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Boyfriend and I are looking to buy a house in Winston-Salem in the price range of $40-60,000. Financially, we're in a position to pay cash and have found a few houses in that range that would meet our modest needs. (Don't worry, we have plenty set aside for closing costs, emergencies, retirement, etc. We're frugal people, and buying an inexpensive house with cash has been a goal of ours for years.)
The complicating factor is that we're trying to orchestrate this all remotely. As in... a-12-hour-drive-away remotely. And we have the feeling we're in serious need of a reality check. Can anyone tell me if the following game plan is completely absurd?:
In my perfect home-buying fantasy, we come down from New England for two weeks at the end of April and spend that time viewing properties. Then make an offer, negotiate, have our offer accepted, and (if two weeks have gone by) fly back down for an inspection and quick closing. We've never bought a house before, but we've been doing our research online, and it sounds like it SHOULD be possible to do everything fairly quickly... Nothing's ever that easy, though, right? Or is it? Basically, I can't decide how optimistic I should be about this. If we follow the game plan, at worst, a June or July move-in date should be doable, right?
Would anyone care to share their home-buying experience in Winston-Salem? I'm interested in hearing about timelines and roadblocks that you ran into. And could anyone recommend a good buyer's agent in the area? I'll take all recommendations, though we're specifically looking for an agent with experience handling all-cash purchases.
Boyfriend and I are looking to buy a house in Winston-Salem in the price range of $40-60,000.
You won't get much house for that amount.
Quote:
(Don't worry, we have plenty set aside for closing costs, emergencies, retirement, etc.
We're frugal people, and buying an inexpensive house with cash has been a goal of ours for years.)
I hope you also have the $20-40,000 repair budget a $40-60K property will need set aside as well.
Quote:
The complicating factor is that we're trying to orchestrate this all remotely.
And we have the feeling we're in serious need of a reality check.
Can anyone tell me if the following game plan is completely absurd?:
So far it's plenty iffy...
Quote:
In my perfect home-buying fantasy... for two weeks ... viewing properties.
Then make an offer, negotiate, (DO THE INSPECTION, renegotiate... )
then have a quick closing.
It happens...
Quote:
We've never bought a house before...
Then NOTHING is gained by a rush of the process. NOTHING.
Come down. Poke around. Get inside the 4 or 5 properties your Trulia search shows.
See IN PERSON why the property is at that price level.
Haha, no worries, we absolutely understand this. Our expectations are low. If we get inside all the properties and they're a disaster, c'est la vie, right? But if we do find one that works for us, I want to be sure we have our ducks in a row, and I want an idea on how long we can expect everything to take. I know rushing isn't ideal, but we're on a timetable because *insert various boring reasons here*.
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Originally Posted by MrRational
I hope you also have the $20-40,000 repair budget a $40-60K property will need set aside as well.
That's great advice, and yes, we do.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MrRational
Come down. Poke around. Get inside the 4 or 5 properties your Trulia search shows. See IN PERSON why the property is at that price level.
I mean, I did say that was the plan, no?
About the inspection: My understanding is that the offer we submit/get accepted will be contingent on the results of the inspection we pay for, giving us the opportunity to renegotiate terms or back out as necessary. Sorry, I should have spelled it out when I laid out my so-called "fantasy" timeline so that people reading this thread would have an idea of my understanding of the process.
My understanding is that the offer we submit/get accepted will be contingent
on the results of the inspection...
In regular private party sales of LIVABLE homes that aren't expected to need work.
Properties known in advance to need substantial additional work ...
the buyer is assumed to be experienced, usually a professional landlord/developer type
and any access for inspection is done as a courtesy only...
and is NOT done as a sale contingency.
You look, you decide, you submit your best offer.
Then you get into the foreclosure and REO situations.
If and for whatever reason you are CERTAIN that you want to move to WS (or any other city)
then do so BEFORE buying property there. Rent for a year or two and then go about all of this
with a whole lot more time and after you have lined up some solid local resources to help.
Last edited by MrRational; 03-23-2014 at 08:17 PM..
It is all possible, we found a foreclosure for 57K in a perfect neighborhood and it was in move in ready shape just needed some cosmetic tlc. I would look at the homepath site that lists foreclosures and see if there are any that interest you. We submitted our offer with a contingency for inspection and went from there. We closed in about a month.
I am a recent widow and have been looking at homes for 4 years in WS, and plan on returning Labor Day week, from Ct.
If I put my home on the market, and find something there, I would be faced with the same situation, as inspection, etc, and would be paying cash but Im looking in a bit higher range of up to $150000, but never the less, Im so afraid to make the "move"and how it all falls in place. Ive been chatting with a buyers realtor/broker Katie Warmath of Greensboro and she
is super nice !! She deals with WS and grew up there. Feel free to email me at cfb1946@yahoo.com
Claire
Ct..
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