NEPA Housing Market...How Bad Is It? (Wall: sale, apartment)

[GirlsMom]

We were supposed to make settlement on our house on 12/27 and move to our home in Masthope. We found out less then 24 hrs. until settlement that the mortgage for our buyers fell through. The mortgage co. went out of business overnight. Our realtor went into hiding and would not return our calls for 3 days after he broke the news to us. When we finally got a hold of him he had nothing to say. The buyers tried to get another mortgage but got turned down - they were high risk. Anyway, our builder is allowed to market the property in Masthope again until we get another Agreement of Sale on our house.

It was a nightmare! I had to cancel movers, appliances, furniture, cancel the mail being forwarded, call all the utility companies up in Lackawaxen and here in Glenolden, had to call schools to get my kids re-enrolled and tell their new school they were not coming, I had to get doctors records sent back down here, etc., etc. We called 2 lawyers who both said the same thing - you got screwed big time and there is nothing you can do about it. They said unfortunately in today's market this is becoming common practice.

We fired our realtor and hired a new one. Our house is back on the market and hopefully we will sell soon. We already told our new realtor that we don't want anybody coming in our house who doesn't have solid income/credit. Anybody can get a "pre-approval" - doesn't mean much. We need to make sure the mortgage co. is solid as well as the buyers. The whole real estate business is a racket. I can't wait to be done with it! This whole thing pretty much soured the excitement of our move to NEPA.

[TERMINOLOGY]

That's a tough one Girlsmom. Sounds like you need some Yoga. I feel for you. We had some similar realator miscomunications that gave us stress when we last purchased. Selling donw in Saylorsburg went smooth.

Hope you can work things out.

[GirlsMom]

Hmmmm....yoga and a few cosmos should do it!

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by GirlsMom

Hmmmm....yoga and a few cosmos should do it!

A couple two tree cuts of red and a brewski never ain't hurt nobody either, heyna?


P.S. I have no idea who these people are; they just happened to be at the top of my image search! LOL!

[BLUEDIAMOND64]

GirlsMom

I really feel for you. What you went through is what we fear. Here is what I plan to do. I am going to get contractually that if anyone backs out of the deal they will lose their entire DEPOSIT. Also, I have been noticing certain real estate agencies bring people that are way out of their price range. Like you said, "pre-approval" does not mean a thing. Also 2 popular things now are: sellers assist: can offer to pay some of the closing costs - (I refuse to do this). I have what is called a agent's incentive. On top of the commission the agent gets extra money for selling the house. Real estate market is cutthroat with some agencies and the more exposure you have the better chance of selling. I hope things work out for you.

The Hat

[memoriesbre]

Ok, if I sold my home in SWFL on my own, you can do it too. We had an agent with CB and she was horrible. We got out of the contract within 2 months. I was pushing our home on the free sites "one of which is very very well known" I put up tons of photos, tons of info too. We then got together with a couple that worked for Remax. We made them a deal that we would give the 2% or $5,000 whichever was more if we sold the house on our own instead of paying them the whole comm. He did a beautiful virtual tour of our home and I also added that to the listing on the "free site". Within two weeks of doing that, I had two serious buyers from NJ. The first came but without his wife because she was still in NJ trying to sell their place. He loved it and took tons of photos and went back and showed his wife. But within the next two days we had another call from a buyer in NJ that came down the next week and saw our home. He came with his realtor friend and within 2 hours contracts were signed. I sold our home on my own. Homes that were for sale when I was pushing my home on the free sites are still for sale in my old neighborhood. So if you have determination, you can do it too.

I have been watching the real estate market closely. I hear that it should start to turn around in '09. They say that by 2011 it will be a hot sellers market.
I sure hope so for all that are selling. We might even sell our home eventually and downsize but we want to wait until it is a sellers market!

Hope this helps ya!

[coal cracker]

old thread but worth reviving.
the real estate market in NE Pa. is screwed- badly.
the homes that are priced right for people who are already living here, based on the local economy, are burdened with absurdly high county/city/school taxes. the list of sheriff sales in the newspaper is an entire section of the paper.
the homes have fallen into disrepair, and the high water table/humid weather and damp winters, have caused mold problems in 95% of the homes on the market. this has caused a flood of sub-$100k homes to hit the market recently- but they need another $100k put into them in repairs, to make them livable.
it's common to see a home with a tax assessed value of $150-$200k, but with a resale value below $100k, because the high taxes took away the money that would have kept up the maintenance on the home. Bank short sales, sheriff sales, and bank repos are running RAMPANT. Many owe 2x-3x what their homes are worth. My friend recently bought a home, bank repo, where previous owner owed $155k. He got it for $60k. It was moldy, had broken water pipes, stinky rugs, and a septic system that makes a sewer water pond in the back yard.
this is becoming typical- every home has issues. back taxes, bank foreclosure, radon, mold, rotted wood, termites, poor construction, needs roof, water problems, bad wells, septic problems, electrical systems not up to code, additions put on poorly by home carpenters that need to be torn back off, deed problems, boundary disputes, hilly terrain, and most of all no privacy- homes built on top of each other on smallish lots. and the list goes on.
the only homes that sell quickly are new homes, and these are OVERPRICED. they are selling $195k homes for $300k. Naive out of state buyers pop for them, thinking they are a deal compared to NJ, NY, Philly prices and taxes. But at resale time, they get HOSED. When that buyer decides to move, they instantly experience a LOSS and have to take less for the home, just to sell it- because now it's considered an "older home" and not brand spanking new anymore. So homes have become trendy devalued depreciating buildings, and lose value just like a car when you drive it off showroom floor.
the banks, realtors, builders have wrecked the real estate market- it's a mess.
the only upside is, if you have a home built pre-2008 that was kept in perfect condition, you can maybe get $80-$100k for more it than you owe on it, if the realtors use the new homes as comps in pricing.
but then you have to re-invest that gain in another home within a certain amount of years, or you owe a capital gains tax to the IRS.
there is no way out of it. a home is no longer an asset, it's a liability. the cost of heating and property taxes makes living in NE Pa. a tough reality, even if you got the house for free.
the public schools in NE Pa. are lousy, even the ones in the suburbs. They may be safer than the inner city schools, but the kids aren't learning anything. To get a decent education a private school required, and those are $5,000 a year or more. So add that on top of the high property taxes.
The roads are overcrowded with cars, and a lot of homes on the back roads and secondary highways are for sale- because the TRAFFIC NOISE has become horrible. Recent uptick in train traffic has also caused a migration away from areas where a train crosses over a road, because the trains have to blow their air horn when going through an intersection. WTH wants to listen to that at midnight and 2 AM every night.
the area is going through a change, and it's not a good one. People say you can "get used to it"- but do you really want to ? How do you get used to a sliver stuck in your hand ?

[Rogue0888]

Originally Posted by coal cracker

old thread but worth reviving.
the real estate market in NE Pa. is screwed- badly.

the homes have fallen into disrepair, and the high water table/humid weather and damp winters, have caused mold problems in 95% of the homes on the market. this has caused a flood of sub-$100k homes to hit the market recently- but they need another $100k put into them in repairs, to make them livable.

Totally agree! That is the one that kills me about buyers who's only concern is the "deal" they are getting. If a house has been foreclosed on, it's probably been neglected for longer than its been on the market.

[mbrun]

Home prices have not rebounded and thus a buyers market. We just pruchased a house in summer 2015 in NEPA and our bank appraised the home 20% lower than market value We saved as the owner had to get out due to finances. And we are on the other side as well because we are still trying to sell our previous NEPA house that we purchased 3.5 years ago. It is in great shape as we kept it up, but we took a huge loss ( 20% loss on what we paid for it inclding $10, 000 in fixing it up)(currently under contract). The house went on the market in April 2015; hopefully the sale goes through.

[charmed hour]

My neighbor just sold his 7 year old home for $75k less than he paid to have it built.