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running into a lot of hardball in my search. i think another 4 months should soften things up a
bit. its really got to be at the chicken licken level to get the kind of responses i want.
hard to buy a house from somebody in denial isn't it?
sanity is not a requirement for property ownership.
alot like dating isn't it?
I just sold my house in Charlotte and I would never have accepted an offer 10% lower than my ask. That would have wiped out three years worth of appreciation.
I just sold my house in Charlotte and I would never have accepted an offer 10% lower than my ask. That would have wiped out three years worth of appreciation.
Our realtor did a great job giving the buyers all that info. Their agent wrote back that the owners should get dollar for dollar what they spent for a screened porch plus 2% appreciation and gave the total of what that would be. They then countered back more than the amount she valued the home at. This amount was still way above the comps. Once again, our realtor did an amazing job. She pointed out that this neighborhood alone has a 2 yr supply of homes and then gave info regarding the surrounding area and all that home inventory. This home is in Union county and is in a price range that seems to be sitting in the Charlotte area. Our offer was basically 10% off asking price which half of that was just to get them close to comps.
The statement about the screened porch gives me a clear indication of how much in denial both the seller and their agent are. In my experience an addition of a screened porch will not give the ROI they are claiming. If I am correct, an appraiser might give them a 60-70% allowance for the addition. If they are evaluating the entire transaction in a similar manner, you may have made an offer over the appraised value of the house.
When I purchased my existing home, I felt that the asking price was unsupported by the comps I had run. My solution was to have a seller authorized appraisal and one of my own. I agreed to offer the seller their appraised value (I really wanted the house) if the appraisal I had ordered was in the same ballpark. When both appraisals came in they were exactly the same. Due to the third party input (2 appraisals), I was able to purchase the house without further negotiation. The end result was that the difference between the asking price and the sales price was 55K in my favor.
I forgot to mention in my previous post that the appraisal will level the playing field. In todays market it is not unusual for me to be involved in renegotiating a contract after the appraisal is done. I do not know if you want the situation to reach the appraisal level, but, if so, this can be the great mediator.
Oh, I realize that. After 11 years in that house it appreciated less than 35%, and that's AFTER we spent $15K on new counters, appliances, and floors. I keep meaning to send Harry Jones a thank-you note for making our home such a losing proposition. Rising taxes, inadequate roads, and poor schools do not attract people to a neighborhood. When we first moved in, a lot of us had small children/babies. There is only one family left now. Everyone - literally - else moved to better school districts.
When I see all of the people on this board flocking to new construction in Mecklenburg County, I really hope that they don't have a similar experience to ours, but we know we lost money on that house. We had a HOA who made darn-sure that no garbage cans were showing, but it did nothing to "protect our investment."
So true, OC . . . and the thing is . . . that is very hard to accept for most sellers. There is an attitude that houses are supposed to "pay off" - and this was NOT the attitude back 25 years ago. We bought our houses at a time when there were double digit interest rates and the idea was - we were gonna at least have something that was "ours" - rather than rent - and we would be able to take advantage of the tax benefits . . . no one saw their house as this "bank" of equity that would pay off. In fact, HELOCs and ELCs were hardly known back then. They sure were not promoted much. And we all would wring our hands about taking equity out of our houses when we decided to renovate and get an ELC.
So attitudes have just changed! Many people see their homes as an asset you can tap like an money market account, LOL. Everyone assumes their home is going skyrocket in value.
I think the pedulum is going to swing and attitudes are gonna change. A home can be an asset . . . but it may not be a Cash Cow, LOL.
I think anyone over 50 has a different attitude about homes than those under 50, cause if you are over 50, you have seen a different type of market . . . and house appreciation was a nice bonus back in the 70s and 80s . . but not a "windfall."
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Last edited by brokensky; 03-28-2008 at 06:55 AM..
Reason: changed phrase
So true, OC . . . and the thing is . . . that is very hard to accept for most sellers. There is an attitude that houses are supposed to "pay off" - and this was NOT the attitude back 25 years ago. We bought our houses at a time when there were double digit interest rates and the idea was - we were gonna at least have something that was "ours" - rather than rent - and we would be able to take advantage of the tax benefits . . . no one saw their house as this "bank" of equity that would pay off. In fact, HELOCs and ELCs were hardly known back then. They sure were not promoted much. And we all would wring our hands about taking equity out of our houses when we decided to renovate and get an ELC.
So attitudes have just changed! Many people see their homes as an asset you can tap like an money market account, LOL. Everyone assumes their home is going skyrocket in value.
I think the pedulum is going to swing and attitudes are gonna change. A home can be an asset . . . but it may not be a Cash Cow, LOL.
I think anyone over 50 has a different attitude about homes than those under 50, cause if you are over 50, you have seen a different type of market . . . and house appreciation was a nice bonus back in the 70s and 80s . . but not a "windfall."
.
Ok. Let me be clear. We never ever ever ever "tapped" into our home's equity. We looked at our home as a place to live. The closing attorney who did our sale remarked that he "never sees equity like this in a home anymore." However, we did not expect to lose as much money as we did.
We estimate we put about $225K into our house in mortgage, taxes, insurance, maintenance and improvements. (This does not include our original 10% downpayment or closing costs.) We walked away with about $78K. We would have made about that if we'd put our downpayment into a savings account - not a CD, Money Market or stocks - a savings account. Plus we wouldn't have had the labor or expense of the upkeep on a home.
Ok. Let me be clear. We never ever ever ever "tapped" into our home's equity. We looked at our home as a place to live. The closing attorney who did our sale remarked that he "never sees equity like this in a home anymore." However, we did not expect to lose as much money as we did.
We estimate we put about $225K into our house in mortgage, taxes, insurance, maintenance and improvements. We walked away with about $78K. We would have made about that if we'd put our downpayment into a savings account - not a CD, Money Market or stocks - a savings account. Plus we wouldn't have had the labor or expense of the upkeep on a home.
Oh, dear, Weedy, sorry if it appeared I was referring to you. Actually, I was thinking more of my stepkids and their attitudes about home ownership! They have all bought in the days of 6% interest rates and have no clue how it "used to be" when you had to have 20% down, etc. And they have assumed they would quickly make a big profit if they sold their homes (too many Home Flipping Shows!!!)
I know exactly what you mean about the rate of return on an investment. . . I lost my pension b/c of investments in Worldcom and Enron (in a fund over wh/ I had no control as to its management). I would have done so much better had I simply dug a hole in my back yard and buried the cash. As it is, it is just "gone." So I totally understand what you mean.
I was pontificating about an overall attitude I see in some people in their 30s who bought a house and assumed it would be a cash cow . . . and now are stunned that it is not - and in fact, may be facing sinking value in a property they assumed would greatly appreciate.
So sorry if it sounded like a statement directed to ANYONE in particular - just an observation in general. Didn't mean to make it sound like I was directing it you, in particular, Weedy. And so glad you did sell your home . . .
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