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Old 03-24-2009, 06:34 AM
 
Location: Outside Portsmouth, NH
128 posts, read 466,796 times
Reputation: 59

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I see recurring debates on here:

Why buy when rents are going to come down and more unsalable homes will will hit the market as rentals, driving down prices further?

And

Why rent when so many homes for sale, short sales and foreclosures are continuing to hit the market and prices will come down?

I am speaking as one who has rented all of her life and has entered the house buying market. I am under contract on a house (and I pray it goes through) but here are my thoughts:

Every foreclosure and short sale house I saw was trashed. Here are things I've seen:

A turd on the floor.
Garbage never thrown out for MONTHS stored INSIDE.
Burst pipes due to lack of heat.
Ripped out sinks.
Leaking oil tanks that had gone empty with the furnace still on.
Graffiti covered walls and broken windows.
Bathrooms that had never been cleaned, ever, with everything encrusted in black slime.
Mold covered walls.
Junked cars in the yard.

Do I want to buy any of these houses that require major repairs, go through all of the bank's red tape and maybe still not get the house, at any price? NO.

Do I want to rent any of these houses, at any price, and later get foreclosed upon and kicked out? NO.

The quality house or rental at an affordable price is a rarity these days!
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Old 03-24-2009, 07:05 AM
 
3,599 posts, read 6,760,340 times
Reputation: 1461
Quote:
Originally Posted by buyerbuyerpantsonfire View Post
I see recurring debates on here:

Why buy when rents are going to come down and more unsalable homes will will hit the market as rentals, driving down prices further?

And

Why rent when so many homes for sale, short sales and foreclosures are continuing to hit the market and prices will come down?

I am speaking as one who has rented all of her life and has entered the house buying market. I am under contract on a house (and I pray it goes through) but here are my thoughts:

Every foreclosure and short sale house I saw was trashed. Here are things I've seen:

A turd on the floor.
Garbage never thrown out for MONTHS stored INSIDE.
Burst pipes due to lack of heat.
Ripped out sinks.
Leaking oil tanks that had gone empty with the furnace still on.
Graffiti covered walls and broken windows.
Bathrooms that had never been cleaned, ever, with everything encrusted in black slime.
Mold covered walls.
Junked cars in the yard.

Do I want to buy any of these houses that require major repairs, go through all of the bank's red tape and maybe still not get the house, at any price? NO.

Do I want to rent any of these houses, at any price, and later get foreclosed upon and kicked out? NO.

The quality house or rental at an affordable price is a rarity these days!
It depends on the location you are looking at. If you are in an area with very little foreclosure activity, than you have less selection of foreclosures to look at, thus a higher chance of getting a stripped down, unkept home.

In Florida, there are tons of "newer homes" maybe only 3-5 years old which are in very good shape. Out of 8 foreclosures, I looked at, 4 of them were almost in ready to move in condition. Sure things such as light fixures were taken, and all the dishwashers, refrigerators, stove were taken but if you can see past that, you will end up getting a pretty good deal.

You are right, most of the carpets on the foreclosured homes were trashed. It's like they had a "foreclosure party" the week before moving out and you can get crap on the carpet, cigarette burns. But you can buy new carpets for 3-6K depending on the quality you want.

I personally would replace carpets every 7 or so years anyways depending on the wear and tear.

So you have to do your calculations how much it would cost to get the home into liveable (to your standards) shape vs. buying a owner-occupied resell.

And it all depends on your preference for location. I personally would not want to live in an area that had lots of foreclosure activity, no matter how good the deal is if I intended to live in it as my primary residence. Maybe would consider it as an investment property to rent out.
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Old 03-24-2009, 07:49 AM
 
22,768 posts, read 30,606,205 times
Reputation: 14732
Quote:
Originally Posted by buyerbuyerpantsonfire View Post
The quality house or rental at an affordable price is a rarity these days!
I guess it depends on where you live. In my market the prime locations are vacant, they are anything but a rarity, and they are not so expensive.
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