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Old 02-06-2021, 01:34 PM
 
Location: CENTRAL FLORIDA
232 posts, read 204,238 times
Reputation: 491

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We have been looking at homes in Sun City AZ for a few years. Bad timing I guess. We decided to make the move last October. We looked at house rentals first. They went fast and were very high rents. So we figured why not just buy a patio home or small house(float a small mortgage) and pay $600 a month compared to $1,500 a month for rent. (Some of the fees were ridiculous they wanted to add on) If we did'nt love the area we could sell after a few years. We were willing to buy just researching videos and google map pictures etc. Relatives in Flagstaff said they would go look if needed. Our home in FLorida is in a very desirable area and is ready to sell. (would sell in days)We held back listing it because we wanted a home to move in to (did not want to be homeless and we have pets) Good thing! Been told now by 3 realtors we realy have no chance putting in an offer with a contingency since these homes in our price range($200,000 and under) are being bought within days and mostly all cash offers. Can anyone prove this wrong from personal experience there in Sun City! Thanks for sharing.
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Old 02-06-2021, 02:57 PM
 
2,769 posts, read 5,692,115 times
Reputation: 5079
Quote:
Originally Posted by CLEOPATRAZEUS View Post
We have been looking at homes in Sun City AZ for a few years. Bad timing I guess. We decided to make the move last October. We looked at house rentals first. They went fast and were very high rents. So we figured why not just buy a patio home or small house(float a small mortgage) and pay $600 a month compared to $1,500 a month for rent. (Some of the fees were ridiculous they wanted to add on) If we did'nt love the area we could sell after a few years. We were willing to buy just researching videos and google map pictures etc. Relatives in Flagstaff said they would go look if needed. Our home in FLorida is in a very desirable area and is ready to sell. (would sell in days)We held back listing it because we wanted a home to move in to (did not want to be homeless and we have pets) Good thing! Been told now by 3 realtors we realy have no chance putting in an offer with a contingency since these homes in our price range($200,000 and under) are being bought within days and mostly all cash offers. Can anyone prove this wrong from personal experience there in Sun City! Thanks for sharing.
What's the contingency?
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Old 02-06-2021, 06:31 PM
 
29 posts, read 23,680 times
Reputation: 79
Yes, timing is tricky for sure, as prices continue the upward climb. And while having an offer that is contingent upon selling your home is not ideal in this market, you never know until you try. What worked for us was to find a home that had something about it that other buyers might consider undesirable, had sat on the market for longer than the norm. Something that we are willing to put the money in to update/fix, but other buyers might not be. Look for homes that have recently price dropped - not homes that are newly listed. A recent price drop can indicate a willingness for further negotiation. Realtor.com has a feature where you can search an area, then sort by "Recently Reduced" or "Newest Listings". We found this very helpful when working with our Realtor - we found what we wanted and he looked it up on the MLS.

All of this assumes you can find a realtor willing to put in the time/effort on your behalf, since writing contracts takes time. They do need to feel it will be worth the effort expended. Ours was able to get the deal done with contributions from the seller for closing costs. Have you thought about expanding the search to Westbrook Village and Ventana Lakes? Really nice areas. Westbrook has a lot of comparable amenities to Sun City, and some very nice patio homes do pop up occasionally for under 200k. Like you said though, they are gone in a blink. Also, you likely have done quite a bit of research on Sun City. There are some great areas, but be careful of the stretch right off of Grand Avenue from El Mirage through the 101. Higher crime rates there. Only mentioning it since you are speaking of buying sight unseen. Wishing you well in the search.
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Old 02-06-2021, 07:18 PM
 
Location: CENTRAL FLORIDA
232 posts, read 204,238 times
Reputation: 491
Quote:
Originally Posted by Burning Madolf View Post
What's the contingency?
The contingency is upon selling our house> We have a pre-approval for financing and forwarded a letter explaining the average time a house sells in our area. It is even faster then in Sun City. St Petersburg has no land left so people are buying the smaller homes in my area and tearing them down. A wonderful park and boat dock a block away. Younger professionals have replaced the older generation in the 25 years we have been here.
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Old 02-06-2021, 07:24 PM
 
Location: CENTRAL FLORIDA
232 posts, read 204,238 times
Reputation: 491
Quote:
Originally Posted by aznative94 View Post
Yes, timing is tricky for sure, as prices continue the upward climb. And while having an offer that is contingent upon selling your home is not ideal in this market, you never know until you try. What worked for us was to find a home that had something about it that other buyers might consider undesirable, had sat on the market for longer than the norm. Something that we are willing to put the money in to update/fix, but other buyers might not be. Look for homes that have recently price dropped - not homes that are newly listed. A recent price drop can indicate a willingness for further negotiation. Realtor.com has a feature where you can search an area, then sort by "Recently Reduced" or "Newest Listings". We found this very helpful when working with our Realtor - we found what we wanted and he looked it up on the MLS.

All of this assumes you can find a realtor willing to put in the time/effort on your behalf, since writing contracts takes time. They do need to feel it will be worth the effort expended. Ours was able to get the deal done with contributions from the seller for closing costs. Have you thought about expanding the search to Westbrook Village and Ventana Lakes? Really nice areas. Westbrook has a lot of comparable amenities to Sun City, and some very nice patio homes do pop up occasionally for under 200k. Like you said though, they are gone in a blink. Also, you likely have done quite a bit of research on Sun City. There are some great areas, but be careful of the stretch right off of Grand Avenue from El Mirage through the 101. Higher crime rates there. Only mentioning it since you are speaking of buying sight unseen. Wishing you well in the search.
I have been warned about a certain area near Aqua Fria River I think and a section near Grand Ave. We have considered looking at properties that may need some remodeling. I will look at those areas you mentioned. If all else fails>>> We just stay in Florida longer or until the market stops being crazy.>>My children will just have to wait for us to get there>>.
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Old 02-06-2021, 07:45 PM
 
9,681 posts, read 11,052,868 times
Reputation: 8403
Quote:
Originally Posted by CLEOPATRAZEUS View Post
The contingency is upon selling our house> We have a pre-approval for financing and forwarded a letter explaining the average time a house sells in our area. It is even faster then in Sun City. St Petersburg has no land left so people are buying the smaller homes in my area and tearing them down. A wonderful park and boat dock a block away. Younger professionals have replaced the older generation in the 25 years we have been here.
When we sold our house, we refused a contingency. 0.0% chance of me accepting a contingency offer when we had 5 offers inside of a couple of days. This is typical in today's market. That forced our buyers to borrow money because they didn't list their house for sale before they made an offer. Our agent asked and expected proof of funds. Then, she called their mortgage company to get a strong idea of how financially sound they were. They were. My point is, people can and are picky in this market.

For the home I was buying, I wasn't liquid to pay cash for this new home until I sold my other home. I was $200K short of paying off the new home and not closing on ours. The seller would not take my contingency offer. He wanted cash-in-hand. Why should they take my offer if I had to sell mine 1st? It's a RED hot market. Solution: I put $30K down NON-REFUNDABLE and a 40 day close. for a buffer, I asked for a clause where I added in 30 MORE days (a total of 70 days) and agreed to pay $10K more for the house if I could not execute inside of 30 days. Then, I rand as fast as I could to a mortgage company. I applied for a 1st mortgage on my MN home to make up the $200K difference. Normally, that would be an expensive loan because I would have to pay the closing costs. To keep it reasonable, I bought the rate UP. Meaning, the mortgage company paid for all of the fees and I accepted a higher interest rate (which is buying the rate UP: not down. In fact, the guy who bought MY house should have done this but he didn't. I digress...

I closed on my new AZ property within 40 days so I didn't need the mortgage (but it was a pain to fill out all of the loan applications). I was out a total of $700 for my MN home appraisal. That was cheap insurance.

The moral of the story is that you have to think outside the box. The guy who I bought from would have LOVED for me to default. Because he would have kept my $30K so I was actually the preferred offer.

If I was in your shoes, I would sell your FL place and put in place a 3-month rent back. Now you have CASH, aren't kicked out of your home with a PITA double move, etc. Cash is king! Especially in a retirement community where a lot of people pay cash.

Good luck with your move!

Last edited by MN-Born-n-Raised; 02-06-2021 at 07:55 PM..
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Old 02-07-2021, 09:28 AM
 
Location: Phoenix Metro Area
720 posts, read 727,320 times
Reputation: 860
You have many options aside from buying with contingent -you can do a bridge loan or better I believe Knock is also in Florida so if your house qualifies you don't need to sell it first before buying and you won't need to carry 2 mortgages - they front you the money to buy and it would be as good as a cash offer - lot more detail than to put here - for 1.25% of sales price it is well worth it - especially in this market - it may work out for you - they have certain criteria of what homes they can support - for instance, higher price (usually take a longer time to sell) and therefore may not qualify. I'll PM you the details.

PS-I just sold a home with contingent so it's still possible - so maybe your realtor can find an off-market property for you where not a lot of buyers are knocking down their doors!
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Old 02-07-2021, 10:02 AM
 
Location: CENTRAL FLORIDA
232 posts, read 204,238 times
Reputation: 491
Quote:
Originally Posted by MN-Born-n-Raised View Post
When we sold our house, we refused a contingency. 0.0% chance of me accepting a contingency offer when we had 5 offers inside of a couple of days. This is typical in today's market. That forced our buyers to borrow money because they didn't list their house for sale before they made an offer. Our agent asked and expected proof of funds. Then, she called their mortgage company to get a strong idea of how financially sound they were. They were. My point is, people can and are picky in this market.

r.

If I was in your shoes, I would sell your FL place and put in place a 3-month rent back. Now you have CASH, aren't kicked out of your home with a PITA double move, etc. Cash is king! Especially in a retirement community where a lot of people pay cash.

Good luck with your move!
We did mention a lease back with our realtor. She did not think many people would go for it unless it was an investor. Our house is not rip down material just for the land. But this may be the solution if people want to get in our area bad enough (and they do). Would being pre-approved for a small mortgage still be considered a cash offer? We are looking to putting 50% down up to a $200,000 property. We have pre approval letter. I did look on realtor.com for reduced properties and I found a lot seem to be reduced because the HOA fees on the patio homes were very expensive. Some cover a lot of things and we would be willing to pay it. I know snowbirds who buy properties in Sun City probably bypass those high HOA fees listings. One realtor told me to be aware of the ones with all grass since the fees are higher to water and if the residents do not vote to raise the HOAS in the future to cover watering then you may have dead grass and hope that gravel replacement is in their budget. Thanks for everyones ideas and I welcome PM.

Case in hand why we do not sell first and wing it>> My friends daughter in a suburb of Chicago decided to sell their home first since they thought what looked like a decent inventory of properties>>>WRONG<<< They over bid on 3 properties and lost and now have to move in with their Mother with 2 kids>>If we were a young couple with just a cat and laptops then it would be different>>
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Old 02-07-2021, 10:38 AM
 
Location: az
13,375 posts, read 7,750,962 times
Reputation: 9279
Quote:
Originally Posted by CLEOPATRAZEUS View Post
We did mention a lease back with our realtor. She did not think many people would go for it unless it was an investor. Our house is not rip down material just for the land. But this may be the solution if people want to get in our area bad enough (and they do). Would being pre-approved for a small mortgage still be considered a cash offer? We are looking to putting 50% down up to a $200,000 property. We have pre approval letter. I did look on realtor.com for reduced properties and I found a lot seem to be reduced because the HOA fees on the patio homes were very expensive. Some cover a lot of things and we would be willing to pay it. I know snowbirds who buy properties in Sun City probably bypass those high HOA fees listings. One realtor told me to be aware of the ones with all grass since the fees are higher to water and if the residents do not vote to raise the HOAS in the future to cover watering then you may have dead grass and hope that gravel replacement is in their budget. Thanks for everyones ideas and I welcome PM.

Case in hand why we do not sell first and wing it>> My friends daughter in a suburb of Chicago decided to sell their home first since they thought what looked like a decent inventory of properties>>>WRONG<<< They over bid on 3 properties and lost and now have to move in with their Mother with 2 kids>>If we were a young couple with just a cat and laptops then it would be different>>

We did mention a lease back with our realtor. She did not think many people would go for it unless it was an investor. Our house is not rip down material just for the land. But this may be the solution if people want to get in our area bad enough (and they do).

I guess you can wait to see if your area gets hot enough that buyers will agree to rent the home to you for a few months after the sale is complete.

Would being pre-approved for a small mortgage still be considered a cash offer? We are looking to putting 50% down up to a $200,000 property. We have pre approval letter.

As a seller that would very acceptable to me assuming there were no other contingency outside of an inspection. If it's a sellers market there's no reason for an owner to accept a contingency based on the buyer selling their home. On the other hand if you put 100 grand down and put in writing the owner gets to keep half if you can't close in 45 days this might get their attention.

Personally, I would go with the cleanest sale. This is my asking price and if we come to an agreement the house is yours. I'm not waiting for a buyer to sell their home.

Last edited by john3232; 02-07-2021 at 11:07 AM..
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Old 02-08-2021, 04:52 PM
 
Location: Az
52 posts, read 45,632 times
Reputation: 166
This market is very hot right now, with very tight supply. We bought in October. Contingencies would take most offers out of consideration. Also, FYI, you need to understand what you are buying in Sun City. Some of the older ones were built with aluminum wiring, and I would want nothing to do with that. (We bought in Sun City West, for a number of reasons.)

We took a two step approach to finding a place here in Arizona. Step 1- we bought a park model. This gave us a base of operation. They are cheap to buy, but the resort fees (aka lot rent) are significant. Where we were was about $550 per month for the lot plus then you have water, electricity, etc. But only ~25k to buy one.

Step 2- we researched the market. We knew what we wanted when we got serious about buying, and pounced on one when it showed up. We were able to sell the park model easily. (Buy it right, and price it right, and you can get it sold. But- you are running out of the season for selling park models.)

You can rent a park model for around $1000 per month, maybe less, in the off months. There will also be off-season rentals in Sun City or Sun City West with decent rates during the summer. It is beastly hot here during the summer, so you might want to consider selling your place in Florida, renting an RV, and seeing the sites. I can share our findings about house hunting in Sun City West if you are interested. We also worked with a very knowledgeable realtor, who was a hoot. Shoot me a DM if you are interested in anything.
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