Real Estate market - buyers market?? (credit, house, money) - Greenville - Spartanburg area - South Carolina (SC) -Greenville - Spartanburg - Simpsonville - Greer - Easley - Taylors - Mauldin - Duncan - Page 2 - City-Data Forum

Brandon Hoffman · 10-08-2007, 06:56 PM

The best thing to do is ask your Realtor what the average sales price vs. list price is. My market in Columbia is about 3-5% sales to list. I don't know Greenville but real estate is local. Columbia is on pace to finish about +3% this year.

Most builders won't negotiate the price much. If they negotiate with one buyer then every buyer expects them to negotiate. I'm not surprised he wouldn't come down.

To the others, foreclosures are up about 90% in July but that is still a very low % overall as posted in the other blogs. As far as blogs go, be very careful who you listen to. Many of the "pundits" on them don't really know what they are saying.

Best of luck-Brandon

BuddyDog · 10-08-2007, 08:52 PM

Thank you Brandon, for rescuing this thread from off topic....

Well, the 3-5% off list is definitely what we've experienced, but just couldn't offer more due to comps supporting a lower amt per sf regardless of list.

It may take a few more months for sellers to realize that there IS a market slow down and have to accept it. It took us a few months to realize it too and although in a better market we could have commanded at least $35K more, we did what we wanted to do based on timing and planning.

Nausikaa · 10-09-2007, 07:24 AM

The difference is - you live in Florida. There is a tremendous fall out of prices there. Also the terrible prop tax and homeowner's insurance is driving people away. SC is getting ready to have a prop tax decrease, because they increased the sales tax.

Unlike FL, Greenville is a boom town. There is a slight hiccup right now, because of all the news, but believe me it will only be a hiccup. You only have to read this site to see that people are pouring into SC. They are building new houses at a tremendous rate in Greenville, Columbia and Summerville. I wouldn't expect any more than 3% to 5% off in either of these 3 towns. The coastal towns of MB, Charleston, HH, will be a different story, because they are suffering from the homeowner's insurance problem, just like FL.

gentlearts · 10-09-2007, 07:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dobiefamily

We just bought in Simpsonville area, close this week actually. We were coming from a horrible market in Ohio where we were just thankful to sell our home.
We found the same thing you are facing. We were in a lower price range.........mid to upper 200's but still found sellers not motivated (compared to Ohio, at least)..........even when their listing said motivated. Our realtor thought we were nuts with our first offer, which was 5% below asking. She said the market is still good in Greenville area and sellers would not budge that much. We did end up settling at about 3.5% below asking price. We still fear we may have overpaid. We just pray Greenville does not get affected in the long run like other markets.
Best of luck to you on your purchase.

Where in Ohio were you? We are in Medina Co. and intend to move down there if we EVER sell our house. How long was your house on the market? We are not adverse to an under asking price offer, but are counting on making it up when we buy.

Brandon Hoffman · 10-09-2007, 07:44 PM

Buddydog, remember that real estate is local. Prices have remained pretty level in Columbia because our market is somewhat normal. I doubt we have a big drop in SC because we never had fast appreciation like Florida. I really think our #'s will remain steady in SC outside of tourist areas like Myrtle Beach, Hilton Head, Charleston, etc.

If you are buying, don't forget to figure the low interest rates. They are very good right now, but they can start to go up in a hurry (they could go down too). Over the long run if you paid a few thousand extra now to ensure you got a home in a timely fashion and got rates that were low, would you save that money back over time with the low rates? We don't know that the market will drop here, it may or may not, but be careful making assumptions. You might lose money if you buy, but you will lose money if you rent.

Best of luck.-Brandon

BuddyDog · 10-09-2007, 09:06 PM

I understand what you are saying Brandon. The issue with house #2 was that is was priced by at least $15/sf more than area comps. That's a chunk of change on a 3200 sf house. Regardless of the market, I won't overpay based on what the area comparables reflect. So, even though we don't want to, we will rent until we build or buy.

sojones · 10-10-2007, 01:09 AM

hmmm

an area to try out.. Ashmore Bridge Roads, there's some NICE neighborhoods back there you might like. I forget the name but it's very upscale and probably around what you're looking for

My home is closer to 2k square feet so the market is def a bit different

I would reccomend you talk to builders. I have a card of one that was doing Bungalow style homes a while ago, I'll see if I can find his card.

And beyond that, if I can dig up any useful info, I'll pass it along.

Sorry for going in another direction on the post

Brandon Hoffman · 10-10-2007, 09:55 AM

Buddydog, if it's priced that far out of the comps then you may well have an unreasonable seller on your hands. Maybe not worth bothering with. Usually when one doesn't work out it means a better one is right around the corner.

As a side note, one of the largest lenders in the country stated the SE, except for Florida, is by far the most stable market right now. The NE is also strong and midwest was doing well also. The worst states were Cal, Florida, Mich. in that order.

janrey · 10-10-2007, 10:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BuddyDog

I understand what you are saying Brandon. The issue with house #2 was that is was priced by at least $15/sf more than area comps. That's a chunk of change on a 3200 sf house. Regardless of the market, I won't overpay based on what the area comparables reflect. So, even though we don't want to, we will rent until we build or buy.

If you're curious about why she might not want to budge you can go to the Greenville County Web site and look up her property and find out how much she may have paid for it. Perhaps she paid too much and is trying to recoup, or perhaps she just thinks it's worth more than it is. By comparables though is there anything "special" about this house that maybe worth more than the others in the area?

BuddyDog · 10-10-2007, 10:38 AM

REAL familiar with the GIS site...lol. We do know that she is upside down in the house value - mortgage 435k, 479k invested. I guess that explains it! And even though this is her first offer in over 6 months, she is waiting.....