House sales.. This is CRAZY !!!

[C.Ann]

My son-in-law just sent me an email regarding a house that "would" have been perfect for us.. First-floor in-law apartment, 4 and 1/2 acres of land, great school district, and a beautiful house that's only 11 years old..

It must have come on the market last night because I know it wasn't there yesterday. In the listing it said that it couldn't be shown until February 29th. Well - as soon as my son-in-law saw it he called for an appt. and there are 3 bids on it already!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The people haven't even seen the inside of it yet!!

This is crazy! Why are the buyers in such a frenzy??

 

[DMRick]

In the listing it said that it couldn't be shown until February 29th. Well - as soon as my son-in-law saw it he called for an appt. and there are 3 bids on it already!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We showed the one we sold for a week, before it went public. It was listed that it couldn't be shown, but we let our realtor show it. We had several bids that first week too. I'd assume the people got to see the insides if they were with the listing realtor.

PS C.Ann..did you get my note about meeting to drop off the item?

 

[C.Ann]

Originally posted by DMRick
We showed the one we sold for a week, before it went public. It was listed that it couldn't be shown, but we let our realtor show it. We had several bids that first week too. I'd assume the people got to see the insides if they were with the listing realtor.

PS C.Ann..did you get my note about meeting to drop off the item?

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Well that stinks!! Any ideas how we could learn of houses like that in advance?

Yep - got your note.. I'll be over your way tomorrow.. Email me your phone# again and we'll see if our schedules jive..

 

[DMRick]

Well that stinks!! Any ideas how we could learn of houses like that in advance?

Yes..go with a well known realtor..one that gets lots of listings. ..have them be looking for you. Have a few realtors showing you houses, so you can cover them all.
I'll email you..we'll be at Kohl's sale in the morning : )

 

[C.Ann]

Originally posted by DMRick
Yes..go with a well known realtor..one that gets lots of listings. ..have them be looking for you. Have a few realtors showing you houses, so you can cover them all.
I'll email you..we'll be at Kohl's sale in the morning : )

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So what you're saying is don't go with just the one we have now, but call a whole bunch of them and say we're looking for such and such?

That house was SOOOOOOOOOO awesome!

 

[DMRick]

So what you're saying is don't go with just the one we have now, but call a whole bunch of them and say we're looking for such and such?

Yes. The realtor earns more money if you buy from a house his realty company listed, so they tend (please no flack form realtors who say it isn't so..they would always show all the houses) to "steer" you towards one of their properties. If you talk to several, you have better chances. Just so you know, you can't look at a house with one realtor, and then call your realtor to actually handle the sale..the first realtor will keep tabs on who bought the house, and will (rightfully so) want and get a portion of the sale if they showed you the house originally.

 

[robsmom]

My brother and his wife seem to be having the same problem. Last week the bid on a house and were "out bid" but the realtor told them that they were never in the running because the other bid was from within the selling realty agency. On Saturday they, got a counter offer, re-bid and agreed on a price to buy a different house. On Monday the home inspection showed major structural damage to the foundation! So now they are back looking again. They are saying what you are saying, things go the first day.

 

[jel0511]

Originally posted by C.Ann
My son-in-law just sent me an email regarding a house that "would" have been perfect for us.. First-floor in-law apartment, 4 and 1/2 acres of land, great school district, and a beautiful house that's only 11 years old..

It must have come on the market last night because I know it wasn't there yesterday. In the listing it said that it couldn't be shown until February 29th. Well - as soon as my son-in-law saw it he called for an appt. and there are 3 bids on it already!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The people haven't even seen the inside of it yet!!

This is crazy! Why are the buyers in such a frenzy??

Just because there are already bids, doesn't mean you won't get a chance. If you really like the house, try to see it and you'll have to give a bid immediately. You never know, your bid might be the highest. This happens around where I live all the time, most houses sell within a few days or a week at most, with multiple bids. They usually wait a little bit before accepting one, so you might be ablet obe the wining one. Call the listing agent, that will be your best bet to see it, and she/he will be more willing to pleed your case to the owner, since he/she would make the most money by listing and selling the same house.

 

[Robinrs]

The market must be intense in your town! Good for the seller, no doubt.

As for the bidders, remember, these bids may be from people who know the sellers and HAVE seen the inside of the house. They could be bids from realtors, also. I agree with jel0511, make your bid if you want it. You might be surprised.

 

[mudnuri]

When my FIL put his house on the market- it had a HUGE deposit on it within 3 hours of listing with the MLS....this was from a couple in NY, having never seen the house here in NH...the house sold within 2 weeks- closing etc... all done that quickly. They did not see the inside of the house until the day they signed to do the final walk through! Now, normally here things dont go this way, but this house was in an "executive development" houses in this neighborhood go in the 500K range easily....all are less than 8 years old have 2 acre plots etc... It's quite fascinating!

In our own neighborhood- this past summer 2 houses sold- both within a week. Again, we're in a desirable neighborhood...

I would look at it and bid, what have ya got to loose? Not much!

Brandy

 

[Poohnatic]

Ann,

I live in a planned community. Three years ago, my portion of the community was redistricted into a new elementary school. Now, the townhouses on this side of the community are HOT.

My block has 21 townhouses. In the past year, 8 have sold, the longest was one that was priced way too high by a realtor that doesn't usually work in our community. In the 10 months it was on the market it went from being ridiculously high to in line with everyone else. Everyone else sold their house in less than a week and one sold last week.

If you have a community you're interested in, drive around and note which realty has a lot of signs...that's an indication that they are good at what they do! Then, go into that realty and you'll get a leg up--you just have to let them know "I want this community in this price range".

Let's just say that I'm pleasantly surprised at how much return we're getting on our investment in this house! It goes on the market in two months

Suzanne

 

[Lisa F]

Just a note to commiserate, we are househunting in NY from MD and have found that many houses are gone before we can get up to NY to see them. It's a little early for things to be picking up THAT much, which makes me nervous. Interest rates are still low and the fed is not making any noises about making changes anytime soon so I think that will fuel the market once again this summer. Joy!

 

[C.Ann]

Well I'm going to talk to my son-in-law today.. It appears we should be going directly to the LISTING agents rather than thru the realtor we have now - and we should also contact several places to let them know we're looking..

We're trying to get a chance to look at that house tonight - with checkbook in hand.. The ONLY drawback I can see so far is the distance that DD & son-in-law will have to travel to work..

Is it worth a much longer drive to have the dream house that you want?

 

[kadaten]

Originally posted by C.Ann
Well I'm going to talk to my son-in-law today.. It appears we should be going directly to the LISTING agents rather than thru the realtor we have now - and we should also contact several places to let them know we're looking..

We're trying to get a chance to look at that house tonight - with checkbook in hand.. The ONLY drawback I can see so far is the distance that DD & son-in-law will have to travel to work..

Is it worth a much longer drive to have the dream house that you want?

The housing market here in Hampton Roads VA is similar, at least in the desirable neighborhoods. Anything priced anywhere near sane sells within a week in my subdivision. We bought our house for 232K last year and 12 months later the same house plan (with less upgrades than ours!) is selling for 280K! Woo hoo! And selling within a week with no contingencies!

The market we left last year (Northern Virginia, DC suburbs) was even worse. In fact, we turned down a full-price offer with a HUGE cash deposit because we couldn't agree on a closing date. I knew we'd get another offer within the week so I refused the first offer. I was right...yet anther full-price offer and they said they'd meet any time conditions we wanted. You never know what kind of things the seller is trying to work around, so go ahead and put in an offer...make it a good one....you have nothing to lose.

I agree on the advice of finding a top listing agent to get your foot in the door. Tell them what you're looking for and they'll call you when they have it, maybe even before it goes on the market. That's happening with my realtor and neighbor. Neighbor is moving later this summer. Realtor had a client just call and ask her to keep an eye out for a house for them in my neighborhood that they can move into when school is out. She knows my neighbors are moving this summer, so calls them and is offering to do both ends of the deal for them if they buyers like it and save them both a little money on the fees. If it all goes as planned, the house will never even get listed! So while having a "buyer's agent" guarantees you someone putting your interests first, sometimes going with the listing agent can be the only way to get a house, especially in a hot market.

Good luck!
Katie

 

[Lisa F]

That answer depends on the person. We started looking about a half hour south of where we are looking now, just about an hour by metro north to NYC, and there is still nothing but junk in our price range. By going another half hour north it adds about 10-15 min to the train portion of the ride (express train) but we can get a lot more for our money... nicer houses, nicer lot sizes etc. We talked about it and decided that it was worth an extra half hour a day of our time for a much nicer house, and maybe I won't have to commute to the city anyway.

My mother had been commuting 1.5-2 hours each way to her job when her job moved for about 5 years. My parents FINALLY moved closer to the job, about 45 min away (where they got a lot more for their $$) and to my mom that's a dream. She recently had someone who works for her quit because the 15 minute commute was too long, her previous job was only 5 min away and she wanted to find something closer. It boggled my mom's mind but different strokes for different folks.

 

[frannn]

I live in Long Island, NY, and there are trains to the city in my area, which is nice (but still much more expensive than when we bought our house in 2000).

 

[Lisa F]

frann,

we are looking actually north of the city. I first started watching the market to get an idea fo things 3 or 4 years ago and it's been depressing as we have steadily been priced out of every town in westchester county and most of putnam. Amazing what we could have afforded 4 years ago is now double our top price range, it's really depressing for those who aren't selling or who weren't lucky enough to buy before the market went nuts (I'm starting to regret going to grad school, I think we would have been better off financially if we had moved back to NY, bought a house and started a family before I went back to grad school, go figure).

We are now looking in southern dutchess county. My parents just moved to putnam county from Brooklyn and my husband's grandmother still lives on LI (also one of my best friends is in queens) so we still have strong ties to that area. I have been wanting to move "home" pretty much since I left 7 years ago and I can't wait until we can move back!

 

[Robinrs]

C.Ann, find a buyer's agent who will work for you. If you deal with the listing agents only they are working specifically for the seller.

If the realtor you're working with is a buyer's agent have him represent you. Usually they will get paid from the listing broker, whatever you work out with him.

 

[Desnik]

Lisa F
Just curious, have you looked over by my way?!! I live in Orange county and you can still find decent prices if you are looking at the right town. DH commutes, by car, to NYC everyday. It takes him about 1hr and a half. He doesn't mind it because of what he gets to come home to!

C.Ann
When we look for a house we call some realtors(after buying 3 in under 2 years we know them all, LOL)and give them the desription of what we're looking for and the towns we want to be in. Some would even send us the "hot sheet" by email that they get everyday with the new listings. This also covered us if something came into their office. Then if we saw something we liked we would always call the listing agent. No third party to go through and they really know their own listings. We would drive around and scout out FSBO and even, don't laugh, but we even would ask people if we liked their house if they wanted to sell it. I know a couple that bought their dream house that way! You never know. What I've learned is you really have to be on top of the market. We would touch base with different realtors everyday just in case. We were very up front with them and said we have everyone looking for us and you had to see how some worked hard to get us in a house first! When we finally found something it happened to be with the person who really worked hard and helped us out alot. We were happy she got the sale. It's tough but don't get discouraged if a house has a bid already. Most will take backups. If non of those bidders saw the house inside yet, you can be sure 1 or 2 will back out. Even then they have to have an inspection and what some people think is too much to deal with if repairs are needed, they might back out. It may not be too much for you and it would be smart to be the back up offer.
The house we are in now had 2 bids on it when we saw it and fell in love! We overed $10,000 more than the asking price. Then someone came with cash, or so they said, and we got pushed behind them. Thank goodness we left our bid in because that deal fell and we ended up getting this house for $10,000 LESS than the asking price!! See how sometimes it just all works out in the end!