Your buying experience? (RE market, contingency, foreclosure, agent)

[Norm Barnes]

Retired from the field. I am curious when and how many buyers will catch on to this great market we are now a part. Would love to hear stories of your experience. Value, Inventory, Payment, Service and whether your happy or remorseful. How many instances of seller over improvement? Just in general your buying experience?

[Norm Barnes]

Seller in one state reports after a "Flash Mob" occurrence he reduced his home 20K to sell.

[luvmyelement]

I just bought a foreclosure in Tucson. When I first started looking (early March), there was tons of inventory. As we continued looking - we saw homes getting grabbed up and demand was definitely picking up. Anything that was priced right sold in a day or two. I would say most foreclosures were priced right - but regular sellers seemed to want to price too high. We had to look at the new listings every morning and be ready to pounce because good deals were going so quickly.

We finally found a great house (3 years old, 1700 sq ft, 3 bed/3 bath on 1+ acres) one morning - priced very very well. We immediately drove out to see it and couldn't believe our eyes. We thought that for the price, the place had to be destroyed or need tons of work. The only thing we could find wrong was the main carpet had a few stains that appeared to be pet stains. (We knew we might have to rip up the plywood or underlayment if it soaked through the pad)

We called our agent from the house and said "get out here now!!!" and she did. We put in an offer that afternoon - above asking price because we knew it would be a multiple offer situation at that price. We didn't go much higher because then it wouldn't be a fantastic deal - but hoped that because we were paying cash we might have an advantage. We found out there were 3 other offers that day and suspected they were all financed deals so we crossed our fingers and hoped for the best.

In my lifetime I have never seen houses priced as low as a new mid-grade SUV. That's just crazy. Who wouldn't jump on a deal like this? I wish I had hundreds of thousands in the bank right now - because I would be grabbing up as many as I could and turn them into vacation rentals for snowbirds. But for now I'll just be happy that I can live comfortably and mortgage free.
It was priced at $235K when new 3 years ago. List price was $41K - we offered $45K.

[Dreams2Plans]

Originally Posted by luvmyelement

It was priced at $235K when new 3 years ago. List price was $41K - we offered $45K.

Wow, I'd be buying, too, if I was there! Right place and right time!

Originally Posted by luvmyelement

I wish I had hundreds of thousands in the bank right now - because I would be grabbing up as many as I could and turn them into vacation rentals for snowbirds.

Maybe, it is still worth it to get one more with financing? Dowpayment would be a joke, even if for now you've spent everything... soon enough can save some more


Can you post a picture? Just curious... and happy for ya!

[Norm Barnes]

Good for you Good for the economy. Your carpenter and/or carpet man thank you. I thank you; and, I'm retired. You did a very wise thing.

[Norm Barnes]

Over the years I have and a trusted friend who remains in Real Estate have concluded that if you are shopping in a neighborhood of homes and there are a 2 BR version and a 3 BR version you will be better off buying the 3 BR every time even at the added price and even if they have the same footprint (i.e. Home sq ft size). Time and time again the 2 BR sits on the market a lengthy period of time compared to the 3 BR. My friend loss her niece's listing because it simply is not moving even though her home is 10K less than a couple of 3 BR homes that have sold. Those buyers of the other homes were empty nesters and had no present need for a 3 BR home. In truth if I had my choice I actually feel the way I am portraying the xtra BR could just come in handy and appeals to a larger audience.

[maurenemm]

Around here, I'd say the same is true of 3bdrm v. 4 bdrm - the 4 bdrm's are just far more marketable.

My buying experience this year was frustrating and more difficult than selling my house. The desirable properties were snagged up very quickly. I had disappointment in what was available in our price range. (I think nearly everyone has this no matter what their price range.) Going in, I knew there were price premiums on certain areas/neighborhoods but I didn't realize just how high those premiums really were which added to my disappointment.

The most frustrating part of home buying was the mortgage. I never, ever though for a moment we'd have problems there. I had owned homes before, never missed a mortgage payment. No real credit issues. We had a 20% down payment. But still there was an issue. So, we witnessed first hand the tightening of loan requirements. I'm still frustrated as I don't see at all how I can be considered a credit risk. But I understand that the tools for evaluating credit worthiness are not perfect.

[Norm Barnes]

Originally Posted by maurenemm

Around here, I'd say the same is true of 3bdrm v. 4 bdrm - the 4 bdrm's are just far more marketable.

My buying experience this year was frustrating and more difficult than selling my house. The desirable properties were snagged up very quickly. I had disappointment in what was available in our price range. (I think nearly everyone has this no matter what their price range.) Going in, I knew there were price premiums on certain areas/neighborhoods but I didn't realize just how high those premiums really were which added to my disappointment.

The most frustrating part of home buying was the mortgage. I never, ever though for a moment we'd have problems there. I had owned homes before, never missed a mortgage payment. No real credit issues. We had a 20% down payment. But still there was an issue. So, we witnessed first hand the tightening of loan requirements. I'm still frustrated as I don't see at all how I can be considered a credit risk. But I understand that the tools for evaluating credit worthiness are not perfect.

Curious. What was at issue? Its a former mortgage banker curiosity.

[shmoov_groovzsd]

Originally Posted by Norm Barnes

Retired from the field. I am curious when and how many buyers will catch on to this great market we are now a part. Would love to hear stories of your experience. Value, Inventory, Payment, Service and whether your happy or remorseful. How many instances of seller over improvement? Just in general your buying experience?

Hi Norm,

I bought I bought in November 2010 and couldnt be happier. I purposely waited for the suckers that bought into the 8k Govt (f)reebate to expire. I had also been sitting on the sidelines for about 9 months and looking at the market diligently to make some comparisons so I knew what values were what and seeing how this 8k just gave a false perception of the market "returning".

In San Diego the rebate artificially kept prices higher which was a joke and in many cases there were multiple bids.
The house I bought was priced well, from the original owner (traditional sale), tastefully upgraded and it was listed for approx 2 hours before we did a walk through, got in the car and called the sellers agent to expect a written offer that night. A standard 17 day contingency period and smoke alarms were requested.

[maurenemm]

Norm - my credit score was just a couple of points below the magic mark for getting the best deal on a loan (jumbo conforming). Rather than try for a different type of loan, we messed around with credit rescoring which did work but I'm totally stressing out about the final credit pull 3 days before closing (which is next week).