Seller's Market in Houston metro area (live, move, estate)

[Caro42]

Originally Posted by tewest86

Maybe but the larger houses are on 100-200 sqft larger. Actually our bedrooms are the same size as the larger houses. The larger homes have an additional formal living room. That's really the only big difference. We only have one living room and no extra formal living room. We just list it 4 days ago. Maybe I'm being impatient. I've been reading news about properties getting multiple offers just hrs after being active. I guess the market isn't as hot here. The only homes I've seen get multiple offers on the first day are homes with pools.

No one sells the average house in four days. Terrific houses sell in four days. It's about quality. Get some input from your realtor on what you can do to pretty-up your house. Landscaping, paint, flowers, etc. Then be sure the copy in your listing states all the updates, upgrades, whatever points you can make. And look hard at the pictures. Really good photography and a fabulous listing photo, which does NOT have to be of the front façade, will draw buyers in. Put up a beautiful picture of the best room in the house, as your lead photo for the HAR.com website. Then scroll through the listings on HAR yourself, to see what the competition is doing. Any half-intelligent buyer is scrolling through the HAR listings daily to see what's on the market.

[Caro42]

Originally Posted by tewest86

This kinda of makes no sense? How does it have to be priced accordingly when supposedly people are offering $20k-50k over asking? So when not price it there initially to avoid the fake bidding war? My home is in-line with every other home “sold” in my neighborhood. My home has more upgrades than other homes. I’m kind of getting frustrated because we leave and do all this cleaning for showings and nothing. It’s getting irritating to get the kids and dogs and get a showing that last for 2 mins. And their feedback would be “there is no game room upstairs”. Well no $&@? Sherlock. Did you not look at the pictures. We get all the great feedback how it looks just like the pictures and it’s so clean and bey but then no offers. I’m not lowering the price more because we don’t “NEED” to sell.

To command prices over listing a seller has to have all the bells and whistles, meaning a really pretty house in top condition in a very desirable neighborhood. There are a lot of crummy neighborhoods in Houston, a lot of crumbling streets, old, mold-blackened sidewalks, cracked and broken concrete driveways, derelict landscaping or none at all, houses overgrown with straggly old shrubbery, with too many trees shading out the lawn meaning dead grass and too little light inside the home. No one will buy a dark, dingy house. Houston has no zoning which has created the ubiquitous urban blight that has ruined the city. Cheap, tacky strip centers nearby and forests of telephone poles and wires criss-crossing the streets, plus wall-to-wall traffic, are what have ruined Houston and driven buyers to Katy. The market in Houston is not nearly as hot for median-priced homes as it is in Katy. River Oaks and Tanglewood still command top prices because of the restrictions. If you live anywhere else in Houston, you are just as likely to have a 7-11 on the corner of your block, or a high-rise office building, as anything else.

[atmcclel]

Originally Posted by Caro42

To command prices over listing a seller has to have all the bells and whistles, meaning a really pretty house in top condition in a very desirable neighborhood. There are a lot of crummy neighborhoods in Houston, a lot of crumbling streets, old, mold-blackened sidewalks, cracked and broken concrete driveways, derelict landscaping or none at all, houses overgrown with straggly old shrubbery, with too many trees shading out the lawn meaning dead grass and too little light inside the home. No one will buy a dark, dingy house. Houston has no zoning which has created the ubiquitous urban blight that has ruined the city. Cheap, tacky strip centers nearby and forests of telephone poles and wires criss-crossing the streets, plus wall-to-wall traffic, are what have ruined Houston and driven buyers to Katy. The market in Houston is not nearly as hot for median-priced homes as it is in Katy. River Oaks and Tanglewood still command top prices because of the restrictions. If you live anywhere else in Houston, you are just as likely to have a 7-11 on the corner of your block, or a high-rise office building, as anything else.

Clearly you've never been to Briargrove, Meyerland, Oak Forest, Garden Oaks, Walnut Bend, etc. Prices in all these areas are more median randge, $450k-$750k, and homes are flying off the shelf in all those areas. If you prefer Katy then by all means, but the depiction of Houston neighborhoods you just gave is a bit absurd. Certainly some areas but no where near all. And let's not forget the basic fact, if all those buyers in Katy could afford to buy the size house they want in Houston and stay closer they would, most people can't however and have to move to the suburbs.

[timtemtym]

We closed last week on our house in Houston (selling it/Montrose). The day they put the "coming soon" sign up, we had two people asking to see it (We needed to move out and clean it up first). Once it listed, we accepted an offer in 3 days, and finished it up last week. We were super happy to end up breaking even on it (including realtor fees) after 1 year of ownership.

We were worried about losing money on it, but thankfully everything worked out. Houston just wasn't for us.

[WRM20]

Originally Posted by Caro42

Buyers live and learn. Buying an old house built thirty, forty or even fifty years ago is fraught with problems that young people are not aware of. Aging roof, aging appliances that will soon need replacing, leaks, rotting wood, water damage, aluminum wiring, dated finishes and surfaces, nasty old carpeting, ugly kitchens and bathrooms with broken or leaking fixtures, dated tile and countertops, and on and on. No one should ever pay list price for a house in the condition that you describe, with rotting baseboards, water damage, etc.

First, you get the house inspected, then get the faults discovered by the inspector priced, (Fox Inspections here in the Houston area does that, for about a hundred bucks) and deduct that from whatever you think a fair price might be, plus the costs of the cosmetic updates the property would need. And these days, it can cost you fifteen to twenty thousand to paint all walls, cabinetry and trim of a small house. New flooring can be thousands per room. More if you have to rip out the old flooring, especially tile. Landscaping is three to four times what it cost ten or fifteen years ago. Plumbers charge an arm and a leg. The last one I had to call charged me $900 for three hours' work. Home improvement costs a fortune, so don't be a naive buyer. You will get scammed. Sellers NEVER tell you everything. Educate yourself and make offers accordingly.

Fox doesn't inspect for $100. The last time we used them 15 years ago, it was more like $400.

[RVD26]

Originally Posted by WRM20

Fox doesn't inspect for $100. The last time we used them 15 years ago, it was more like $400.

Yeah, there's no reputable inspector that charges that little for a home inspection.
Maybe for a tiny condo or something. I have no idea what that poster is talking about.

[tewest86]

I guess I could provide an update. After 26 days on MLS, we received multiple offers in one day. It seemed dropping the price $4,000 did the trick. Now, we can't really find a house that we like. The ones that we are mildly interested in going in 3-7 days. I want to move and get a new build but my wife doesn't want to change school districts.

I've toured multiple new builds and it's things in new builds that housed build in the early '90s just won't have. We have to make a decision pretty soon.

[DabOnEm]

Originally Posted by timtemtym

We closed last week on our house in Houston (selling it/Montrose). The day they put the "coming soon" sign up, we had two people asking to see it (We needed to move out and clean it up first). Once it listed, we accepted an offer in 3 days, and finished it up last week. We were super happy to end up breaking even on it (including realtor fees) after 1 year of ownership.

We were worried about losing money on it, but thankfully everything worked out. Houston just wasn't for us.

Congratulations on that.

We go back and forth between wanting to buy a house in the inner city or buy land further out (2-4 acres), build a custom house, and come into the city when we feel like it. And that would be close to the same price as buying the inner city home depending on a few variations like land value and home size. That's been the quiet boom really going on (land sales) versus buying a new home in a traditional neighborhood.

[RVD26]

Originally Posted by tewest86

I guess I could provide an update. After 26 days on MLS, we received multiple offers in one day. It seemed dropping the price $4,000 did the trick. Now, we can't really find a house that we like. The ones that we are mildly interested in going in 3-7 days. I want to move and get a new build but my wife doesn't want to change school districts.

I've toured multiple new builds and it's things in new builds that housed build in the early '90s just won't have. We have to make a decision pretty soon.

Good to hear that you finally got some offers on the house and good luck on finding a new house.

[TallGreengrass]

Originally Posted by DabOnEm

Congratulations on that.

We go back and forth between wanting to buy a house in the inner city or buy land further out (2-4 acres), build a custom house, and come into the city when we feel like it. And that would be close to the same price as buying the inner city home depending on a few variations like land value and home size. That's been the quiet boom really going on (land sales) versus buying a new home in a traditional neighborhood.

How far away do you want to be and how big a property? I’m torn too. I really like the kids running to the neighbors house but I think having a cow or two would be really nice too. It’s still possible to find a place close enough to drive into town on a regular basis but you’re right, land is selling. As someone who has lived ITL for 40 years it’s nice to think about some elbow rooms and quiet.