Not a buyers market in Indiana (Elkhart, Granger: short sale, broker, new home) - Northwest Indiana - (IN) - Page 2 - City-Data Forum

jodyrose · 02-04-2009, 02:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aebuell

. I believe it's more of a buyer's market here, even in the best neighborhoods, but not sure... haven't made any offers yet. We'll see.

I dont know if you are working with an agent or not, but if you are looking, try to stay away from the short sales if you can. While prices in St Joe and Elkhart county have been dropping, keep in mind that we do not have the HUGE increases in value, so when things are in a "down" turn, they dont go "DOWN" as much either. The only reason I advise staying away from the short sales is that while you might be able to save some $, you need a bucket load of patience and perserverance to get in one. Most of them I have known of or been involved in have had multiple offers that went over and sometimes well over the asking price.

Good luck to you in your search!

fallingwater · 02-04-2009, 09:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jodyrose

I dont know if you are working with an agent or not, but if you are looking, try to stay away from the short sales if you can. While prices in St Joe and Elkhart county have been dropping, keep in mind that we do not have the HUGE increases in value, so when things are in a "down" turn, they dont go "DOWN" as much either. The only reason I advise staying away from the short sales is that while you might be able to save some $, you need a bucket load of patience and perserverance to get in one. Most of them I have known of or been involved in have had multiple offers that went over and sometimes well over the asking price.

Good luck to you in your search!

I agree short sales can be a hassle. A friend of mine bought one but it took 9 months. She really wanted that house.

cfarris · 02-23-2009, 09:13 AM

Hang in there. My husband and I ran in to the same problems looking for a home.We bid on 7 houses and could not come to agreement on any of them ,everything from personal sales to you name it.
It took us 3 years to finally get our home and now I can say I could not be happier. Glad we waited and could not come up with a agreement with the rest of them.Your perfect home is out there and you will be glad some time down the road that you did not get the rest. Happy hunting to you.

twiggers · 03-01-2009, 12:37 PM

Well, I'm in Granger...selling one of the newest, single story homes under 200K. Over 3 months on the market and only one single showing. We'd love it if someone came in 5K under our asking price :-) In fact, we just lowered our price today! We're relocating to Florida in 2 months....so we'll probably end up renting it out. Blows my mind that a house in Granger (3 bd. 2 ba. finished basement, small subdivision, 8 years old, .25 acre lot, hot tub, sun room, etc. etc.) won't sell.
I've got friends on the north side of the city (newer developments off Portage Ave.) and their house has been on the market for 18 months (newer home).
These people may be completely regretting not accepting their offer 6 months from now when their house hasn't sold.

As for avoiding Granger...I don't know why. Granger is a great family area! Fabulous school district. We lived in S. Bend when we first moved here and absolutely regretted it. Wouldn't want to be in Mishawaka either....too many sketchy areas, higher foreclosure rates, etc.

Also, taxes are cheaper in Granger because we're unincorporated....just another thing to think of :-)

twiggers · 03-01-2009, 12:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fallingwater

I was told by my realtor that Granger is not a buyers market. Interesting. I would like people's thoughts on this statement. Im curious as I have gotten the vibe from my realtor she isnt too fond of Granger. She hasnt come right out and said it but is CONSTANTLY telling me to look more in Mishawaka or Osceola.

Oh, and per my story above....people in Granger generally think (well, at least we did) that we wouldn't have problems selling because "it's Granger". Yea, big wake up call!
If we had listed 5 months earlier we wouldn't have had a problem.

We're currently listed for 179,900 (in April '09 a neighbor sold almost identical house on smaller lot for 189,900). We're lowering to 174,900 today.
House down the street just sold for 149,900 (it was an 'as is' sale - home wa a rental).
Realtor said we need to keep lowering every two weeks...however, we have zero equity in the home. So if we can't get our magic number (which is us losing about 15K - unheard of in Granger just a year ago) then we'll rent it out for about 1300/month and only lose about $300/month. Better than foreclosure!

jodyrose · 03-02-2009, 12:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by twiggers

As for avoiding Granger...I don't know why. Granger is a great family area! Fabulous school district. We lived in S. Bend when we first moved here and absolutely regretted it. Wouldn't want to be in Mishawaka either....too many sketchy areas, higher foreclosure rates, etc.
Also, taxes are cheaper in Granger because we're unincorporated....just another thing to think of :-)

As an agent who covers St Joseph and Elkhart County who has gotten 3 homes under contract since January 1, I can tell you that you are just running into the wrong people if you can't get a seller to deal with you.
None of these have been involved in have been short sales or foreclosures. All of the deals have had the seller reducing price from a low of $4000 to a high of $9,000+3% of closing costs.

The sellers agents are likely tearing their hair out!

Some sellers are still not dealing with reality. I have a couple of listings like that as well. Also, the things that are moving now are FIRST TIME BUYER homes in the $100-160K range. Over that and activity starts slowing down as the price goes up. Not to say they arent selling some of those as well, its just not going as fast.

Hang in there sellers, our office IS seeing an uptick in activity in this area, despite all the doom and gloom. The low interest rates and the stimulus money for the first time buyers is helping!

twiggers · 03-02-2009, 12:26 PM

Thanks for the words of comfort jody! We just lowered today by 5K, we're hoping that helps to bring in some buyers! It's our first drop in price since we listed on 11/1....we didn't drop prior to this because we knew winter was just a bad time of year. So we'll see :-)

Irishangel29 · 03-19-2009, 01:13 PM

I am totally with you fallingwater! We have placed 4 bids. The first one took was a repo and took us like 10 days to finally get into and see, we placed a bid, I left the country and talked to my husband the next day and was told another bid was placed and they will only look at one bid at a time. The next house was also a ReO..we placed a bid for 121,ooo (asking was 129,900) and the bank took the cash bid of 120,000 (this one still hurts). The next two we honestly lowballed b/c they have been on the market for 5+ months, and one was empty. They countered on one but could only go 2000 less (they had only bought the home 18 months earlier)..the other house received an offer the exact same morning as ours!!! What are the chances??? We are going in for yet another bid. This is an "estate" they are asking 129,900....do you think 105000 is too low to start..we'd be happy ending up with it around 115000 b/c there is some work that needs to be done.

fallingwater · 03-19-2009, 01:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Irishangel29

I am totally with you fallingwater! We have placed 4 bids. The first one took was a repo and took us like 10 days to finally get into and see, we placed a bid, I left the country and talked to my husband the next day and was told another bid was placed and they will only look at one bid at a time. The next house was also a ReO..we placed a bid for 121,ooo (asking was 129,900) and the bank took the cash bid of 120,000 (this one still hurts). The next two we honestly lowballed b/c they have been on the market for 5+ months, and one was empty. They countered on one but could only go 2000 less (they had only bought the home 18 months earlier)..the other house received an offer the exact same morning as ours!!! What are the chances??? We are going in for yet another bid. This is an "estate" they are asking 129,900....do you think 105000 is too low to start..we'd be happy ending up with it around 115000 b/c there is some work that needs to be done.

I used to be quite savvy with real estate yrs ago. Now, I dont know if IM coming or going. REO's are a big problem from where Im from so I was bit surprised that the REO's here are not bargaining. Back home, it was expected offers would be at least 20% lower than asking. We put an offer on a REO here and gave them exactly what they were asking. They countered back and said "What's your best best offer?" We were pissed and said that was it and walked away. I hate games. Talk to your realtor. 105k might offend but who knows. I cant make sense of anything here.

Good Luck!

winters816 · 03-20-2009, 05:18 AM

Hi I have made many bids on banked owned homes. Your bid was probobly fine, they always come back and ask you to make sure it is your best offer, it is a tactic. I hope you still put in your offer. You need to make sure you work with an agent who has experience in making banked owned offers, it makes a HUGE diff. I have been investing in real estate for many years and the best advice I can give you is if your not embarassed by your first offer then your not offering low enough. Keep trying it will happen!! There is no limit on the number of offers you can make if you feel your agent is not comfortable then shop for a new agent they get paid to work for you. Legally, you can ask to be present at time the offer is made, and if you have a timid agent then do that! These steps can save you thousands! Good luck!