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It seems like a buyers market but when you walk into a realtor and say I dont want a sandy damaged home, want a good school district, want a good train line, house in good condition, eat in kitchen, basement, garage 2 bathrooms and four bedooms and say your top price is 500K 99% of inventory disappears and you are chasing the same houses every newlywed couple wants.
It seems like a buyers market but when you walk into a realtor and say I dont want a sandy damaged home, want a good school district, want a good train line, house in good condition, eat in kitchen, basement, garage 2 bathrooms and four bedooms and say your top price is 500K 99% of inventory disappears and you are chasing the same houses every newlywed couple wants.
If you must have all of those things, it is very much a seller's market. Half a million isn't a whole lot of money anymore. And if the taxes keep spiraling upward, even the newlyweds will be driven away.
It seems like a buyers market but when you walk into a realtor and say I dont want a sandy damaged home, want a good school district, want a good train line, house in good condition, eat in kitchen, basement, garage 2 bathrooms and four bedooms and say your top price is 500K 99% of inventory disappears and you are chasing the same houses every newlywed couple wants.
500K is the top end of our estimated budget and all those factors you mention are included in our list..I just saw 3 houses a few days ago on MLS that are 4bdrm/2 bath, 2 car garage, eat in kitchen plus basement, and located in North Merrick (good SD and on Babylon LIRR). So yes, it is possible. I am seeing a lot of houses in the 450-500K range which I would be very pleased to buy, so don't paint the whole picture as a doom and gloom scenario, because it isn't.
I don't think it's a buyers' market at all, really, It can't be, when inventory is so low. Maybe inventory is higher for the more expensive houses, but where prices are below a certain threshold, if there is nothing about the house that would be considered undesirable, it goes fast. The number of buyers simply outweigh the number of homes in that category.
When we were looking, there was a home we really liked in Seaford (North on Sunrise), but it was on a "double yellow" lined road and we just didn't want to own a home on a road like that. It's one of the few homes we saw that is still on the market.
besides the obvious "location, location, location", there were many homes we saw in the last 2 years we have been looking that have remained on the market for a long time. these were the homes on a double yellow lined road, and/or near the high tension wires and/or with hilly/ "tiered" backyards. some of these homes were very tempting, but I was afraid that although I may be able to overlook something, when the time came to sell, we would have difficulty finding a buyer.
the homes that sold that had any of these issues were either priced really well initially or priced competitively, but reduced their price several times, --eventually by like 100k lower than their inital selling price-- to finally find a buyer.
the low inventory combined with the desire for a flat yard, a basement and a non busy street (and no cemetery or high tension wire view) apparently wasn't just our "wish list". and if the house was in decent condition, not from the 1970's (no offense to anyone!), it would sell fast, meaning 7-14 days. if the house was in better than decent condition, it would sell in a few days, meaning 3-4.
we are happy with the house we are under contract to buy. it's not the largest house or the most up to date/ "prettiest" one we saw in the past 2 years. and it's the one we offered the most for. it's only got a partial basement, finished, but just paneled walls (yikes! 70's!) and berber carpet, no heat (was looking for a full basement); and the kitchen is definitely on the smaller side (currently have a very large kitchen) and there are no hardwood floors. BUT it's on a cul de sac and is a pie shaped property with the backyard being much wider than the front. it's got an inground pool, a cabana, outdoor kitchen area and a sport court. it has a very large den, a large living room and a decent dining room. it has 4 bedrooms (we really wanted 5), but they are all nicely sized- smallest is 11x14. it has 2.5 baths- we were looking for 3.5.
there were 5 other offers on the house within 72 hours of it being listed! so clearly we weren't the only ones who saw what was there-- a great cul de sac location and a flat, big backyard, at least a partial basement and good sized rooms and in nice condition.
IMO, houses that are either overpriced or unrealistic about features/location will sit on the market--and they are. Many houses that we looked at -months ago- are still for sale-- and even with those long-term houses, the inventory is still pretty low. That's why everyone piles up on the decent new-to-market houses. So I'm going to go with Seller's market......and if a house is priced "right", given it's particular circumstance (location and condition), it will sell quickly. NO HOUSE should sit on the market now- even the one with less than optimal location/condition, if it's priced right. Someone will be willing to overlook whatever issue(s) if they can get the house for a good price....a really good price.
Last edited by cathicool; 05-21-2013 at 08:27 PM..
In my opinion, I would not be offering $10k over the listing price. This house may be beautiful, but always keep in mind that there will be things you want to do to make the place "yours". You don't want to be mortgage poor, you always want to leave some extra aside. Trust me when I tell you, even the price of paint has gotten ridiculous! It all adds up. Just something to think about.
In my opinion, I would not be offering $10k over the listing price. This house may be beautiful, but always keep in mind that there will be things you want to do to make the place "yours". You don't want to be mortgage poor, you always want to leave some extra aside. Trust me when I tell you, even the price of paint has gotten ridiculous! It all adds up. Just something to think about.
thank you! and in theory i agree with you. every house- no matter the price- there will be changes that you will want to make.
we have serious issues with our school district and we built our own house, but overbuilt it for the area we live in, so our taxes are outrageously high compared to the houses around us. we had a decent offer on our house and did not want to lose it. In addition, staying in our current home would've incurred the cost of finishing our basement- money we would never recoup since we are just under the break even sale point right now.
We really want to make this move before our children were any older. Plus, we really wanted to end the insanity of spending every weekend looking at houses; it really was impacting our family life!
Like I've said, we were 1 of 6 offers. The 2nd place offer was for the same amount and the 3rd thru 5th place offers were between $15and $20k less than ours, so clearly there were 5 other "groups of people" who felt there was value in that house.
Lastly...we only went $5k over ask. $10k would've been too much!
Last edited by cathicool; 05-22-2013 at 05:51 AM..
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