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Never heard back. It was an okay house, far from perfect. I could've made it work with some time and money. I'm over it. Will be pursuing other options.
Have you reconsidered working with a buyers agent? Or are you just responding to listings you see online?
One advantage to a buyers agent --- Many times they can find what you want in terms of what kind of house you want in your price range. However said house could be in a town you never considered before.
When we were first time home buyers, we worked with an agent who, although recommended to us, turned out to not be good. The second one got us to check out a nearby town---a town we never considered before. It was where we ended up buying. When it was time to trade up, we ended up staying in the same town.
Sometimes buyers agents know about a house that is about to hit the market that may be a good fit for you. With that kind of knowledge, they can be sure to get you in there for a look ASAP. We've occasionally gotten postcards from agents saying they have a buyer who would like to buy in our neighborhood. If interested in selling, let them know.
IIRC, you live on LI? I know houses, especially if they are near an LIRR station get snapped up quickly. From the time my brother and SIL bought their house 30 years ago, they always knew that if they ever wanted to sell, no matter what the market, it would be snapped up quickly. They are in a good town and an easy walk to the LIRR station.
Bottom line... OP is mad that the seller purchased the house super cheap and now is selling it at a premium. The OP wants it, but doesn’t want to pay the current price. Am I right? I suppose if the OP was faster then they might have been able to buy it cheaper. You snooze, you lose. Now if you want it you have to pay the premium. If not, then go buy another house. This is how real estate works!
Have you reconsidered working with a buyers agent? Or are you just responding to listings you see online?...
It was somewhere in the middle but she decided she doesn't want a buyer agent because (her words in summation, not mine)
1-Buyers agents won't look out for her best interests
2-buyer agents aren't knowledgable
3-listing agents will give her better attention and get her a better deal because they don't have to share the commission
4-she can find homes on her own and isn't in a rush
Yes, I checked the recently sold list. Homes that sold for mid-400K in the same neighborhood have 2 bathrooms and 2 usually levels (or at least a cape). So it does seem a bit aggressively priced. But at the end of the day, regardless of what a builder thinks market value should be, homes are only worth what buyers are willing to pay. I'm not interested in paying more than $430 for a one story, 1 bath home.
Always better to rent in an area that you want to buy in first, get to know the neighborhood and the inside scoop, then buy. Way better.
Yup, it wasn't insulting saying people here were just out to take advantage of naive buyers. You won't even admit when you're rude but are sure quick to point at others. People were being helpful at first, but all you did was argue with them. You admitted you aren't experienced at buying houses, yet you seem to have the expertise to dismiss the opinions of others who have way more experience than you. Why even post your original subject when you won't listen to others? Apparently you knew the answer already and everyone else did not.
Thank you for pointing out the auto correct error on my iPad of "you're ". That just goes to show you don't have much of a leg to stand on when you start resorting to things like this.
So what should his profit have been? No one here said that you claimed he shouldn't profit from a flip, that's just you being defensive.
You implied it was outrageous that the price was 100k more. Why was it outrageous ? You don't know how much money he has into it or the circumstances so how do you know it was outrageous? What if he had to pay off liens against the house on top of the purchase price? You probably never even thought of that. Years ago I got a low price on a house but had to pay off a lien to close it. That never showed up on any reports as part of the cost I paid for the house.
What if he had 99k more than the purchase price into it, is 100k still outrageous?
The fact is you don't know his true costs and his profit margin. You still judged his 100k to be outrageous even though you don't have all the facts. That's the whole subject of your post.
It doesn't matter that people here gave you valid possibilities why it could be 100k, you still argued with them anyways so why bother asking. Apparently you knew the answer yourself already.
No need to be sooo defensive. This isn't some poor downtrodden person who had the misfortune of acquiring a bad property. This was someone who tried a business endeavor for the sole purpose of making as much money in as little time possible. Lamenting the woes of his closing costs and liens aren't really doing much to eek pity out of me.
A novice beginning a real estate search making assumptions about an MLS listing that you believe is a "flip-job" that isn't "worth" the money or "fair" because of when and what the seller bought it for, is analogous (akin) to joining City Data and within a couple of months being confident in telling experienced members off and choosing to debate your perception of what a COMP is and why they exist in the real estate market and on the Real Estate Forum.
Oh boy, here we go with chastising me for participating in a forum if I don't "truly understand" it and am not willing to bow down to the regulars. If you take issue with "just anyone" joining "your" forum, then either take it up with CD and their TOS. Or better yet, start your own club! Knowledgeable vets and submissive buyers only. Then you can drone on endlessly about how buyers should buy fast and high with few questions asked because "that's just how it is."
I think maybe you're frustrated mostly because you know I'm not an outlier. I'm a pretty typical buyer and that makes it a tad harder for you at times IRL (at least I hope that's why you're so passionate about this online debate, otherwise it's just weird)
Have you reconsidered working with a buyers agent? Or are you just responding to listings you see online?
One advantage to a buyers agent --- Many times they can find what you want in terms of what kind of house you want in your price range. However said house could be in a town you never considered before.
When we were first time home buyers, we worked with an agent who, although recommended to us, turned out to not be good. The second one got us to check out a nearby town---a town we never considered before. It was where we ended up buying. When it was time to trade up, we ended up staying in the same town.
Sometimes buyers agents know about a house that is about to hit the market that may be a good fit for you. With that kind of knowledge, they can be sure to get you in there for a look ASAP. We've occasionally gotten postcards from agents saying they have a buyer who would like to buy in our neighborhood. If interested in selling, let them know.
IIRC, you live on LI? I know houses, especially if they are near an LIRR station get snapped up quickly. From the time my brother and SIL bought their house 30 years ago, they always knew that if they ever wanted to sell, no matter what the market, it would be snapped up quickly. They are in a good town and an easy walk to the LIRR station.
So as the market gets tighter and tighter, yes it seems more likely we will be using an agent. Only because by the time things end up on Zillow, the good stuff is sold and only the garbage listings (like this flip) end up doing open houses. If it were a more neutral market, I stand behind my original preference of not needing a buyer's agent. However, in a low supply high demand area, they do have one value-- informing us of listings immediately.
"...but I think the margin of profit matters. A net of 20K is fair, but 90K for 10 days of work just seems over board to most people..."
I didn't mean a *net* of 90K in 10 days. I meant a 90K total profit in 10 days makes it hard to believe that all said and done, the profit would be reasonable.
So as the market gets tighter and tighter, yes it seems more likely we will be using an agent. Only because by the time things end up on Zillow, the good stuff is sold and only the garbage listings (like this flip) end up doing open houses. If it were a more neutral market, I stand behind my original preference of not needing a buyer's agent. However, in a low supply high demand area, they do have one value-- informing us of listings immediately.
"garbage listings".
"experienced".
You really don't know anything so it would be good to try and learn.
I browsed an open house w two condos and gave my feedback to the agent and left. The two properties she showed sold that month. In MY county open houses are VERY popular and successful because we are a FL beach tourist town and the community with the most retired CEOs in the COUNTRY. My HOA has a resident agent who's parents lived here since 1987 and her connections are phenomenal and she STILL has open houses because tourists and snow birds ARE BUYERS.
Two months later she called me and insisted I see a NEW LISTING that wasn't on MLS yet because she remembered me.
I bought it the next day. Cash.
I went to resell it 2 months later *OMG OMG OMG* and we threw it on the MLS right away. IT WASN'T A FLIP - I CONSIDERED MOVING FOR BUSINESS PURPOSES.
It was the BEST condo in the HOA and your statements just keep getting more extreme.
Repeating stuff you think you heard somewhere is not a good strategy.
These principles are as old as anyone can remember regardless of "the market".
I sold my mother's house in two days, too. in 1999! BECAUSE I KNEW AN AGENT WHO WOULD HAVE BUYERS OR OTHER AGENTS. But trust me, it would have sold just as quickly because it was one of only 3 ranch houses in a high end neighborhood. It sold for $650K back THEN.
And I made quite a few thousand dollars selling THE AGENTS her FURNITURE.
P.S. LOL you were advised to not rely on ZILLOW a couple hundred posts ago...yet here we are. People are trying to HELP YOU
Last edited by runswithscissors; 10-11-2017 at 06:01 PM..
This was in fact the very first response to the post. How this could ever be seen as anything other than a thorough and helpful post is beyond me.
Your first response was fine. In fact, all responses have been fine. People get testy when they feel their livelihood is being jeopardized (at least that's me giving some the benefit of the doubt, otherwise people are just testy in general ) However, going back to the beginning of the thread and sifting through, it becomes apparent early on that the thread became derailed rather quickly. My question was -- how do flippers overcome the price history issue. The answer I got from about half of you was "it's not an issue, buyers *shouldn't* care about that." Well I'm a buyer and I can assure you, some of us do. And if you scan these pages carefully, you can see about 40% of replies are people who agree with me. Just because they're less vocal than those who disagree with me doesn't mean they're less valid.
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Better to rent first
If you take issue with "just anyone" joining "your" forum, then either take it up with CD and their TOS. Or better yet, start your own club! Knowledgeable vets and submissive buyers only. Then you can drone on endlessly about how buyers should buy fast and high with few questions asked because "that's just how it is."
) However, going back to the beginning of the thread and sifting through, it becomes apparent early on that the thread became derailed rather quickly. My question was -- how do flippers overcome the price history issue. The answer I got from about half of you was "it's not an issue, buyers *shouldn't* care about that." Well I'm a buyer and I can assure you, some of us do. And if you scan these pages carefully, you can see about 40% of replies are people who agree with me. Just because they're less vocal than those who disagree with me doesn't mean they're less valid.
