Very LONG update on the house we may buy. Page 2

[Beauty]

first offer accepted? Our reator said to offer $200,000....the listing is $225,000 is this realistic? We absolutly DO NOT want our payment going any higher. So our of curiosity, how many of you home owners made an offer and had is accepted the first time? How much less did you offer from the listing price? Just looking for bascics....I know the market has a lot to do with it and how badly the people want to move. Just curious....and realtors how realistic is dropping $25,000??

Thanks!

[Beauty]

Bump!

I know DISers have bought homes and are realtors....HELP!

[gepetto]

Find out how long it's been on the market and why the owner is moving.

Also....get a really really good inspector.

[RitaZ.]

I don't personally know anyone that has ever had their first offer accepted, but then again I'm not a realtor. I guess it depends on how badly the seller wants to sell and how long the house has been on the market.

I don't think that is an unrealistic offer though. The worst the sellers can say is No, then you'll take it from there. My oldest brother is in the process of buying a condo and the original asking price was $225K. The sellers and my DB finally agreed on a price of $200K. So it's possible for the sellers to drop the price by $25K. When we bought our house, our first offer was $3 or $4K less than the asking price. We ended up offering another $2K after the sellers rejected the first offer.

BTW, nice house! Good luck!

[bsnyder]

Beauty,

I assume you're comfortable with the realtors credentials? That this person knows the market in your area? If so, I would take the realtor's advice on what your offer should be.

[TigerBear]

I'm not in the field, but to me that seems like a huge drop. What do houses in the neighborhood go for? You could probably use that somewhat as a guide.

When we bought our house, our realtor actually suggested offering the asking price due to the housing market at the time. We went along with him. Sure enough, a couple days later someone made the family a complete cash offer for their asking price. We were so happy we got there first!

[believe]

When we bought our first home, our first offer was not accepted...we then submitted another offer that was accepted.

When we sold our first home we accepted the first offer, of course it was only $700 below our asking price. The buyer really wanted our house.

[Beauty]

Thanks everyone. I can see us going another $5 to $7 thousand but no higher. I totally trust our realtor. Her husband was like a son to my father before he passed away. She is awesome actually. Now I don't know how long is long but this house has been on the market for 3 months...I have no idea if that is long or not but they have had no offers. The housing market for homes like this is not very high in our area. Anyway I will definatly let you all know what happens!

[jfulcer]

And i'm sure that your realtor knows this, that the offer is contingent on financing and am favorable home inspection.

The financing offers you an out if you find something a little later about the house you don't like enough to break the deal, the bank can be the fall guy...

[A kid at heart]

Maybe she had you bid that way then it will bring the owners down and then you up some and you can have a happy medium in price!

[KerryD]

I've seen quite a few first offers accepted although I doubt yours will be. Hope so though!

If your right about the market in your area, you might have a shot at your 207-208 number.

It all depends on what the house is really worth and how bad the seller needs to sell. Don't get emotionally attached.

Good luck!

[olena]

We started at $10,000 under the asking price. They wanted $179,000 and we offered $169k.We settled at $173k and they paid the closing costs. Just let your realtor advise you. Keep us posted on your progress, Beth....:D

No matter which house you buy, get an independent inspector.

[Jenzebelle]

We're in the process of closing now and our first offer was accepted.

[KimRaye]

Beauty, as much as you trust your realtor, is this person also listing this house? If so, here in Illinois anyway, the realtor is working for the SELLER always. (That's who pays their commission) ;)

Our first offer for our house was TIED exactly with another offer. We re-submitted an offer, as did the other party and, ours was accepted. Both second offers were also the same! :eek:

We accepted the first offer on DH's 2-flat when he sold but, I fully trusted my realtor (friend & co-worker) and, I had an idea in my head anyway what the place was worth, even if DH thought it was the Taj Mahal! :rolleyes:

Good Luck! The home looks gorgeous! ;)

[Dopey Sharon]

I'm surprised your realtor told you how much to bid. We just bought a house in November and our realtor couldn't tell us how much to offer...it's against the law here in NJ. Anyway, to answer your question...as others said, a few things will come into play...how long has the house been on the market...if the sellers have to move out soon. We put offers on three houses...the first two we really wanted...offered the asking price, but we had to make settlement sooner than they wanted (our buyer had to be out of her apartment) so they both fell through. The house we ended up with, we offered $10,000 below what they were asking (they wanted $150,000). We knew they had to be in Maryland by the end of November...when we needed settlement, and the house was for sale for a few months (which is VERY unusual around here!)...don't know why nobody wanted this house, come to think of it, we like it! :D Anyway they countered with $148,000...we sat on that a little while (still looking at other houses, just in case...) when we didn't find anything we countered with $145,000...which is what we settled on. Good luck, I know this is a very nerve racking time! Hang in there! :D

[Laurabearz]

OUr house (the first we bought) was put on the market at $297,000. That price was a JOKE and the house sat on the market for close to 6 months with NO offers. The sellers dropped the price to $250,000 (still outragous for this area) We offered 200,000. (a fair price) They countered with 240,000 we countered with 210,000 they countered with 230,000 we countered with our final offer of 225,000 (but our realtor wrote 215,000) :p and they accepted. STILL too much for this house! But I loved it.

Now with all the improvements we have done (and the Stock market doing what it has done), in less than 3 years our house is worth over $300,000. But we are not selling! :teeth:

If 200,000 is what you can afford then that is what you bid..... Dont become house poor.... it isnt worth it. Remember if this deal doesnt go thru.... this was not meant to be your house.... YOUR house IS out there.... it is.....

One thing we have in Illinos (dont know aobut other states) is PRE qualifying.... that often helps give you the edge over other buyers. You can do it through the bank and basicly says your good for the loan, so the chances of you having to back out of the deal is slim. ANother thing is to put down a lot of enernst (sp) money. We found that most places ask for 2 or 3 thousand.... we put up 5,000. It really makes no difference to the price or the deal or anything.... but for some reason people love to see the check for 5 grand..... :D

Have fun and keep us posted.

[aahmom1]

Make the offer, the worst thing they can do is say no.

[catsrule]

Listed at $139,999. We offered 122,000.....They came back with 127,000. We came back with 125,000 (the price we were seeking), that's why I went lower hoping to get 125,000, and we did, they accepted the 125,000. we got a very good deal, we knew they were desperate to sell.

[tar heel]

When we sold our second house, the people who ultimately bought it for $1,500 less than the asking price initially made such a bad offer (low price, $500 ernest $, two months to get an inspection, contingent on sale of their home, etc.) that we almost refused it outright instead of making a counter offer. In most markets, three months is not an excessive amount of time. Do you know their situation -- building, relocating, etc. Is the house empty or are they living there now? Find out what they originally paid and how long they were there. If I were the seller and $225,000 is actually a reasonable price (Try to determine whether it is.), I would not be impressed with a $200,000 offer but other things such as already having financing could make a big difference. I'm assuming this will not be a contingency, so that should help you a lot.

As someone else said, it is important to remember that unless you have signed a "buyer's agent" contract, the realtor is working for the seller regardless of whether she has the listing. The realtors we have worked with have been so personable that we sometimes forgot that.

[CamColt]

When we made an offer on our house, we offered 5, 000. under what they were asking(this was our dream house and we really wanted it, so we didnt want to be too greedy). The builder then upped it 3, 000, so that we would actually be getting 2, 000. off the asking price. Since we RELLY REALLY wanted this house and since at the time we werent pre approved, pre qualified or anything(we hadnt been seriously thinking of moving, just happened to find this house) we agreed with that price.
Good luck!

[dianeschlicht]

In our area, a house in a desirable market would not have many offers accepted that far below the asking price. $10,000 below would be about the lowest you would go around here, but then, a house of that size would cost about twice that in this market too.

[The Mystery Machine]

My thought is find out what other houses are selling for in the near vicinity or how much houses close to you have sold for in the past. That is usually your indicator of what people are willingly to pay in your neighborhood. Even though you trust your realtor it is better to know first hand the neighborhood pricing situation.
Also have roof inspections and other inspections completed?? I can't see making solid offers unless you know that there isn't any hidden major costs that could drive the price of the house down.

Those are my thoughts. Good luck!

[dianeschlicht]

If your realtor is doing a good job, he/she should be able to give you those comaprisons for the area. Ours did that, and it was very helpful.

[marlasmom]

I don't know Beauty. We had our hosue on the market at $209,900. Someone offered $184,000. We just laughed and when the realtor said they were coming back with a more realistic offer we told them not to bother - we did not want to do business with them. We ended up getting two full price offers on the same day.

I am very angry with our buyers. We picked them over a higher offer because they said they would cooperate with us on closing. We asked for 8/27 because we close on the Florida house on 8//30. They said they wanted to close on 7/23. We said that would cost us almost another week in motels (2 rooms because we are bringing my daughter) extra meals and extra moving costs because our furniture would have to go in and out of storage. Further we would not have their money in time to close in Florida. I took the $ out of my brokerage account (to the distress of my broker) but I am not leaving as much as a roll of toilet paper. I had hired a cleaning service to clean up after the movers but I have cancelled that. I have not watered the lawn or the flowers. This is not like me but I am very bitter that they lied to us.

On the other hand, the mover told us our furniture could be in Florida on the day of closing. I called the seller because we had told them if we could have the utilities switched over, they could stay through the weekend. I asked if our furniture arriving would be an inconvenience and they said not at all. They also offered to come over and show us how to work things. I have ordered a new plant for them in their new house. That's how a closing should work.

[Zurg]

Three months no offers means the house isn't getting seen or is priced to high. Assuming they want to sell, getting an offer is good news and they will entertain it.

You are 11% under the asking price. You may get it you may not but it is a good place to start.

One way to make the offer more attrcative, if you can do it, is to make the settlement time shorter. That way they are making fewer payments (if they are making payments) before you buy them out. If they are not making payments then they get the cash to invest sooner, either way money sooner is better than money later.

(Oh my lord it sounds like I have a dergee in finance, time value of money and all that - oh wait I do - what a geek)

The funny thing is if they accept the first offer you come away thinking to bid too much. LOL

[luvwinnie]

that would never be accepted...houses are going for MORE than asking still! We did have our first offer accepted on the house we own and love. It was 279,000 and we offered 270. The people liked us though!

[allicat]

Have to agree with luvwinnie! Real estate is crazy here in NJ. The houses are selling in days and in many instances, for more than the asking price!Its great if you are selling!
But your area may be different, make the offer and if they refuse, take it from there!

[TerriP]

You've gotten some good advice here. Buyer/Seller Agency laws varies by state so be sure to get the correct information for YOUR state from your Realtor. She MUST (and I'm sure she already has)disclose to you who she's working for. If she is not offering full disclosure to you at the front of the deal, she IS NOT a realtor you want to work with.

Ok...now, did she do a Comparative Market Analysis for you? She should be able to pull recently listed/pending sale/sold homes for you in the same area with similar homes (square footage, bedrooms, baths, etc..) and price range for comparison. This should be how you base your decision on price.

Making an offer that is too low is never a good idea. It's not always as simple as "Well, they'll just counter offer". You run the risk of insulting the seller and damaging your credability as a buyer. Additionally, a good realtor will not want to present a low offer either...they depend on their reputation and a reputation for low offers does not endear you to other realtors. ;)

If you trust your realtor and feel confident in her judgment, I say go with the offer. She should know what your market will bear and where you need to start the process to end up with a fair price.

Good luck...buying a new home is stressful but very very exciting!! :)

[Beauty]

WOW!!!!! Well I definatly have tons of information from you all...you are GREAT!!

Okay here is where things stand now,

We TOTALLY TRUST our realtor...like I said she is close to family. She did disclose that she is working for the seller (But I think shes working for us even though we aren't paying her commission) I say that because of how well we know her and her family!

Okay we did make the offer $200,000 plus the seller paying closing etc. Our realtor said we could offer lower if we wanted....which we didn't because $200,000 is what we would like. We have decided that we will go to $212,000 but no further. The market in our area is awful. Misty (our realtor) says its definatly a Buyers market here right now.

Okay....Yes we did get prequalified....we are already approved at 7.25 fixed which is what the interest rate was here yesterday of course it could come down again before we close and we could lock in that rate. I laughed because all we were told to put down in ernest money was $500...goes to show the difference in where you live. Our "potential" closing date is set for August 31st but we will probably not move in until the end of September. Our buying this house is not contengent on selling mom's home or ours. We could have the down payment anytime we want.

We have already talked to an electrician, air conditioner man and foundation person to come in and check once and if our offer is accepted. If any problems are found the seller can 1. Fix them 2. Give us "credit" in the amount it would take to fix the problem 3. We can withdraw the deal. In our contract we specified that a licensed roofer would have to give us a letter stating the shape of the roof. The bank of course has its appraiser come out.

So right now we are simply waiting.....One thing I didn't know is that they don't have to offer a counteroffer. Misty said that our offer would be accepted or declined, if it is declined they will then give a counter offer. I don't know this is all so new to me too.

Oh and they do still live in the house although some things are packed up. The reason they are moving is because he is a manager of our J.C. Penny and is retiring. There is only him and his wife and they don't need this huge house. I don't know whether or not they are leaving Greenville. Okay this was a really long update...LOL!

[catsrule]

Long post, but I still read it all.:D

[PamOKW]

Okay this was a really long update

Yeah, but you could feel the excitement coming through! I sure hope everything works out for you on this house. I bet it will!

[helenabear]

Well I do wish you all the best with this. I am surprised that they wouldn't come back with a counter offer though. We went through several tense moments with our counter offers and eventually we ironed it all out and both sides were very happy. I hope for the same for you!!!

[nativetxn]

If this is the house that you want, I hope you get it sweetie :)

[Serena]

Beauty, good luck, I hope you get it. :)

[Dan Murphy]

Continued good wishes for you, Beth and John. :wave:

[B3LM]

Isn't it nerve-racking!!! We just bought a home and sold our home last week. We offered $5,000 less than their asking price, but the house wasn't even on the market, yet. We knew they could easily put it on the market and get their asking price.
Fortunately, they accepted all of our terms. (They also saved some commission money because it wasn't on the market, yet.)

I hope it all works out for you! Keep us posted!
Beth :sunny: