Not a buyers market in Indiana (how much, house, buying)

[domergurl]

Originally Posted by fallingwater

All is good. I havent been on here in a while but we finally purchased a house in Indiana. It was a stressful experience and I quickly realized our realtor was a ding dong. I will never recommend her to anyone. But hubby and I are very happy with our home. Im glad I wont be dealing with anymore home sellers!

Yea!!! Enjoy your new home and thanks for letting us know all is well!!!

[fallingwater]

Originally Posted by domergurl

Yea!!! Enjoy your new home and thanks for letting us know all is well!!!

Thanks. We are very happy. We bid on this house back in Nov. of last yr and the sellers wanted full price or nothing. So we said nothing. After not having a bid for several months they came back to us and asked if we were still interested. We said yes. So it was very exciting to get the house we fell in the love with. The frustrating part I found was dealing with sellers that were in their early twenties. The woman was a complete brat! She was exhausting. When they moved out the house was pretty dirty. The toilets were disgusting. The fridge had chocolate sauce spilled from the top shelf to the crisper. She left the manual to the fridge in the crisper so it was glued to the crisper drawer. Very piggy. When I had the septic tank pumped the guy told me who ever owned the house did not take care of it. It was so full it was like mud. He also found diapers in it. Thank goodness they only lived here a year!

[InvesTools]

Originally Posted by fallingwater

I am so frustrated with home sellers in this area. I just got turned down on my 3rd bid on a home. These sellers are crazy! I totally understand that everyone has their bottom line when selling their home but the people I have run into seem like I should be begging to buy their place.

The first house we bid on we offered 7k less than the asking price. The home is empty and the sellers live in a newly built home somewhere else in the area. The house was priced comparable to the area but it had issues. The living room carpet was heavily stained. The siding on the back of the house was melted from a grill and the sprinkler system is broke but its still listed as a "feature" for the home. The seller countered with a price only a 1,000 less than his asking price. He even has the house listed with the statement "please bring any and all offers." With his counter he sent along a message that he doesnt want to even hear another counter. So we didnt. He was very cocky. Also the house has no tax breaks and the taxes were sky high. We even had to make sure we qualified for the house cuss it made our payment 250.00 more per month till our homestead kicked in.

Our 2nd bid was to a bank repo. We offered the listing price. The bank came back and gave us another 24 hrs to offer our "best" bid. Asking price is not good enough? So we left that one alone as well.

Our 3rd offer was 5K less than asking price. Our realtor didnt even really like the idea as she felt the home was over priced. But we loved this house. I asked for the seller to leave the drapes in the living room. The way the window treatments were set up, it would look odd if the seller took them. Also they matched what I own. We got a counter that was only 500 bucks less than their list price! The sellers bought the house less than a year ago. They would have to bring a 1,000 dollars to closing to walk away. In this market and only owning the home 10 months, thats pretty damn good considering lots of people would have to spend a lot more than that to walk away. The sellers would also not leave the drapes. They truly feel someone will come in and give them the exact list price of their home. Even though they have the 1,000 dollars to come to closing they simply dont want too.

Im about to give up on all this real estate crap. I dont know if people are in la la land or what but I do feel we have not tried to gouge anyone. Are Indiana sellers completely out of their minds or have we just run into several idiots?

Don't Give-up Yet!

I just cant believe you are not having luck as a buyer- especially as you are only a few 000's off list price. First of all you must believe this..." I Hold The Cards"...seriously! Any buyer must act in this manner! As for REO's, These banks are just "Rediculous" and sometimes may be the listing agent not submitting your offer.

You must stay focused - although there are various ways to have them respond to your offers.
I know because I am a Realtor. Try this- Offer to close sooner but have a contingency which may allow you flexibility.

Good luck!

[fallingwater]

Originally Posted by InvesTools

Don't Give-up Yet!

I just cant believe you are not having luck as a buyer- especially as you are only a few 000's off list price. First of all you must believe this..." I Hold The Cards"...seriously! Any buyer must act in this manner! As for REO's, These banks are just "Rediculous" and sometimes may be the listing agent not submitting your offer.

You must stay focused - although there are various ways to have them respond to your offers.
I know because I am a Realtor. Try this- Offer to close sooner but have a contingency which may allow you flexibility.

Good luck!

We did end up buying a house. It was a long stressful process but we have been official homeowners for a little over a month now. I did not have the best experience dealing with realtors from this area. Im glad its over and hope I never have to move! Thanks for the advice.

[Capt. Dan]

If i were an optimist, which i try to be, but is getter harder to be, and I had a few hundred thousand dollars that i could part with right now,i would buy up entire blocks of Gary.The location of Gary makes it ripe for future development. That is, after the thieves, crackheads,muggers,murderers,junkies and current city government officials have killed each other off!

[grmasterb]

Originally Posted by Capt. Dan

If i were an optimist, which i try to be, but is getter harder to be, and I had a few hundred thousand dollars that i could part with right now,i would buy up entire blocks of Gary.The location of Gary makes it ripe for future development. That is, after the thieves, crackheads,muggers,murderers,junkies and current city government officials have killed each other off!

My view is that there are certain cities (Gary and East St. Louis are examples) that we probably have to give up on. I'd rather we pay to get the good folks out of Gary, tear it down, and turn it into a nature preserve. Maybe if we just planted a bunch of trees it would help offset some of the pollution from the mills.

[Jaxson]

Originally Posted by Capt. Dan

The location of Gary makes it ripe for future development.

Doesn't hurt that Obama has been there~~twice, it has been a national focus on needing jobs either. But I tend to agree more with grmasterb thought plan to get it cleaned up.

[d&m]

I feel your pain! We recently have experienced a similar situation as yours and now that I have a new realtor I question if it was my realtors fault or lack of work. In general, allot of people overpaid a few years back and going as far back as 10 -15 years ago. Ultimately, what it boils down to in NWI is that all the realtors overpriced homes and a ton of people paid for them and now everyone including me and you are now seeing how that has effected the realestate market. Do yourself a quick favor and compare the home that you are interested in to a home in a fluent illinois neighborhood... what i mean by that is... lot cost, construction cost, taxes etc etc. We recently did this and was shocked! An example...
lot cost in Plainfield Il was anywhere between 90k-220k. Standard construction, included far more upgrades then most in indiana and when comparing apples to apples we found that homes in indiana were anywhere from 50-200,000 overpriced. And just b/c taxes are cheaper hear it does not give anyone the right to overprice a home.

Some words for thought.... Maybe you should try building a home or general a home yourself... you will be shocked to find out what these so called second rate builders are making a house. It will make you sick!

[Chuckity]

Originally Posted by d&m

I feel your pain! We recently have experienced a similar situation as yours and now that I have a new realtor I question if it was my realtors fault or lack of work. In general, allot of people overpaid a few years back and going as far back as 10 -15 years ago. Ultimately, what it boils down to in NWI is that all the realtors overpriced homes and a ton of people paid for them and now everyone including me and you are now seeing how that has effected the realestate market. Do yourself a quick favor and compare the home that you are interested in to a home in a fluent illinois neighborhood... what i mean by that is... lot cost, construction cost, taxes etc etc. We recently did this and was shocked! An example...
lot cost in Plainfield Il was anywhere between 90k-220k. Standard construction, included far more upgrades then most in indiana and when comparing apples to apples we found that homes in indiana were anywhere from 50-200,000 overpriced. And just b/c taxes are cheaper hear it does not give anyone the right to overprice a home.

Some words for thought.... Maybe you should try building a home or general a home yourself... you will be shocked to find out what these so called second rate builders are making a house. It will make you sick!

I just can't help myself ... BUT ...

NWI wasn't on the receiving end of the crazy appreciation that some areas across the country saw. It just didn't - that's a fact.

Second, Realtors don't overprice homes. Sellers set their price and buyers choose to pay what they believe the homes are worth. Sure, agents can help determine a listing/selling price with CMA's - but in the end, price is always in the hands of buyers and sellers.

3rd, what's a "fluent" Illinois neighborhood? And I can't make heads or tails out of why you believe Indiana homes are overpriced. If anything, you get more for your money in Indiana when it comes to lot sizes, taxes, etc.

And yeah, builders do make a profit on homes. They're in business to make money ... funny how that works.

[krock1dk]

Originally Posted by fallingwater

I am so frustrated with home sellers in this area. I just got turned down on my 3rd bid on a home. These sellers are crazy! I totally understand that everyone has their bottom line when selling their home but the people I have run into seem like I should be begging to buy their place.

The first house we bid on we offered 7k less than the asking price. The home is empty and the sellers live in a newly built home somewhere else in the area. The house was priced comparable to the area but it had issues. The living room carpet was heavily stained. The siding on the back of the house was melted from a grill and the sprinkler system is broke but its still listed as a "feature" for the home. The seller countered with a price only a 1,000 less than his asking price. He even has the house listed with the statement "please bring any and all offers." With his counter he sent along a message that he doesnt want to even hear another counter. So we didnt. He was very cocky. Also the house has no tax breaks and the taxes were sky high. We even had to make sure we qualified for the house cuss it made our payment 250.00 more per month till our homestead kicked in.

Our 2nd bid was to a bank repo. We offered the listing price. The bank came back and gave us another 24 hrs to offer our "best" bid. Asking price is not good enough? So we left that one alone as well.

Our 3rd offer was 5K less than asking price. Our realtor didnt even really like the idea as she felt the home was over priced. But we loved this house. I asked for the seller to leave the drapes in the living room. The way the window treatments were set up, it would look odd if the seller took them. Also they matched what I own. We got a counter that was only 500 bucks less than their list price! The sellers bought the house less than a year ago. They would have to bring a 1,000 dollars to closing to walk away. In this market and only owning the home 10 months, thats pretty damn good considering lots of people would have to spend a lot more than that to walk away. The sellers would also not leave the drapes. They truly feel someone will come in and give them the exact list price of their home. Even though they have the 1,000 dollars to come to closing they simply dont want too.

Im about to give up on all this real estate crap. I dont know if people are in la la land or what but I do feel we have not tried to gouge anyone. Are Indiana sellers completely out of their minds or have we just run into several idiots?

Sorry about your frustrations. This is not an Indiana problem, but the owners' problem that you will find all across the country. Some sellers are very narrowminded and refuse to buge an inch. that home was an obvious sign that it just wasnt for you. No one said purchasing a home was rosy and breasy. My parents have bought a number of homes and have SUPERIOR credit and have run into similar situations B4. But in the end, found the house they liked better. You must B patient. And good luck to you. Try looking near St. John.