a month now. I take longer than that to buy a car, lol. That's seriously no time at all when buying a house, much less in a hot market. You have to brace yourself for it potentially taking months, a lot of looking, and a lot of failed offers. I know it's crazy frustrating - we took months when it wasn't even a hot market, but now we've been in our house for 24 years and counting. If you can adjust your thoughts about the process, it can be worth it in the end. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hyacinth Posted February 13, 2021 Share Posted February 13, 2021 I have a friend who lives in a neighborhood with 300+ houses. Her grandmother wanted to move into the same neighborhood. So my friend wrote a letter, printed several copies, and the two of them drove around the neighborhood and dropped off a letter at homes in the neighborhood that met grandma’s needs (flat driveway, one-story, small yard). It worked. For a homeowner who is doing the “maybe we should consider selling” dance, not needing to prepare a house for sale is a HUGE relief. And the personal story (as opposed to a generic realtor postcard) was the kicker. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeartString Posted February 13, 2021 Share Posted February 13, 2021 I have a friend who sent her realtor to knock on the door of a certain house that she really liked. The realtor did and the people were thinking about selling and were thrilled to not have to get it ready and do showings. It worked out great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hippymamato3 Posted February 13, 2021 Share Posted February 13, 2021 On 2/12/2021 at 4:43 PM, Jenny in Florida said: I talked my husband into trying a new strategy of focusing on houses that have been on the market for an extended period of time. He was hesitant, because it makes him worry about what's wrong with a house that doesn't sell. But I was hoping maybe it would help us avoid a bidding war if we found something we liked enough to just make a good offer. We did find one we liked a lot that has been on the market on and off for close to a year. After researching the area and recent sales, our realtor thinks the house is way over-priced. So, we made an offer that is a little higher than the likely appraisal value, which was promptly rejected. The seller's agent claims they have "a lot of interest" and a lot of people coming to see the house and they expect to be able to sell it for at or above the asking price, even though it seems that in the entire time they have had it on the market, ours may be the only offer they have gotten. We went back with a slightly better offer, but we don't want to get in trouble with financing if the appraisal comes back a lot lower. So we've decided on a hard cut-off, and if they don't take it, we'll be back on the hunt. Have you heard back on this one? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carrie12345 Posted February 13, 2021 Share Posted February 13, 2021 We’re working on getting an appointment to see one more house, and only because they just dropped their price a bit. We may be finally hitting a point where so many buyers are getting gun shy that sellers have to come back a little closer to reality. I’m not getting my hopes up, but it’d be nice if it worked out. I don’t have the emotions to invest anymore. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenny in Florida Posted February 14, 2021 Author Share Posted February 14, 2021 (edited) 3 hours ago, hippymamato3 said: Have you heard back on this one? Yep. The sellers are adamant they will not accept anything less than their asking price. So we passed. We are willing to go somewhat above appraisal value for a house we really love, but $30,000 is a big difference. Edited February 14, 2021 by Jenny in Florida 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klmama Posted February 14, 2021 Share Posted February 14, 2021 (edited) 22 minutes ago, Jenny in Florida said: Yep. The sellers are adamant they will not accept anything less than their asking price. So we passed. We are willing to go somewhat above appraisal value for a house we really love, but $30,000 is a big difference. Houses here are going for at least $50,000 over assessed value. It's insane. ETA: Oops, I just realized you said appraised value, not assessed value. Does the buyer hire someone to give an appraisal or does the seller? Edited February 14, 2021 by klmama Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SanDiegoMom Posted February 14, 2021 Share Posted February 14, 2021 4 minutes ago, klmama said: Houses here are going for at least $50,000 over assessed value. It's insane. yep. Here as well. We bought last Feb/March. The only way we managed to keep it close to appraisal was buying a house that was not in show condition. Another house in the same neighborhood was in pristine condition (but no view like we have). It sold for 30k over asking price. Anything in decent condition is automatically selling way over. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenny in Florida Posted February 14, 2021 Author Share Posted February 14, 2021 2 hours ago, Carrie12345 said: We’re working on getting an appointment to see one more house, and only because they just dropped their price a bit. We may be finally hitting a point where so many buyers are getting gun shy that sellers have to come back a little closer to reality. I’m not getting my hopes up, but it’d be nice if it worked out. I don’t have the emotions to invest anymore. I relate. I think, under different circumstances, I'd had a lot more patience with this process. But the last few years of my life have really taken a lot out of me, and I have to be very careful about how I spend my emotional energy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starr Posted February 14, 2021 Share Posted February 14, 2021 A relative of mine in housing finance says this won't keep up. And I've been reading that people are buying houses that they then find aren't really what or where they want to be. Hopefully it will turn soon enough for you. I'm sorry it's so difficult. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katilac Posted February 14, 2021 Share Posted February 14, 2021 49 minutes ago, Jenny in Florida said: I relate. I think, under different circumstances, I'd had a lot more patience with this process. But the last few years of my life have really taken a lot out of me, and I have to be very careful about how I spend my emotional energy. The process is a pain for sure. And there are definite advantages to apartment living: something breaks, call the manager! dh spent all afternoon removing the remnants of our deck roof, which he had previously spent a lot of time dismantling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenny in Florida Posted February 14, 2021 Author Share Posted February 14, 2021 12 hours ago, Starr said: A relative of mine in housing finance says this won't keep up. And I've been reading that people are buying houses that they then find aren't really what or where they want to be. Hopefully it will turn soon enough for you. I'm sorry it's so difficult. I can imagine there are a lot of poor decisions being made, based on the sense of scarcity. We are working hard not to give into the frenzy, which is why we are not willing to buy way above likely appraised value. We are also sticking to houses that are within the budget limits we set for ourselves (which are below what our lender has made clear they would approve) and are not even looking at houses without being familiar with and/or researching the area first. Unfortunately, this means we keep getting outbid by others who perhaps aren't being as prudent. We're actually sitting on an offer this morning that our realtor prepped for us last night, because we decided we didn't feel ready to commit to some of the terms our realtor recommended. The seller has asked for "last and final" offers by this afternoon in order to make a decision by tonight, so we have to either go ahead or back off within a couple of hours, but I really don't want to rush into this big a decision. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenny in Florida Posted February 15, 2021 Author Share Posted February 15, 2021 We ended up choosing not to submit the offer. My husband then talked to the realtor about loosening up some of our search criteria, with the understanding that it will mean our daily list of possibilities will include more things we'll need to manually dismiss. The hope is, though, that it will also include a broader selection from which to choose. I'm honestly fatigued with looking at house after house that looks essentially the same, especially since I'm not really excited about the style. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klmama Posted February 15, 2021 Share Posted February 15, 2021 10 minutes ago, Jenny in Florida said: I'm honestly fatigued with looking at house after house that looks essentially the same, especially since I'm not really excited about the style. Are most of the houses you've been seeing about the same age? You may need to look at older or newer houses to get a style you like better. Where we live, the open floor plan is king, but I don't like it. Give me defined rooms, please! We discovered more variety in the floor plans from 15-25 years ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenny in Florida Posted February 25, 2021 Author Share Posted February 25, 2021 On 2/14/2021 at 10:59 PM, klmama said: Are most of the houses you've been seeing about the same age? You may need to look at older or newer houses to get a style you like better. Where we live, the open floor plan is king, but I don't like it. Give me defined rooms, please! We discovered more variety in the floor plans from 15-25 years ago. I'm sorry I missed this! Yes, the majority of houses we're considering were all built within the last 15 or so years. This seems to be true because my husband feels very strongly about wanting things like electrical systems, A/C, plumbing and the roof to be current and in good condition and also because it just happens to be what's available in our price range in the areas in which we are looking. My preference is for somewhat older homes. I fell totally in love with one house built in the 1970s, but my husband and our realtor found a lot of things wrong with it, and my husband just wasn't a fan of the design in general. And the other ones that have appealed to me aesthetically have tended to be too small and/or not to have the features we've agreed are must-haves. We've looked at some new construction, too, but we can't afford (well, aren't willing to stretch enough) to build the house we would want in an area in which we want to live. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenny in Florida Posted February 25, 2021 Author Share Posted February 25, 2021 In case anyone is interested in an update: We put in an offer on a house last week. It's not our perfect dream home, but we both think we could be comfortable and content there. After a quick negotiation, the sellers accepted our offer. However, it is looking less likely that things will proceed. We knew when we offered that there was an issue with the A/C. The sellers' agent said they would be willing to work with us on it, and our offer was contingent upon that. They turned out to be a bit less responsive than we had hoped/been led to expect, but we came to an agreement on that point. Then the inspection turned up problems with the roof. Our realtor conveyed this info to the sellers' agent yesterday morning, and we haven't yet heard back. We'll see what happens, but we are not interested in inheriting a 15-year-old roof with known damage. So, unless the sellers are willing to either fix it or reduce their price significantly, we're prepared to walk away. 1 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annie G Posted February 25, 2021 Share Posted February 25, 2021 Bummed that the sale might fall through but roof issues can be so expensive. Good for you for being willing to walk away. But I still hope the sellers are just getting quotes to figure out how to make the deal happen. It stinks to shell out money for an inspection just to have the deal fall through though. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommyoffive Posted February 25, 2021 Share Posted February 25, 2021 21 minutes ago, Jenny in Florida said: In case anyone is interested in an update: We put in an offer on a house last week. It's not our perfect dream home, but we both think we could be comfortable and content there. After a quick negotiation, the sellers accepted our offer. However, it is looking less likely that things will proceed. We knew when we offered that there was an issue with the A/C. The sellers' agent said they would be willing to work with us on it, and our offer was contingent upon that. They turned out to be a bit less responsive than we had hoped/been led to expect, but we came to an agreement on that point. Then the inspection turned up problems with the roof. Our realtor conveyed this info to the sellers' agent yesterday morning, and we haven't yet heard back. We'll see what happens, but we are not interested in inheriting a 15-year-old roof with known damage. So, unless the sellers are willing to either fix it or reduce their price significantly, we're prepared to walk away. Ugh sorry to hear about the issues. Fingers crossed that they work with your or you find a better place. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheReader Posted February 26, 2021 Share Posted February 26, 2021 Oh, I hope they work with you on the roof. Fingers crossed! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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