Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
*high fives rothbear* You are right on! But you know sometimes I wonder how much of this (forgetting about the media for a minute) is being fueled by the buyer's agents. Buyer's agents are in a peculiar position because they want the sale to make their commission but they also want to please their buyers (even though some of the buyers may be irrational). So do these agents try to bring them back to reality? To me the agents need to be the ones pointing out the differences and saying yes you can get this home for $200K but don't expect the house down the street with $60K in upgrades to sell for the same price. Are they pointing out these upgrades or items that add value? I know when we were buying our home our agent said notice in this house the prices includes x, y, z so you have to weigh that against the asking price. OR, are the agents fueling on these buyers leading them to believe that it is all and only about that bottomline without going back to the basics of real estate which is location, condition, value.
Personally, I find the most disheartening aspect of all of this is how buyers and sellers are pitted against each other like this is some kind of roman battle. What ever happened to common corteousy, consideration, respect, and understanding? The reality is MOST buyers at some point will become sellers, and ALL sellers at some point were buyers. So there should be a mutual understanding and respect for each other's position. Karma is a b--ch, if you think you can screw someone over today and get away with it, trust me that it will come back around to haunt you ten fold.
What goes around comes around! I believe most agents do point out the differences and if the buyer is interested I feel that they justify the list price or act accordingly per comps in which they point out the forclosures ect. But I also believe that right now the ones in the position to buy, that have the funding and are just wanting to move, not having to move are the ones looking and saying I am smarter than the average bear, they don't necessarily listen to the agents and don't really care to have validations made. My opinion.
FWIW, Texas is not one of the states that saw a bubble OR a "pop". (Though here in Austin we are seeing some softening now, it's more along the lines of fewer sales than a year ago, higher prices than a year ago.) As a wise real estate economist down at Texas A&M said a while back, "The media thinks the United States is made up of five states - and Texas isn't one of them."
Hmmm.... I am not going into the market with the expectation that the seller should make little or no profit, but I am going into this with the idea that the seller probably should not expect to make as much profit as they perhaps thought they would make a few years ago. I'm just looking for a home, not an investment, but I am hoping I might be able to get a bit more for my money than I would have been able to do before. That's the reason I'm buying now. I am also counting on a trickle down effect from the bubble market. To think that the disaster there shouldn't have any affect on the rest of the market is also unrealistic. If it weren't for that bit of a buyers advantage I would probably sit tight and wait out the iffy economy, maybe put off buying a house indefinitely because buying a house right now feels very risky. I expect the economy to get much worse before it gets better.
I haven't looked at what a seller originally paid for their house either. That's just crazy and pretty much irrelevant anyway. All I care about is what your neighbor is selling for, what are they offering for a similar price, and is it a better deal than what you are offering. What have you got to sweeten the deal for me?
My response as a buyer: "Lets start with the sellers who are most desperate
but still have a chance to sell, and go from there."
If you sole purpose is to get a great deal regardless of whether or not you like the house, that strategy would be just fine. Sometimes the house you really want just isn't the deal you are looking for since the owners aren't in distress. I was in two distressed houses with some buyers yesterday, and WOW...you couldn't pay me to take either of those homes. My buyers weren't interested either.
It is really interesting to see the attitudes from buyers in my area. Local folks think nothing of paying close to asking prices. Folks from Fl and CA seem to think all markets are like theirs. Hence, the need to develop a response to that question.
Silverfall, I for one do not believe all markets are the same. I do know my family in Idaho is having similiar difficulties, the family member in N. Ind is have similiar problems and my friend in Chicago is getting only slight different attitudes than here. Now the area I am trying to get back to doesn't seem to be affected anywhere near Idaho, Ill, Ind., or Florida which of course is the beast. When I get relocated I don't expect a big deal to come my way. So the comments I have read from many different areas of posts that sellers will make up for their low prices when they buy will not play true for me. As we have all read and said it is local, it just seems to me that when it comes to "some" buyers they forget the local in their search for property and want to believe it is nation wide bubble bursting.
Silverfall, I for one do not believe all markets are the same. I do know my family in Idaho is having similiar difficulties, the family member in N. Ind is have similiar problems and my friend in Chicago is getting only slight different attitudes than here. Now the area I am trying to get back to doesn't seem to be affected anywhere near Idaho, Ill, Ind., or Florida which of course is the beast. When I get relocated I don't expect a big deal to come my way. So the comments I have read from many different areas of posts that sellers will make up for their low prices when they buy will not play true for me. As we have all read and said it is local, it just seems to me that when it comes to "some" buyers they forget the local in their search for property and want to believe it is nation wide bubble bursting.
Yes, and what so many have been trying to say for so many, many months now. The "bubble bursting" was not everywhere, or even in the larger percentage of states. And Rothbear, you put it perfectly as well. In our neighborhood, there was once a $100,000 "swing" in prices of the various homes, depending on sq. footage, condition, some had added additions, re-done kitchens, etc.... and then in this market, one sold for the low end of that 100,000 swing and suddenly, ALL homes, no matter how different, were supposed to be sold at that same price. Lately, comps have been more of a negetive than an positive to have when buyers take them as the "holy grail" and forget that the reason the one sold on the low end is because it was 1,000 sq. ft. smaller, had no updates, and just not even a comparable "apples to apples" as the one asking the higher end of the swing. Fortunately, no foreclosures or anything like that, but still- It's crazy how they expect everything for nothing or at least only for what the one without everything's price. And we're in the western suburbs of Chicago.
Silverfall, I for one do not believe all markets are the same. I do know my family in Idaho is having similiar difficulties, the family member in N. Ind is have similiar problems and my friend in Chicago is getting only slight different attitudes than here. Now the area I am trying to get back to doesn't seem to be affected anywhere near Idaho, Ill, Ind., or Florida which of course is the beast. When I get relocated I don't expect a big deal to come my way. So the comments I have read from many different areas of posts that sellers will make up for their low prices when they buy will not play true for me. As we have all read and said it is local, it just seems to me that when it comes to "some" buyers they forget the local in their search for property and want to believe it is nation wide bubble bursting.
I retract my generalization. Some folks from FL and CA...
That is definitely true Silverfall. The housing "boom" did NOT take place in all markets and definitely not at the same magnitude as the most reported areas (California, Florida, Las Vegas, Arizona). If homes in my area did not appreciate $100K+ like some other areas, WHY would buyers think they are entitled to that as "discount". Some of the buyers attitudes would be akin to me going into a Honda dealership and asking to get a fully loaded accord for the same price as the base level accord. Does that make sense?
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Some folks from FL and CA...
