Put an offer on a house...does this sound right???

[sajetto]

MY DF and I just put an offer on a house. I need some thoughts here. It is listed for $114,900 1,387 square feet on an acre yard in a subdivision built in 89 new vinyl siding, windows, doors. However, it needs a new roof, the vinyl is coming up in the kitchen and it has a bad paint job over wallpaper that has to be fixed. This isn't a home to be flipped, this is one we will live in for a while. The typical new home out here goes for $100 a square foot this one is about $83.

Because of the repairs needed we came in with a lowball offer of $104,000
they came back with $113,900 so we came back with 109,000 now they've said they're absolutely not going any lower than $113,000.

It is covered up with appointments to be shown, but I don't see where they deserve to make a 12,000 profit when they paid $99,000 for it 2 years ago and all repairs were made by the previous owner.

We love the house and we know that there is a lot of interest in it, but should we really let them have $113,000 for it? Thanks, I know this was long winded!

 

[kdibattista]

It's not about them "deserving a profit". I'm quite surprised they came back with that low of an offer. I guess it depends if you want the house.

 

[minniecarousel]

OH....MY....GOD!!

Can you really get a house for that price?! I'd grab it! You couldn't touch anything around here for even three times that!

 

[sajetto]

I'm just wondering if we will even be able to get our money back out of it when its time to resell if we pay that much for it

 

[sajetto]

Whoops sorry guys, I had to edit my post. Their original asking price was $114,900 not 140,000

 

[ceiligh1]

Its hard to say not knowing what houses are going for in your area. We had a similar issue with our current home. It will need a new roof in about 3 years, it needed new paint in every room, new carpet and was very dirty. We offered about 25k less then they were asking. Their realitor refused to even show them the offer for over a week. After the weekend with no other offers they were shown the offer. It came back to us about 20K less then their starting price. After about 3 weeks of this with them having about 60 people look at the house but us being the only offer we got it for about 15k less than asking. It is a hot market out here so they ended up making 8k (less commission) for a house they did not live in, did no work on and only owned for 4 months. What I find is you have to take the history of who owned what and for how long out of it. What would you pay for a house like it that is perfect where you are then subtract all the work that needs to be done. If you still feel you are getting a good deal then go for it and enjoy your new home.

 

[carole88]

You have to research to see how much comparable houses in the neighborhood are selling for. Do you realize that your initial offer discounted the asking price by 38%? That's a lot, but then again I don't know how much houses in your area are selling for.

Edited: I just saw that you changed the original asking price. Your offer now sounds a little more in line.

 

[TheRatPack]

Shoot ours is listed at 69,900 and we're just in to our first day after listing, it's already had 2 showings I'm crossing my fingers and praying like a mad woman LOL All the other houses in this area need work, ours has been totally remodeled the 10 years we've lived here. The other houses are going for 64,000 and 79,900. Both are almost comparable, 3 bedrooms and either 1 bath or 2. Ours had a bath and a half...so we're in the middle LOL

If the house you are looking at is already below the per square cost of what the others are going for, I'd say you'd be safe getting what you paid for it back out of it. The repairs you mentioned are really not that expensive and so I don't think it would increase you cost that much. You may could even go back with tile instead of vinyl/linoleum to increase your resale value. Good luck!!!

 

[crz4mm2]

It depends upon what you want to do with the house, how much you want the house, how much you like the house etc.
I would not buy a house that I didn't LOVE for that much $$ knowing I had to put so much more $$ into it. BUT< I live where houses go for much less.....

Personally, I would pass, but I'm not the one looking.

 

[RadioNate]

Like TRP said they have already adjusted the price to factor in the repairs. They are at $83 a sqft instead of the ave $100. Remember they will likely be paying 6% or more in realitor comissions.

Who knows what they owe? 113k might be as low as the can go and not take a loss after paying the realtor.

You have two choices, pay their 113 or keep looking.

 

[EthansMom]

It isn't whether an owner "deserves" a large profit. A house is worth exactly what a buyer is willing to pay. If someone else is willing to pay $113,000 then that is what the house is considered to be worth.

On a house of that age, you should expect to have some cosmetic fixes that will need to be made (repairing/replacing vinyl floor & stripping up wallpaper). Depending upon the repairs that need to be made to the roof, that might cost a bit of money. If you go for $113,000 make sure that your offer is contingent upon an inspection. The inspector should be able to tell you if there are any other problems with the house.

Have you looked at any other houses in the area? Is this house one of the "best of the crop" for price? If so, then $113,000 is probably reasonable for it. On the other hand, if you can get a house in better repair for only slightly more money, that may be the way to go.

Good Luck!

 

[chyam]

OH....MY....GOD!!

Can you really get a house for that price?! I'd grab it! You couldn't touch anything around here for even three times that!

I was thinking the same thing,can't touch nothing down here for that either!

 

[sajetto]

Thanks guys! We've talked it over and we're going to meet their offer of $113,000. We have been negotiating on the phone and they are going to convey ALL appliances, anything attached to the walls execpt pictures, and all window treatments along with the gas logs. I really don't know how much the repairs will cost, but none of them are urget so we will put them on the back burner for a while.

We buy and sell houses all the time for profit. We are under contract with one right now that we made an $18,000 profit on that we only owned 2 years....ya know what they say about Karma

 

[Steamboat Marti]

Like the other poster said - the house will get what the market will bear. It is irrelevant what they paid for it or what they owed on it. In that sense - there is no way for you to know what the market will bear in a couple of years. You should buy the house now if 1)you love it 2) you are willing to pay $113 3)there is no other house out there that you want.

A house is worth what somebody will pay for it (and what a bank appraiser will appraise it for). A bank will not appraise a house for what it isn't worth. If you are really worried about whether it is "worth" it to you, maybe you should have an independent appraiser go through and give you his appraisal. But that would cost you extra money that I don't think is wise to spend at this point. If the current pricing is $100 and this house is priced at $83; they compensated for the repairs necessary to the house. It's like football in grade school - they have the football and if you want to play, you play by their rules or you walk away. It's a very tough thing to go through, but only you can decide if you should play or walk away.

Good luck.

Edited: We were posting at the same time - hope you have many years of happiness in the house!

 

[sajetto]

Edited: We were posting at the same time - hope you have many years of happiness in the house!

Thanks! We really are excited about this even though we are paying more than we hoped. I guess we've got too much mentality of making money on houses than breaking even

However, I'm sick of us living in one dump after the next while we work on fixing it and selling it, among the others that we own. It will be nice to have a home that we actually STAY in and is meant to be a more long term arrangement.

 

[Pugdog007]

You also have to consider the realtor's "take" if there is one.

 

[kdibattista]

Congratulations and good luck

 

[sajetto]

You also have to consider the realtor's "take" if there is one.

The realtor "loves" us and is sitting pretty b/c she is in a dual agency situation. She has been great and was suprised that they didn't take our second offer of $109,000. However, I'm sure she's happy with the change in her comission.