Do sellers not pay closing costs anymore in NoVa now? (Reston: rental, condo)

[FCNova]

Originally Posted by KM_W&M06

Yeah, the fact that I was lucky to find out from a previous owner and not from the realtor makes me question what the role of the realtor is...

Your realtor isn't going to know those types of things. His/her role is to find houses and show them to you, and assist you in the closing process. You need to get an inspection to discover issues like polybutylene pipes.

[kww]

Originally Posted by KM_W&M06

We do like the house but I've heard from someone who lived in the area that most of the homes had polybutelene pipes, not copper, which may require expensive replacing now or down the road...I just feel like I'm being pressured to buy it from the realtor without knowing a lot of these things.

And finances aren't really an issue, we have more than enough saved for 20% down and excellent credit-low interest rate...I just don't want to offer a ton of money just because we can. Frustrating!

poly pipe can sometimes be difficult to uncover, typically only seen in the utility room, which at times can be hard to access during a viewing. had to educate some new clients about it at a house over the weekend.. I wouldnt let it be a deal breaker for me, if the house were worth it.. but in this market, homes that are great values are difficult, if not impossible, to find..

The right homes are moving to under contract within hours. I showed a house in lake ridge over the weekend that had an offer before it even hit the MLS..

unfortunately, your hand may be forced in terms of making an offer if you want to be competitive.. you'll always have your inspection contingency (assuming you write one in) to protect your purchase

[JfromReston]

Originally Posted by KM_W&M06

Every house we've seen we've been told unless we submit a bid within 24 hours, the house will be gone...that's an incredibly short amount of time to make such a decision in my opinion.

I feel your pain - I was in the same place when trying to buy a home in 2002. It took a long time to realize how fast we needed to move in order to get a home. We were very reluctant to get into multi-party bidding wars or to offer in excess of the asking price. In the end we won our home in a bidding war and paid more than the asking price.

I just did a search of all homes (SFH/TH/Condos) currently under contract in 20191 (South Reston) and found the following:

12 properties went under contract in less than 2 days
29 properties went under contract in less than 7 days
24 properties went under contract in more than 7 days

Based on this information - the good properties are going fast and if you want to get one you will need to move fast too.

[mdcrim]

A realtor friend of mine listed a house today and reported on Facebook about an hour ago that there are TEN showings already scheduled. I think the market is heating up. Inventory is still low.

[KM_W&M06]

Thanks everyone for the stats and personal experience, I'm not really a fan of the shoot first-ask questions later home buying method but guess I'll have to get my feet wet eventually...

[jillybean720]

Originally Posted by KM_W&M06

Thanks for the info Every house we've seen we've been told unless we submit a bid within 24 hours, the house will be gone...that's an incredibly short amount of time to make such a decision in my opinion.

You're right that it's a short amount of time. That's why there are ways out if something comes up! I swear, with our last home purchase (we've been in our current home less than a year), I was asking my realtor if there was a way out after every single step of the process, and there always was. Until you sign those closing documents, you can always get out (though if you wait until, say, closing day, then you may lose any earnest money deposit).

We once had to rescind an offer before the seller even made a decision because my husband got surprised with a lay-off the day after we made the offer!

And, yes, things move fast. I sent my realtor a list last year of properties we wanted to go see. I sent her the list on Thursday. By Saturday when we were ready to head out to look at them, 3 of them were already under contract! We ended up competing with another offer on the home we did end up getting. And, to your original question, no, we did not pay our closing costs. However, I believe we only paid $500-1,000 over asking price and got about $7,500 in closing assistance, so the seller still netted less than asking. We coughed up the cash for the down payment but didn't want to have to cough up more for the closing costs, too.

[Middlin]

One thing that always tipped the scales for me in purchasing a home was at least one outstanding feature or something unique about the home in comparison to others in the neighborhood (or at least very few)

Location is always the #1 rule as that can trump a TON of issues (this was my first purchase). The 2nd purchase was a very unique floor plan compared to every TH that I had seen and was the only one in our subdivision with the floor plan. The 3rd purchase was pretty vanilla but we made improvements that made it stand out against the competition and we still made out ahead. Our 4th purchase selling feature is that we back up to woods. Not so close we get all the pesky leaves in our yard, but have trees and land to look at and built a screened in porch that has a really nice view. Not that many homes in our area don't backup to another house and the chances of this land getting developed is very slim. Certainly not scientific, but always made me feel a little more secure when I had to sell. All 3 of the above sold the weekend it hit the market.

I've done a lot house hunting over the years and if a property just struck me as ho-hum, there is no way I could make the purchase. THey say a home purchase shouldn't be an emotional one, but I look at it as a realistic approach. If I can't live here anymore, how many people would find it desirable?

Don't feel pressured to jump into the market. I say go with your gut and also find another realtor.

[CaliTerp07]

We bought a year and a half ago. The house was on the market at $469. We offered them $469k with $10k in closing costs. They countered at $459k with no closing costs. HUH? Our realtor said they were panicked that the house wouldn't appraise at list price (so why list it at a price you don't want to sell it at?). We were stressed because we put 20% down which depleted most all of our savings, to the point where $10k made a difference. We went back and forth and finally settled on $464 with $5k in closing.

[KM_W&M06]

Originally Posted by CaliTerp07

We bought a year and a half ago. The house was on the market at $469. We offered them $469k with $10k in closing costs. They countered at $459k with no closing costs. HUH? Our realtor said they were panicked that the house wouldn't appraise at list price (so why list it at a price you don't want to sell it at?). We were stressed because we put 20% down which depleted most all of our savings, to the point where $10k made a difference. We went back and forth and finally settled on $464 with $5k in closing.

I'll admit I'm still a bit fuzzy on the appraising at list price, how is that calculated and what does it mean?

[kww]

house needs to appraise at the contract sales price or you would be on the hook for the difference.
or you ask seller to reduce
or contract becomes void and you move on to another house