Missed out on this house too..

[C.Ann]

Geez - the houses are just FLYING off the market! DD & her DH looked at a house last Wednesday night.. Wanted to take me to see it so I could decide if my DH & I would be comfortable there but then my sister's DH died suddenly and of course all of that was put on the back burner.. They called the realtor and tried to set up an appt. for Monday after my BIL's funeral but he was busy so they set it up for tonight.. Didn't seem to be a problem - no one else had even looked at it.. My son-in-law called last night to confirm the time for tonight and the house was already in negotiations with a buyer..

This realtor is a very close friend of ours (has a summer place across from me) and basically said the houses are moving SO fast right now that you have to look and get your bid in the very same night! That's a BIG decision to make on the spur of the moment like that but my son-in-law says that from now on I'm going to have to go with them the first time they look at a place so we can decide that very same night..

Anyone else seeing this kind of housing action in their area?

 

[tc]

Not around here, but our Realtor says the west usually lags 6 months to year behind the rest of the market. He told us when we put our house on the market, that if we lived west of here, we'd sell within a couple of weeks. Here we're looking at months.

Have fun house hunting. Don't worry about the pressure to make a spur of the moment decision. I've found that when you find the house you want, you'll know it.

Good luck!

 

[disykat]

When we moved five years ago our house (an older fixer) sold in 5 days, we lost out on two houses that had multiple offers in the first three days, and we bought this house three hours after it went on the market.

Apparently it is hot again, because our neighbor's house just went on the market and sold on the first day - that sale fell through and it went to a backup offer (that was $4K above asking price). I would ask your realtor if people are accepting backup offers. In really hot markets the sales are going through so fast that it's not uncommon for sales to fall through.

 

[Crankyshank]

Absolutely. Any well kept house is being sold within days of being put on the market here. Even winter isn't slowing down the sales.

It's mostly the previously owned houses that are flying off the market, especially anything that can be considered a starter home because the price of new homes is so ridiculous that couples just starting out can't afford them.

DH and I bought our house in Sept 2002. The house was on the market 3 days when we placed our bid and there were 3 other bids on it.

 

[dcgrumpy]

Yes, DH and I have been house hunting for a couple of months. We have to make appointments the day it goes on the market, if we want a chance at it.

OTH there is ahouse that we bid on almost a month ago and they are still jerking us around.

 

[CEDmom]

Houses around here are going like hotcakes. We often get cards left in our door from realtors asking if we're interested in selling.

 

[mom2boys]

That is definitely the situation around here. Our neighbors are seniors who are downsizing. They told us in Nov that they would be selling their house after new yr. They told us what the realtor suggested they list it at - it seemed high. Well when they listed it, the asking price went up 16% in two months They got the full asking price. Around here people bid immediately and sometimes for more than the asking price.

DH keeps threatening to sell our house & move to a less expensive part of the country.

 

[Feralpeg]

C.Ann, if you guys like the house, you could still make an offer. Sometimes the person making the offer doesn't qualify or has a contingency that they can't satisfy. Hope you find what you want!

 

[GoofItUp]

We bought our house three years ago. We looked at it on Saturday morning, put an offer on it as soon as we got home a couple of hours later (which was verbally agreed to by the seller), and within a few hours they had another, better, cash offer on it. Fortunately, they honored their word and turned the second offer down.

 

[castlegazer]

We had to walk in and bid immediately on our current house - we bought in 2000. Just have them remember that there will be a contract between them and their impulsive decision so if they have it written properly they will probably not have buyer's remorse. Make sure their Realtor is putting enough outs in their contracts and have the contract with them when they view the house. That way they can use a contract they are familiar with and not the seller's contract.

 

[C.Ann]

Thanks all! Glad to see it isn't just bad luck or poor timing on their (our) part..

From now on we'll just have to go in - look harder and longer - and be ready to make a decision right then and there!

Oh - and they ARE ready with a bid if the current deal doesn't go through but we're pretty sure it will because the possible buyers have their house sold already and the sellers want to get back to PA as soon as possible..

 

[jel0511]

Yep, houses around here are selling that fast. The house across the street (good friends of ours) sold in one day, and they received 8 offers!!!! The open house was the first day it was on the market, and they received 8 offers, CRAZY!!! The house ended up selling for $22k over asking price. It is great for DH and I if we ever plan on selling, since we'd know it would go in a minute.

 

[DMRick]

I would ask your realtor to put in an offer anyway. We got several offers, and continued to show even after we accepted. Stuff happens and we wanted to be covered. The people looking knew we had other offers. We did not take the highest offer, but the one we were more sure would get the loan.

 

[Ratpack]

You folks are lucky, come down this way where houses are sitting for months on the market.

 

[Pluto2003]

and a new subdivision opening every week. Houses here are selling for 10 to 20 thousand less than folks paid for them just 4 or 5 years ago. Not good for sellers here..........