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The house i'm selling just went under contract. Its an old house from the 1950s. I'm sure the buyer could ask for $15,000 or more but I'm not going to give any kind of credit like that. There's always going to be things that 'need' to be fixed on an older house. New roof alone would be what , $10,000? Someone could say the house needs a new roof, new plumbing, new this and that. Everything works..but it's not new. I have multiple offers so if this buyer tries that i'm just going to say ..next.
Right now it's a seller's market so I wouldn't expect much flexibility and wouldn't expect to be able to buy a home right away. Some of these houses in L.A I hear about dozens of offers. I don't know exactly how many offers were submitted on my home but I know it was more than a few. Of course went with the best one.
Why would a seller negotiate if they don't have to? Everyone wants to get the most they can get and an extra $6,000 or whatever might seem small versus the cost of a house but its still $6,000 less in the seller's pocket.
For future reference... buy the new home first.
Move, get settled in then clean/freshen and stage the old home for sale.
Yes, because everybody can afford two mortgages or just pull money out of thin air for the down payment on the new house.
We made that mistake - ONCE. In 2007-8. Paid double mortgages for more months than I care to admit. Next time - we sold our house first, then rented. All the way across the country. That was WAY less stressful than the double mortgages - but I admit our bar bill was higher because we hated being in the apartment.
We're in a time crunch. We sold our house (in 7 days!) and want to buy in a specific area. Unfortunately, we're either too late or sellers are asking way too much.
We just had the appraisal on our house we're selling and closing is scheduled for June 29th. We had a house to buy but when the inspection was done, it turned out to be too many issues that we would have had to fork out of our pocket. The seller was asking too much to begin with and we offered $10,000 under and they accepted, but after the inspection, we would have had to reinvest $15,000-$18,000 into it. We backed away and cancelled the contract.
So, we were on the hunt for another house and the listings have been scarce in the area we want. We found a house that is smaller than what we want, but it has been updated with several things, including the kitchen and a new roof 3 years ago.
We made an offer $6,000 under asking because of the price per square foot in that area is only around $90 and they are asking $104. They rejected our offer, so we offered full price. We know the appraisal won't come in any way near what they are asking. What to do then??? We have no idea. Walk away...again??
I don't understand the mentality of people that won't negotiate. I realize everyone wants to make a profit, but it seems to me that you can either be stubborn and hold firm to your price or you can negotiate and sell and move on.
Am I wrong in my way of thinking?
I had this situation last October. Our house sold the 1st day so we were really scrambling to find a new one, 1200 miles away! We made an offer on a house that was accepted but it appraised $7000 under the sellers asking price. She refused to lower her price so I was left to pony up 7k or find a new house. Being under an extreme time crunch I basically overpaid for my house. I didn't know what else to do! I really wanted to tell her to shove it, but that wasn't going to get me in the house either.
Hope your situation turns out better!
For future reference... buy the new home first.
Move, get settled in then clean/freshen and stage the old home for sale.
Not really an option for a lot of people. The proceeds from the old house are usually needed to purchase the new house. And then there is the matter of carrying two mortgages, which means you probably won't even qualify for the new mortgage. Also, a lot of people are moving to a new location. Pretty hard to sell the old house when the new one is several thousand miles away. The two times I was between houses, I rented.
There are some cities in my area where houses are selling immediately for over asking and the appraisals are coming in a good 10-15% under what ASKING was. If you don't have cash, or at least about 30% or more of the purchase price, you are not going to get a house in those communities. One of my coworkers finally gave up and renewed her lease because she is outbid, or on the two occasions she went under contract, the appraisal comes in too low and she doesn't have enough cash to make up the difference. Sellers are not budging at all.
Unfortunately for you, sellers have the upper hand in the majority of the country right now. You will likely either have to compromise on something (location, size, etc...) or rent until the market loosens up.
Was not an option for us to slap money we didn't have down on another house before selling ours. I guess we'll just have to over-pay if that's what happens. We don't have much choice.
BTW...the title company just contacted us that they have documents for us to sign for the sale of our house. Called them and had to leave a message (lunch hour). I'm wondering if the appraisal from yesterday has been submitted and approved by buyer. We haven't heard anything and according to the contract the buyer has 5 days to respond. Curious what documents the title company would have. All this waiting drives me nuts...haha.
There are some cities in my area where houses are selling immediately for over asking and the appraisals are coming in a good 10-15% under what ASKING was. If you don't have cash, or at least about 30% or more of the purchase price, you are not going to get a house in those communities. One of my coworkers finally gave up and renewed her lease because she is outbid, or on the two occasions she went under contract, the appraisal comes in too low and she doesn't have enough cash to make up the difference. Sellers are not budging at all.
Unfortunately for you, sellers have the upper hand in the majority of the country right now. You will likely either have to compromise on something (location, size, etc...) or rent until the market loosens up.
Actually, it's cash buyers and buyers with large bank accounts that can afford to make up the difference between appraisal and selling price that have the upper hand. If it wasn't for them, sellers would have to lower their price.
They probably won't negotiate because they need a certain amount in order to move to their desired area. If they can't get a certain amount, maybe they plan on not selling.
We're in a time crunch. We sold our house (in 7 days!) and want to buy in a specific area. Unfortunately, we're either too late or sellers are asking way too much.
We just had the appraisal on our house we're selling and closing is scheduled for June 29th. We had a house to buy but when the inspection was done, it turned out to be too many issues that we would have had to fork out of our pocket. The seller was asking too much to begin with and we offered $10,000 under and they accepted, but after the inspection, we would have had to reinvest $15,000-$18,000 into it. We backed away and cancelled the contract.
So, we were on the hunt for another house and the listings have been scarce in the area we want. We found a house that is smaller than what we want, but it has been updated with several things, including the kitchen and a new roof 3 years ago.
We made an offer $6,000 under asking because of the price per square foot in that area is only around $90 and they are asking $104. They rejected our offer, so we offered full price. We know the appraisal won't come in any way near what they are asking. What to do then??? We have no idea. Walk away...again??
I don't understand the mentality of people that won't negotiate. I realize everyone wants to make a profit, but it seems to me that you can either be stubborn and hold firm to your price or you can negotiate and sell and move on.
Am I wrong in my way of thinking?
You are trying to buy in what sounds like a hot market. That gives the seller the upper hand - why should they negotiate down their price if there are other buyers who want to buy at that price?
Not to mention that you are putting the cart before the horse by assuming it won't appraise. You were willing to pay the asking price, and they rejected an offer that was 6K lower, which most likely means they have other interested parties willing to pay full or close to asking. In my area, prices seem to be going up quickly enough to make my head spin but the deals are going through because the appraisers are keeping pace with these crazy market conditions.
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