New House and Pixie Dust Needed (Update on the 1st post))

[caitycaity]

The house has been on the market since January of this year and the market is soft right now for homes costing 500,000 or more.

give that and your realtor's recommendation, i would say your offer is fine.

i would say you will probably have to play the game no matter what though. like i said, we offered their asking price and we spent all day yesterday in negotiations about other points of the contract anyways, LOL.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Whether you offer 600,000 or 635,000 you will have to negotiate the deal. If you want to pay no more than 645,000, offering 635,000 is probably not a good idea. who knows.
It is such a bluff game.
Do you trust your realtor to do a good negotiation?

It is true that there is more to the negotiations than price.

I don't know...sounds like your husband is in love. I don't blame him frankly, you make me want to buy the property.

 

[LuvN~Travel]

someone questioned why a seller would not agree to selling the home at a higher price so the buyer could get a higher mortgage for improvements (i assume the buyer would be asking for a credit back of the higher amount for the improvements). reason why they might be hesitant-they could LOSE money in the deal. not all realtors are willing to forgo the commission on these deals so a $20,000 credit back could cost the seller $1200.00. also, if they have significant equity in the home they could be looking at capital gains issues-we have homes in our neighborhood that sold for $180,000 7 years ago currently selling for the mid $600,000 range-while a married couple would be o.k. if they've lived in the home 2 years, a single owner is going to get hit big time so they want to limit their liabilities.

We actually got the impression that this couple had not lived there long. I don't believe they had had time to build up much equity. (They surely hadn't had much time to do any yard remodeling!) We suspect they are military as well. They only offered $1500 toward closing costs and like we told our agent we were willing to pick up the remainder. Everything else we were prepared to pay for. This wasn't anything that could have come back on them, which is what we made sure of up front.
Our agent got the impression that they had become greedy thinking they had a 'hot' property on their hand when we came near their asking price.(After being on sale for just a week) What they didn't realize is that we've been out of an owned home for six years due to some former legal problems due to evil mortgage companies. (we won the lawsuit). We were just ready at the right time! For us we realized there will be some work, yard and painting and such. However, the pluses definitely outweighed the minuses for our area. Anything further east for us would have been outrageous as to price. And, looking at retirement in less than fifteen years we didn't want to outprice our future earnings.
But, we think they finally took our second offer since they probably need to get out quickly. We'll just deal with the rest later.
Kim

 

[luvdzne]

All you can do now is wait and see. They will probally come back with a counter offer. Unless they really want or need out asap I doubt they will take the first offer.

My concern would be if your real estate agent told you to start at $600,000 is maybe the house priced way high for the area? What are other similiar houses going for in that area? That is a $75,000 diffrence from the original asking price, and it makes me thing that either this house is exeptional compaired to other houses in the area or the sellers are asking way the heck too much. Either way your best bet is to wait for them to come back with the counter offer, agree with you dh on the top amount that you are willing to buy it at, and be prepaired to walk away if it is more. Sometimes just being prepaired to tell the seller sorry that's still too much, we will keep looking is enough for them to rethink your offer if they really want to sell.

Like others have said, it is a game Your often bidding on buying someone elses problems .

OP good luck, I hope they accept your offer or at least come back with a decent counteroffer. Let us know what happens!

 

[DVC Sadie]

All you can do now is wait and see. They will probally come back with a counter offer. Unless they really want or need out asap I doubt they will take the first offer.

My concern would be if your real estate agent told you to start at $600,000 is maybe the house priced way high for the area? What are other similiar houses going for in that area? That is a $75,000 diffrence from the original asking price, and it makes me thing that either this house is exeptional compaired to other houses in the area or the sellers are asking way the heck too much. Either way your best bet is to wait for them to come back with the counter offer, agree with you dh on the top amount that you are willing to buy it at, and be prepaired to walk away if it is more. Sometimes just being prepaired to tell the seller sorry that's still too much, we will keep looking is enough for them to rethink your offer if they really want to sell.

Like others have said, it is a game Your often bidding on buying someone elses problems .

OP good luck, I hope they accept your offer or at least come back with a decent counteroffer. Let us know what happens!

Well we went this afternoon to sign a contract to offer 635,000. After going to the courthouse and seeing what was on the site plans we thought that was more than a fair offer.

Looking at other real estate in the area and how much property values have gone down post Katrina we feel we are more than fair. Executive homes that need no upgrades at all are selling for 100,000 less than the asking price of this home, however the acreage is not near the 5. Most of the other homes sit on 2 acres or less without the outbuildings.

We will get an answer within two days and told the listing agent that we could close as soon as the end of the month or if the owner needed extra time that was fine as well.

For some reason I feel as if we are on that program Deal or No Deal. Thank you everyone for all of your suggestions and feedback, plus the good wishes.

Sincerely, Sadie

 

[DVC Sadie]

to the op-one thing i would caution you on in purchasing a home like this is considering the on-going upkeep costs when determining your top offer. it sounds like a stunning property, but if there is extensive landscaping it could be that either the current owners are slaves to it or pay a premium for someone else to keep it up (had a former boss who bought a place with beautiful landscaping not realizing the owners spent 3-4 hours per day keeping it up-he ended up putting a load of money into re-landscaping it to a more managable/automated watering system). also, a house built in 1972 is one that may have major $$$ items nearing replacement time (roofing, heating/air systems) so it may be that it's been unsold because of other buyer's concerns with this.



i'm curious though-will you be doing any upgrades and repairs yourself? if not-i thought i'de seen on the news that it's next to impossible to get any contractors for remodeling work in the "katrina zone"-all are working on re-construction. if that's the case in the area you want to buy in you may have to wait a while before you can do the cosmetic stuff you want.

barkley, My dh will be doing all of the upgrades and improvements to this house himself. One of the main reasons we are buying this house(if they accept the offer) is because we cannot line up re-construction on our current home that got gutted from Katrina. We are planning to start rebuilding our home in November but if we buy this house we won't have to rush with the rebuild.

The property has an automatic sprinkler system and a alarm system. Gardening is a pleasant hobby for me so I don't mind the pruning, lopping or deadheading. A lawn service would be needed just to mow and edge.


Thanks for your response. I discussed all of these items from your post and everyone elses with my dh last night. I just wanted him to be sure that we could undertake this house while rebuilding the other house.

 

[luvdzne]

current home that got gutted from Katrina.

Sadie, I'm really sorry you and so many others had to go through this . I hope everything turns out the way you want it to. Here's more pixie dust

 

[DVC Sadie]

Sadie, I'm really sorry you and so many others had to go through this . I hope everything turns out the way you want it to. Here's more pixie dust

Thanks for the good wishes.
When we were looking around and seeing all of these gorgeous homes listed for sale "As Is" it breaks my heart. So many people have moved to different areas and are hoping for someone to love the land enough to rebuild.

 

[DVC Sadie]

Here is a link to the house. www.alfonso.com MLS #174483

 

[tinatark]

That's a great house!

I'm with you on the no dickering price - and some sellers are with that, too. When we bought our house, it had been on the market for about 2 years - they had it listed for $247500... tax assessment was $275000 - the previous owner had many lower offers - but the owner had it listed at the price he wanted for it - which was a great deal, btw. We offered full price, moved in and love it! We still had to negotiate on possession - ended up giving them 3 days to move out after closing. I'll tell you, there's nothing worse than signing your life away on a hefty mortgage, then going back to your old house! You always imagine the key handing over at closing - I suspect that doens't happen very often!

 

[JuneChickie]

OMgosh ,, Sadie ,,, I want that house ,, I want that house !!!!!!

It's beautiful ,, Good luck

 

[grlpwrd]

That is some house!

I am looking to buy a house in my home state of Hawaii and many, many homes are around $600,000 and up, but those homes are over 40 years old and have postage stamp yards. lol

Please let us know how it works out...

 

[DVC Sadie]

Well the counteroffer is 657,000. So now my dh and I have to think about how much more we are willing to go or if we should stay firm and walk away.

The owners need to stay in the house until the end of June before moving to Texas so they don't want to close within 30 days. Plus they have so much antique furniture that it will take a moving company at least 3 solid days to pack them up and move them out.

Every dollar we save on the purchase price is more money we can use to furnish the house. Usually when people move from one place to another they have furniture and other personal property to move into their new home. After Katrina well theres nothing to move. Hey you have to have a sense of humor, don't ya?

They are giving us 24 hours for a counter offer.... what to do...what to do....


What would your counter offer be or would you stay firm? Thanks for your alls advice.

Sincerely, Sadie

 

[golfgal]

Well, you were $40,000 apart after your initial offer and they came down $18K so you are $22k apart. You are pretty close to being in the middle. How much do you want the home?

 

[barkley]

you could make a dual choice counter- (1) at a lower price you are comfortable with that includes a 30 day escrow and allows the sellers to rent back for a contractualy set period that covers your principal and interest payment (so the house will be yours but they will be paying for it) or (2) at a bit higher price (that you are comfortable with) that goes for a 30 day escrow (which means they would have to be out before their desired move out date). unless they've got some other buyers in the works they would have to find someone this month for sure to relocate out of state (and with a selling price that high i doubt they want to carry that mortgage along with another).

right now we're in the seller's seat with buyers who want to change the move in date from around june 6th to the friday BEFORE memorial day weekend. we're renegotiating to have a portion of the deposit released from escrow to cover the inconvenience an earlier move will create (and it will be non-refundable to them if anything occurs on their end and the deal falls through). motivation to move can be a key factors in negotiating.

you could always not counter and wait a few weeks-by the last week of may they may be very willing to take a lower price because they will see their relocation date looming in front of them.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I would bump up to 640,000 if you are serious and want the property.

 

[DVC Sadie]

We are serious and do want the property and have no problem with letting them stay until June. Although not an ideal situation I am not willing to force the owners to move early due to the husband being on oxygen and other health issues.

We are just trying to come up with a solid, firm and last counter offer.

Thanks everyone for your advice. Please keep them coming.

 

[ChristmasElf]

We are serious and do want the property and have no problem with letting them stay until June. Although not an ideal situation I am not willing to force the owners to move early due to the husband being on oxygen and other health issues.

We are just trying to come up with a solid, firm and last counter offer.

Thanks everyone for your advice. Please keep them coming.

Come back at $640 and site the inconvenience of having to wait until the end of June. I see the sellers are moving to Texas. Homes are so reasonably priced in Texas-bet they are getting a MANSION for $500K!!!
The house is beautiful by the way. Love the kitchen cabinets and the room the awning is showing through the windows is very nice too.
Good Luck on the rest of the home buying process!!

 

[The Mystery Machine]

We are just trying to come up with a solid, firm and last counter offer.

Thanks everyone for your advice. Please keep them coming.

They are going to counter AGAIN...so I say do 640,000 first and then they will counter and then you come up to your final 645,000.

 

[DVC Sadie]

We got the house and I just wanted to thank everyone for all of the advice, pixie dust and good wishes.

Sincerely, Sadie