Moving within NH and frustrated (Nashua, Concord: sales, attorney, modular homes)

[GregW]

Katokik7s -
I live in Londonderry and do a lot of driving in the area. I have noticed that there are a LOT of smaller houses for sale in the Derry and East Derry area. We had a building boom about 10-15 years ago and many of those houses are now for sale.

If you are unhappy with your Realtor - Get another one. Or do fundamental research yourself and then hire a lawyer for the business deal.

Remember the money you can save by buying a messy place can be used to hire a cleaner, painter, and plumber etc. to make a place into what you want. Do not be too polite. If a place looks like a run down dump say so and cut 50 grand off your offer. You are the buyer in a buyers market. Play hardball.

[aimhigh]

We moved to Nashua, NH when it was a seller's market in 2005. We were looking at around $280k for a home and we were just shocked at the conditions of the homes!!! I was embarrassed for the home owners who did nothing to make the house appealing. Dirty, stained carpets, etc. I was disgusted. We had to find our homes online and then let our realtor know which homes we have chosen to look at. We had to come up on the price and eventually landed a home for $325k. Unfortunately, even though we had a home inspection, there was a problem with slight leaks in the basement when it rained which the seller did not disclose! We had to have that fixed which cost a couple thousand.
We decided to leave in 2007 (because of a job offer) and had to do a short sale!!! Our home appraised way lower than what we owed on it. We were devastated. We had a buyer and everything. We did not know our home would not appraise for the amount we owed on it. Our realtor was literally no help (different realtor) and was shocked that our house did not appraise. Our only option was a short sale.
The house was in great condition and we could not figure out why the low appraisal. Apparently someone in the neighborhood had to sell their house relatively fast due to health reasons and had to lower the price by $50k to get out. SO it lowered the value of our home as well. That's what we were told.
I totally agree though about the conditions of the homes in NH being very depressing. If you can't spend over $300k, you will not get a decent home.Hopefully now, with it being a buyer's market, you will find something decent. But some people don't seem to understand that the housing boom is over and are still asking outrageous prices on very rundown homes.
Good luck to you!

[kaotik78]

Amazing, simply amazing! I had to share this and get it off my chest. We just came from seeing three homes last night. Two of which were absolutely deplorable, the last one was ok. The foolish owner had left their dog in a cage in the basement barking like mad the entire time we were there. Aside from it's lack of care, the home was decent, price was ridiculous.

We asked our realtor to set up another time without the dog around for a second showing, this felt like the one. Well we were told that the other realtor had forgot to take it off the market, as it was already under agreement. WHEN WE WERE ALREADY THERE LOOKING AT IT! Complete waste of everyone's time.

[Valerie C]

That is absolutely ridiculous, what a waste of time, gas and emotion, for everyone involved. There are rules in place to prevent this very thing from happening, and this agent could be reported if they want past the allowed time to change the property status. I feel your pain--it's happened to me as well, yes we all get busy but it's IMPORTANT to change the status from ACTIVE at least to CONTINGENT (if they are waiting for home inspection, financing, etc)

Originally Posted by kaotik78

we were told that the other realtor had forgot to take it off the market, as it was already under agreement. WHEN WE WERE ALREADY THERE LOOKING AT IT! Complete waste of everyone's time.

[puttingdownroots]

Originally Posted by kaotik78

Now let's talk about exposure on the internet. Realtors, unless you are a photographer, PUT THE CAMERA DOWN! Most of the listings on mlspulse we've seen are AWFUL. Take professional photographs, show more than a few pictures, make the picture's BIGGER, say 640x480... Show the neighborhood, and STOP trying to HIDE things in the photograph. I don't know how many times I've wasted time to go see a home only to find out it's next to a mill or a retail outlet. It doesn't relfect good on you at all, do your research, show a little effort.

Hiya,

I'm coming to this late and haven't read the whole thread yet - but, hear hear! And, I thought I'd share something cool I just found. Some of the listings I've seen on homes.com have a street-level, birds' eye view available on their maps. It's a huge help since I'm from out of state and I can't just do a drive by to find out how private / not a yard is, what weird stuff might be next-door, etc. I just ruled out one property which appeared lovely in photos, and from birds-eye seems to be built in the middle of a road!

Good luck with the move.
Cara

[kaotik78]

All I can say now is thank's for google map's satalite view We've weeded out so much of what we're not looking for. Going after someone for a mistake like that (considering the situation I'm in) isn't worth the time. In the end my realtor will get her just desserts, only a little while longer then we're done with her and this entire fiasco.

[remember-voltaire]

I've used google earth and it comes in really handy.


Realitors

I've dealt with a lot of them in the past and most conversations go like this

I'm looking for bla bla bla in town bla bla between 300 and 400,000. no futher than 20 iles from bla bla

Ok I'll send you the MLS what's your e-mail

e-mail is bla bla

OK you'll receive them straight away

great you think
now the mails come in of houses asking 550,000 er I didn't want to go that high
the pictures of the houses are completely foolish, pictures of a rocking chair in the corner, pictures of a narrow staircase with walls either side, pictures of a tree in the back garden
the corner pictures seem to be in the massachusetts realtor market they see obsessed of doing pictures of shabby chairs in a corner, or a bed in the corner or a picture of a small octogan window

the house they send is over the distance, it's over the price I wanted to go,it only has 3 bedrooms not four, it doesn't have a bathroom in the bedroom like I asked for

The best bit is when the realitor phones you up and wants to talk you into these houses and then tries to push you into seeing them.

I now tend not to get realitors until I feel they're good ones and one of them I believe is on here

[nhtdiguy]

Perhaps you would be better served getting a buyers agent as opposed to a sellers agent. A buyers agent works for you not the seller.

[rmcewan]

Originally Posted by puttingdownroots

I just ruled out one property which appeared lovely in photos, and from birds-eye seems to be built in the middle of a road!

Word to the wise: All geo-mapping systems currently online (google earth, yahoo maps, trulia, etc. etc.) rely on mapping real addresses to lat/lon coordinates and displaying the map, satellite or aerial view. The problem is, those databases are just "mostly" accurate. That means the views are often a few feet to a few hundred yards off.

In my home searches, I actually have found several roads in NH where google and others appear to have the street reversed - e.g. No. 1 starts at the wrong end of a given road. This results in a view possibly being several MILES off.

I have learned to use these tools with a healthy dose of skepticism and if in doubt, I'll cross reference with another service, e.g. compare google maps with yahoo maps.

The best tool I've found so far is Google Earth. This needs to be downloaded and installed, but you get far higher resolution satellite images, and can switch on topography so you can see if a house is on a hill, in a valley, close to a flood hazard, etc.

[remember-voltaire]

I use google earth a lot for pleasure and reviewing areas it is a little outdated, for instance my house is on but my neighbours isn't. saying that it does do a service and you do get an idea.

Got a GPS for my car and when I said home on it it would take me to next door
, wouldn't mind but it's three mins walk away not right next door


I would say that google earth if you ever have time is worth a visit as you can see many interesting places around the world, like the opera house in australia, the grand canyon to big ben in london to the effiel tower of france