are buyer's just wasting our time?? (contingency, foreclosure, offer, advantage)

[momoffive]

[quote=Roselvr;1388913]Part of your post very well could have been directed towards me as a buyer. We're also looking at a few different towns, as we will live in the house a good 10 years, I want to make sure it's the right town. I have a daughter in school, so this is also important.

well, then shouldn't you be looking say at the downtown area in the three areas and maybe the schools in the areas and maybe the libraries/movie theatres shops. after school clubs/activiites, town hall, tax rate, national register of child molestors..maybe get the local town paper to see the crimes/local news etc.??? once you have chosen a town...then would be the right time to look at houses...not look at houses then pick the town......jmo

Open houses - a lot of people (read houses I am interested in) are not doing open houses. Then again who knows, maybe you had an open house that didn't fit into our lives as we are looking at both new and preowned houses. We've set aside our weekends not only for upkeep on our house for sale, but also to drive over an hour 1 way to look at houses in another area because I am disabled and can't rule these houses out during the week without a ride. It also could be that your agent did not advertise your open house enough so that I found it. We look in the newspaper, realtor.com and on some big named company sites but not all. We do go into opens if we see one in an area we happen to be in.

see above.

We are ready to move. Heck, I wanted my daughter to be starting school in our new town but it didn't happen. I'm looking for a 3 or 4 bedroom with at least 2 baths, the master having enough room in the bath for a jacuzzi. I can not tell if a house will work for us until I actually walk it. I have a specific requirement of where I need bedrooms to be or, if a house has everything we want (basement, garage, if no garage then enough land to build a garage) then I will let the bedroom placement slide down the list since I could possibly finish the basement.

imo you are not ready to move, your house is not sold....and the realtor should be able to answer your questions about br/baths whether or not there is a jacuzzi... garage can be found on the listing sheet...

We are also selling our house. We just finished our 1st 3 month contract and will sign another. The price of our house with new comps (btw, did you have new comps run?) will go down $25,000, which just threw us into a whole new price catagory for ourselves.

sorry, this has happened to most/all of us.

This market stinks, not only as a seller but as a buyer too. I am armed with info if I want to take a 2nd look. I will have my agent run comps so that I know what to offer, although I haven't gotten this far. What I am seeing is junk. A lot of overpriced homes that are in worst shape then what I am selling. I realize they are used but I am not going to pay someone a premium because they need money to upgrade / or make lots of cash because previous markets dictated that.

then go look at new/updated homes. the one i have my realtor explains that it needs updates. so when someone comes in saying they want something updated...we are just shocked, like didn't we just tell them that....

$70,000 is a lot of money to be lowballed, but I'm reading a few forums and this is what is happening on the houses in the $400+ range. Since we have no clue about your price, neighborhood, area comps, house condition; it's hard to say what is going on. It could be that people are taking chances because as I am reading some sellers are going for this. One never knows the conditions (estate, divorce, relocate) and if a seller will accept the offer.

this is true...

Since you've been on the market for 9 months, I wonder when the last time comps were run on your neighborhood? Could it be that maybe these lowball offers are where they need to be?

again, goes back to people who cannot afford (no where near) looking at my home and then lowballing more so because THEY CANNOT AFFORD IT the offers that have not been lowballed were from people who COULD afford it...

I'm answering blind. If you'd like to post your listing, perhaps we can give you real feedback. Sounds like you are getting traffic; (which you should be grateful for because some of us aren't) so it sounds like your agent is doing their job to advertise.

i love my agent and trust/respect her opinion 100%


With places like zillow.com, buyers are able to see what you paid for the house and use this as a tool, especially if they feel it is overpriced. I know I did on one house and after seeing that it was listed lower then what was paid, declined to go further because I didn't want to offend them.

this actually helps us because the range of price is a lot higher than what we are asking

i would not be offended if someone who is prequalified for the price of my home THEN decides they will only offer a lower amount. that is fine with me. again, it is the people who cannot afford it and lowball it based on what they can afford not what the house is worth.


As I said, my house did not sell. After interviewing agents (have you changed agents yet?) I'm pretty sure I know why, so I'm hopeful we will have better luck with someone else. Some times you have to cut your losses and move on or take the house off of the market and hope that if the market picks up, you will be able to get your price. We very well may take ours off of the market if it doesn't. We do not have to move.

goes back to why i only want people who are "ready to go" to see the house i don't want to show it 1, 2 and sometimes three times to someone whose house has not and and maybe won't selll.....a person in your position has just wasted my time 3 times

Good luck. I hope something I said gives you an idea of what's going on.


thank you for your feedback....i appreciate hearing your side of things.
i also want to say YES i know i could potentially lose out on that one buyer (cause as i am told it only takes one) by not showing it to people who are not "ready to go" i am willing to take the chance for the sanity of myself and my family.... remember we have things/lives too.....

[momoffive]

btw, i would never never look at a house that was 100,00 more than i am qualified for...maybe other people would in this market, but i wouldn't....this has happened to us and then like i said they lowballed us based on what they can afford not what the house is worth....
timewasters......

[jimj]

Originally Posted by momoffive

btw, i would never never look at a house that was 100,00 more than i am qualified for...maybe other people would in this market, but i wouldn't....this has happened to us and then like i said they lowballed us based on what they can afford not what the house is worth....
timewasters......

Mom,
I definately (and boy so does my wife) get what you're saying but I haven't gotten frustrated enough to just put a stop to showings that may be questionable.
The issue with the lowball people is IMO directly realated to all of this hype that the real estate sky is falling and some have the opinon that we should be sprinkling the ground the buyers walk on with roses, provide them with their beverage of choice and a recliner when they decide to grace our home with their presence and generally bow and scrape to get an offer that if given on THEIR house would make them fall over laughing. BUT remember, "it's a buyer's market" and "we are headed towards a melt down" and the market will be horrible for at least the next xxxxxx. Talk about a self fulfilling prophecy! Say it enough and a lot of the buying public with think they now can get something for nothing as evidenced by your 100k lowballs..

[GregTraub]

Wow, there are alot of pages in a short amount of time in this thread!

Anyway. In my opinion, If you were able to (ie you wouldn't be forced to do a short sale) I would attempt to get the buyer to come up a tad more, and then take what they are offering.
Your agent should come down 1.5% from 6% since she will be "double dipping" ..... get the deal done.
I see you trust your agent completely and take her professional opinions as fact....I wish I had more sellers like you!.....and this is great, however just reading the posts they've already made a few mistakes.

1. In my market unless your in the 500K+ range, or an absolute deal, buyers agents skim over the 2% and 2.5% listings, there are too many other listings at 3%+ they can show their clients. This may have killed many showings.
2. She advised these small drops in price? Unless a single price drop is over 5%, or it puts you in a different mental price bracket (under 400, 350, 300 etc) it's a waste of time
3. It's great that no one says you are overpriced when they see your home, and they say they love it, but the bottom line is price cures any defect. Most people in america think negotiate is a dirty word and they hate doing it, the would rather say the house is great but I don't like the slope....what they may really be thinking is, "I like the house, I can afford it, but I dont like that slope....now if it I could get it for 20K less though, I think I could live with it!"

Like other's have posted, in this declining housing market...price AHEAD of the market, don't chase it down. I've seen entirely too many sellers that are now 50-100K below their original asking price, and they previously balked at offers only a few K from their original asking prices.

I could be completely off, I'm not an expert in your market, but that's my take.

That being said, it sounds like your realtor is doing a terrific job marketing and getting people in the door!

[CouponJack]

Originally Posted by jimj

Mom,
I definately (and boy so does my wife) get what you're saying but I haven't gotten frustrated enough to just put a stop to showings that may be questionable.
The issue with the lowball people is IMO directly realated to all of this hype that the real estate sky is falling and some have the opinon that we should be sprinkling the ground the buyers walk on with roses, provide them with their beverage of choice and a recliner when they decide to grace our home with their presence and generally bow and scrape to get an offer that if given on THEIR house would make them fall over laughing. BUT remember, "it's a buyer's market" and "we are headed towards a melt down" and the market will be horrible for at least the next xxxxxx. Talk about a self fulfilling prophecy! Say it enough and a lot of the buying public with think they now can get something for nothing as evidenced by your 100k lowballs..

Jimj- In alot of markets, over the past 5-7 years homes have appreciated way faster than historical levels.

Prices are now "reverting to the mean" in alot of cases.

what's so unhealthy about that? The stock market goes through it, why not resi RE?

[jimj]

Originally Posted by CouponJack

Jimj- In alot of markets, over the past 5-7 years homes have appreciated way faster than historical levels.

Prices are now "reverting to the mean" in alot of cases.

what's so unhealthy about that? The stock market goes through it, why not resi RE?

No argument, but that's not the way it's being portrayed in the media and hence buyers (at least from what I've been reading) are thinking it's a fire sale and people are giving the houses away.
I've got no issue with a drop to 3-5% appreciation (though like others I don't like to lose it) but to lose ALL apreciation is what's being portrayed and is rediculous.

[CouponJack]

Originally Posted by jimj

No argument, but that's not the way it's being portrayed in the media and hence buyers (at least from what I've been reading) are thinking it's a fire sale and people are giving the houses away.
I've got no issue with a drop to 3-5% appreciation (though like others I don't like to lose it) but to lose ALL apreciation is what's being portrayed and is rediculous.

I think it really comes down to specific markets. alot of the "bubble" markets have alot more trimming to do to come down to those 3-5% appreciation levels. Whereas markets that appreciated slowly will not be affected as bad...

again, it comes down to specific markets

[Greenchili]

So, news is that Bush will help foreclosing families. Will this
affect the market? Also, the fed is rumored to lower interest
rates. What will this do to the current market? Shoot, I was counting
on continued lower prices here in California(Lompoc). I hope they
come down some more, as they are still way overpriced.

Greenchili

[Roselvr]

Originally Posted by momoffive

well, then shouldn't you be looking say at the downtown area in the three areas and maybe the schools in the areas and maybe the libraries/movie theatres shops. after school clubs/activiites, town hall, tax rate, national register of child molestors..maybe get the local town paper to see the crimes/local news etc.??? once you have chosen a town...then would be the right time to look at houses...not look at houses then pick the town......jmo

Already did all of that. I have nothing tying me down to the area I live in and like all 3 areas equally. Which ever area we find the house in is where we will go. I don't feel that choosing one will make my search any easier.

Originally Posted by momoffive

imo you are not ready to move, your house is not sold....and the realtor should be able to answer your questions about br/baths whether or not there is a jacuzzi... garage can be found on the listing sheet...

I never said I had to sell my house to buy another. So yes, I am ready to go.

Originally Posted by momoffive

then go look at new/updated homes. the one i have my realtor explains that it needs updates. so when someone comes in saying they want something updated...we are just shocked, like didn't we just tell them that....

I do. I am also open to not updated homes as long as the floorplan etc match what we want. The price would also have to reflect that, but areas that I am looking in, the price is not adjusted to needing work.

Originally Posted by momoffive

again, goes back to people who cannot afford (no where near) looking at my home and then lowballing more so because THEY CANNOT AFFORD IT the offers that have not been lowballed were from people who COULD afford it...

And did you get offers from people that could afford it?

Originally Posted by momoffive

i love my agent and trust/respect her opinion 100%

How can you be sure?

Originally Posted by momoffive

goes back to why i only want people who are "ready to go" to see the house i don't want to show it 1, 2 and sometimes three times to someone whose house has not and and maybe won't selll.....a person in your position has just wasted my time 3 times

I'm sorry you look at people that think enough of your house to actually walk it to be wasting your time. Here in NJ there are so many houses for sale, there aren't enough buyers to even look at all of them. Most sellers would LOVE to be in your position. Just because the person walking the house doesn't want it, it doesn't mean they won't go tell someone about it that might lead to a possible sale.

Originally Posted by momoffive

thank you for your feedback....i appreciate hearing your side of things.
i also want to say YES i know i could potentially lose out on that one buyer (cause as i am told it only takes one) by not showing it to people who are not "ready to go" i am willing to take the chance for the sanity of myself and my family.... remember we have things/lives too.....

As do I. I also have to keep my house up which is not easy being disabled. I've had my house ready on 1 hours notice, which having a child home during the summer is not easy some days. But I will not turn a potential buyer away because it is inconveniencing me because isn't this what selling a house is all about? If I wasn't game for this, I would either take the house off of the maket or move out and sell it with nothing in it.

Originally Posted by momoffive

btw, i would never never look at a house that was 100,00 more than i am qualified for...maybe other people would in this market, but i wouldn't....this has happened to us and then like i said they lowballed us based on what they can afford not what the house is worth....
timewasters......

I don't recall I ever said that I did. I have saved some of my favorite houses that are out of our price range because it gives me an advantage when they drop the price as I get email updates. If they ever drop down to my price, I will then walk it.

[mmelko]

I'm a buyer (luckily we sold our house) and now are looking for a smaller place in our new town. It's hard. There are a lot of houses to look at. We are not familiar with the area so we have had to "learn" what is a good place to buy and what's not. I'm tired too. It can be very frustrating as we are encountering places that need a lot of work - even the newer ones - or we are encountering sellers who think the longer their house is on the market the house is appreciating in value. Part of the problem is unrealistic sellers, but part of it too has to fall on the shoulders of the agent. We want to make an offer on a cute little Victorian but are afraid to because we think if we offer exactly the same amount for it as a similar house that sold just down the same street, we will insult them and this is a small town. I don't want the town to think we are lowballing outsiders. But neither do we want to pay more for a similar sized and styled house that has no updates like the one that just sold down the street.

Buyer's time is valuable too. At least people like us who are renting month to month and want a home and all our stuff out of storage. I hope I am not wasting seller's time. I was always grateful to anyone who looked at my house and we feel like we were very lucky to get ours sold in this market. It's not that regional anymore.