Home shopping in 4 days... possible? (Columbia, Charleston: bank owned, short sales, real estate market)

[MEMCPO]

The Wife will be flying in on Monday and out on Thursday. We need a home by 03-10 April.

Any thoughts on how to cover multiple areas in such a short timeframe?

I think she'll find something. I'm just not sure where or how much

[beachme]

YES!!!It is possible. I do it all the time. Just make sure you and your Realtor are on the same page. and I like to send my clients listings to preview so we narrow down likes and dislikes. Good Luck! Great time to buy if you don't need to sell anything.

[c99]

Sure it's possible, but why?! I've done something similar (about 5 years ago) to what you are proposing to do, but instead of 4 days we took, I believe, 8 days. It was a different market then - home prices were a lot more reasonable. Even with the housing crisis and economic downturn, it doesn't feel like home prices have right-sized in many areas here yet. Of course every Realtor will disagree with me.

Prices are a little closer to reality with some short sales, but lots of folks seemingly took out 2nd mortgages to live it up and many times the banks aren't willing to take the losses that they should so that the properties will sell. It's been my experience that short sales can take a LONG time, too. I've been looking for a house for over 8 months and still nothing yet! Of course I'm fairly confident that is not the norm for this area. Many Charleston area Realtors are very comfortable telling clients that Charleston is immune to economic downturns. Data says otherwise. Look at Master in Equity lists (homes being sold at auctions), the number of short sale and bank owned properties. They have been steadily increasing over the last, I'd say approx. 8 months. It seems that I have encountered increasing numbers of homes where people used their homes as ATMs to live above their means, and therefore cannot lower their prices to reality without turning into a short sale situation. I bid on a home *at market value* but they couldn't come down because they had taken out a 2nd mortgage. They were priced well above comps in the neighborhood. I turned it down. Be careful - that home is still sitting there.

Do you really *need* to buy a home right now? What about the option of a short-term, say 6 month, rental to give you time to know the area? Charleston is a very diverse area. You didn't mention if you have children, but if so, you'd obviously have schools to consider, crime, sex offender proximity, and the usual resale, etc. And don't forget it is very expensive to insure homes here - especially if you are going to live in Charleston County. You possibly could have theft/property insurance, wind/hail insurance, flood insurance (I say it's prudent to purchase even if you're not in a flood zone - this is, after all, the "Low Country"), and perhaps even earthquake insurance (there's a fault line that runs around here).

I strongly caution you about making such a hasty purchase in this real estate market. Take a look at the local news - SC has a very high unemployment rate. Of course it's anybody's guess what the stimulus package will do for our economy and how quickly it will do it.

As an aside ... I am neither a Realtor nor an insurance person. I'm jJust a regular person who has a lot of (frustrating) experience with the Charleston real estate and insurance markets.

Best wishes,
c99

[MEMCPO]

Originally Posted by beachme

YES!!!It is possible. I do it all the time. Just make sure you and your Realtor are on the same page. and I like to send my clients listings to preview so we narrow down likes and dislikes. Good Luck! Great time to buy if you don't need to sell anything.

It is funny you said that because we are about to fire our Realtor due to lack of communication. We have a contract on our present home.

[MEMCPO]

Originally Posted by c99

Sure it's possible, but why?! I've done something similar (about 5 years ago) to what you are proposing to do, but instead of 4 days we took, I believe, 8 days. It was a different market then - home prices were a lot more reasonable. Even with the housing crisis and economic downturn, it doesn't feel like home prices have right-sized in many areas here yet. Of course every Realtor will disagree with me.

Prices are a little closer to reality with some short sales, but lots of folks seemingly took out 2nd mortgages to live it up and many times the banks aren't willing to take the losses that they should so that the properties will sell. It's been my experience that short sales can take a LONG time, too. I've been looking for a house for over 8 months and still nothing yet! Of course I'm fairly confident that is not the norm for this area. Many Charleston area Realtors are very comfortable telling clients that Charleston is immune to economic downturns. Data says otherwise. Look at Master in Equity lists (homes being sold at auctions), the number of short sale and bank owned properties. They have been steadily increasing over the last, I'd say approx. 8 months. It seems that I have encountered increasing numbers of homes where people used their homes as ATMs to live above their means, and therefore cannot lower their prices to reality without turning into a short sale situation. I bid on a home *at market value* but they couldn't come down because they had taken out a 2nd mortgage. They were priced well above comps in the neighborhood. I turned it down. Be careful - that home is still sitting there.

Do you really *need* to buy a home right now? What about the option of a short-term, say 6 month, rental to give you time to know the area? Charleston is a very diverse area. You didn't mention if you have children, but if so, you'd obviously have schools to consider, crime, sex offender proximity, and the usual resale, etc. And don't forget it is very expensive to insure homes here - especially if you are going to live in Charleston County. You possibly could have theft/property insurance, wind/hail insurance, flood insurance (I say it's prudent to purchase even if you're not in a flood zone - this is, after all, the "Low Country"), and perhaps even earthquake insurance (there's a fault line that runs around here).

I strongly caution you about making such a hasty purchase in this real estate market. Take a look at the local news - SC has a very high unemployment rate. Of course it's anybody's guess what the stimulus package will do for our economy and how quickly it will do it.

As an aside ... I am neither a Realtor nor an insurance person. I'm jJust a regular person who has a lot of (frustrating) experience with the Charleston real estate and insurance markets.

Best wishes,
c99

Thanks for the concern, but this will be our 5th home purchase in the past 8 years and that is from Va to Tx. We've made out pretty good even with our present home, which the Wife purchased and I didn't see until closing

We've done our research and have friends in the area so I feel confident that we will find "the" home. If she doesn't find something next week, it will be my turn the week after that to do the looking

Renting is just not an option. I'm not willing to another person's mortgage when I could be paying mine. Short sales aren't going to be an option either because of the time issue, but I bet she can get an unbeatable deal before I can.

[ranger17]

we recently moved down to SC from WI; and spent 5 days in Columbia area with our realtor contact searching for homes. BUT, we did go the rental route for the 1st year. Was it hard after building/owning our last place? You bet. But taking into account the housing market as a whole, and the fact that we were life long WI residents so this was our first "big" move across state lines--it is difficult to take the chance to buy when new to a market. We saw several homes that could have worked for us; but what if we found we didn't care for the neighborhood or area long term? Sure aren't going to sell the house right now. So while yes we are paying another's mortgage, it is for just one year. That gives us time to check out the area more closely; see what we like/dislike; and just "live" here for awhile. There are and will be plenty of good homes and good deals to be found; so when WE are ready then we can make the change.

So to sum up; not saying our route is the best for others to take, but it was the best for us. Good luck in your move to SC

[c99]

Originally Posted by MEMCPO

Thanks for the concern, but this will be our 5th home purchase in the past 8 years and that is from Va to Tx. We've made out pretty good even with our present home, which the Wife purchased and I didn't see until closing

We've done our research and have friends in the area so I feel confident that we will find "the" home. If she doesn't find something next week, it will be my turn the week after that to do the looking

Renting is just not an option. I'm not willing to another person's mortgage when I could be paying mine. Short sales aren't going to be an option either because of the time issue, but I bet she can get an unbeatable deal before I can.

Congrats on selling your house and your good luck with homes. We took a bloodbath on selling ours many months ago. This purchase would be about our 9th house, and we still have cold feet.

I hate paying another persons mortgage as well, but for us that option was better than the potential downside risk of losing even more money. I'm way too stubborn to overpay for someone's home because they spent too much and took out a 2nd mortgage.

Best wishes to you and your wife in finding 'the' home.
c99

[MEMCPO]

Originally Posted by c99

Congrats on selling your house and your good luck with homes. We took a bloodbath on selling ours many months ago. This purchase would be about our 9th house, and we still have cold feet.

I hate paying another persons mortgage as well, but for us that option was better than the potential downside risk of losing even more money. I'm way too stubborn to overpay for someone's home because they spent too much and took out a 2nd mortgage.

Best wishes to you and your wife in finding 'the' home.
c99

Thanks. When you move as often as we do you always worry aout the bloodbath, but for some reason we keep coming out on top. I give the Wife all the credit.

[DJShymansky]

Originally Posted by MEMCPO

Thanks. When you move as often as we do you always worry aout the bloodbath, but for some reason we keep coming out on top. I give the Wife all the credit.

Smart man!! Make sure she "happens" to read that quote by accident.

Good luck on the house hunt, I love the exciting ones like that!

[pcamps]

It took us 3 visits from Newport RI to find the home we were looking for . Our realtor was wonderful, we lost count on how many homes she took us to , and made our experience of looking for a home as stress free as possible .