Purchase offer negotiation, any advise? (Huntington, Lindenhurst: appointed, insurance, mortgage)

[Veve0308]

Hi all,

I was wondering what is a reasonable offer for house out here in Long Island? I will start looking in April we have a set budget of 400k with deposit and 350k without deposit. We will be using our VA loan to purchase after calculation we dont want to go over 2600 a month in cluding taxes and insurance.

My question is should we bother looking at homes in prize range of 450? To see if we can negotiate a price of 400k or less since our deposit will be 50k? I know this is a buyers market and I have limited of time to find a home before my husband comes back from deployment I dont want to waste time looking at homes that we cannot afford.

Any info will be greatly appreciated.

These are areas we are looking at:
Bethpage
Farmingdale
Lynbrook
Huntington
Westbury
Lindenhurst

[zulu400]

I think you should look at 450k houses.

Regardless of the area, I think you should look at all houses upto 50k-60k over your budget. At the least you will get a better understanding of what the extra 50k will get you. It should also help you in looking at the houses that you can afford so that you can visualize the future potential. Negotiating is very tricky. You have to be on top of comps because a house listed right at 450k will sell at that price, so you should not be frustrated because the seller is not ready to go down.
I would say though that from my experience about 90% of the houses are listed over the fair price, so yes there is room for negotiating for sure. Get the comps right, and you can do that by looking at a lot of houses.

Also, I think you should start now, do not wait for April. Any specific reason to wait, I mean you can always look right ?

Okay a few things other than the negotiation part that I think you should be doing as a first time buyer....
You need to diligently track everything you see. Do it the right way. Make a template of the things you want to see in the house (including MLS # etc) and make lots of copies of it. If you can take pics its great, but sometimes thats overwhelming. When you go to open houses take the template doc with you and note down all comments that went through your mind (trust me, a week later you will not remember).
Keep tracking on MLS the houses that you initially thought was out of your range. Listingbook will do that for you, just ask an agent at a open house to sign you up for it, many will do it for you. You can use your notes later because when you see the list price drop by 20-30k after 2-3 months, it might be affordable now !! That way you do not miss it.

You can go with a Buyers agent, but it does not hurt to be methodical on your side too, because if your agent is no good, you will be frustrated.

I loved my house hunting experience, I hope you will enjoy yours. Good Luck !!

DM me if you need my template document.

[Veve0308]

Originally Posted by zulu400

I think you should look at 450k houses.

Regardless of the area, I think you should look at all houses upto 50k-60k over your budget. At the least you will get a better understanding of what the extra 50k will get you. It should also help you in looking at the houses that you can afford so that you can visualize the future potential. Negotiating is very tricky. You have to be on top of comps because a house listed right at 450k will sell at that price, so you should not be frustrated because the seller is not ready to go down.
I would say though that from my experience about 90% of the houses are listed over the fair price, so yes there is room for negotiating for sure. Get the comps right, and you can do that by looking at a lot of houses.

Also, I think you should start now, do not wait for April. Any specific reason to wait, I mean you can always look right ?

Okay a few things other than the negotiation part that I think you should be doing as a first time buyer....
You need to diligently track everything you see. Do it the right way. Make a template of the things you want to see in the house (including MLS # etc) and make lots of copies of it. If you can take pics its great, but sometimes thats overwhelming. When you go to open houses take the template doc with you and note down all comments that went through your mind (trust me, a week later you will not remember).
Keep tracking on MLS the houses that you initially thought was out of your range. Listingbook will do that for you, just ask an agent at a open house to sign you up for it, many will do it for you. You can use your notes later because when you see the list price drop by 20-30k after 2-3 months, it might be affordable now !! That way you do not miss it.

You can go with a Buyers agent, but it does not hurt to be methodical on your side too, because if your agent is no good, you will be frustrated.

I loved my house hunting experience, I hope you will enjoy yours. Good Luck !!

DM me if you need my template document.

Thanks so much for the detailed info, I feel alot better now. We have twin girls and dont really have any time to do renovations and stuff but if we do find something that has plenty of space and it only needs cometic work we have no problem living with it until we can fix it to our liking.

It is difficult right now for me to look as my husband is over seas and I have the two year old twin and no baby sitter which means I will be driving around with them. Perhaps I might start next month getting someone to watch them a bit.

[twingles]

I agree with zulu. And learn the terminology - some sellers are motivated more than others....sometimes a listing will even say this.

Just make sure you don't fall in love with a house that is in mint condition and just came on the market at $450K and is right on the money for the neighborhood, because chances are you will end up disappointed. Try to take emotions out of it.

I happen to know a motivated seller in the Huntington area who is selling ... probably not for $400K but for much less than they are asking...so it can't hurt to look.

Good luck with your search!

[Chrisk327]

as noted by twingles, you need to look at houses and know your market.
some houses are priced at 450 and are worth 450
some are priced at 450 and worth 400
some are priced at 450 and worth 350.
not every house on the market is overpriced, and not everything will sit for a long time.

in my area I've seen the whole range, some sell within a week or two at close to asking, others sit for months for no "good" reason and some overpriced messes are sitting indefinately.

[Kbinspections]

My ranking of areas you are concidering......good luck!

Huntington
Bethpage
Farmingdale
Lynbrook
Lindenhurst
Westbury

[Veve0308]

Originally Posted by Kbinspections

My ranking of areas you are concidering......good luck!

Huntington
Bethpage
Farmingdale
Lynbrook
Lindenhurst
Westbury

Hi, what can you tell me about the ranking you listed below? Is it listed from most expensive to less expensive?

I am realizing now that I need to start looking ASAP if I'm going to move by end of summer

[Kbinspections]

Well what about commuting?

My list is kinda by price and rep for school districts (Huntington has several) but mostly by personal choice.

I would also suggest contacting the agents on this forum that contribute on a regular basis. They really are the top in their profession.

[Elke Mariotti]

Originally Posted by Veve0308

I am realizing now that I need to start looking ASAP if I'm going to move by end of summer

With your stated time line, please keep in mind that in the current mortgage environment it's common to have a good three months time lag between contract signing and closing (sometimes more) - and that's for conventional, 20% down mortgages. FHA/VA mortgages often take longer.

With twins it can get a bit exhausting and cumbersome, bundling them up, taking them with you, working around their nap... especially in this weather (my daughter has 6-months old twin girls and a 3-yr old boy, so I have an idea what you're dealing with ).

chrisk327 made a very good point regarding offers vs. pricing - it all depends . And as zulu400 suggested, there is nothing wrong with looking at houses listed at $450K - as long as you realize that some sellers have more flexibility than others, whether it's ego, money, the house is already priced aggressively, or whatever--it's a fact, even now in a buyers market.

Something else to keep in mind: you stated setting a monthly limit of $2,600 for everything, principal, interest, taxes and insurance. Some areas have higher taxes than others, which will automatically lower your "affordable" price point. But on top of that, keep in mind that interest rates may increase, which will also lower your affordable price point. Lots of things to consider

Whatever you decide - good luck in your search for a home of your own