Frustrated by Eastside Real Estate Market! (Sammamish, Issaquah: houses, neighborhood, schools)

[RVD90277]

i know we're in the seattle forum but just for reference...i just got back from a business trip to NYC. i stayed at a friend's house. 2 bedroom 1700 sq ft apartment near columbus circle. i kid you not...$9500/month in rent. he said that he had the option to buy for $3.5m. this place would be $3k tops in downtown Seattle or Bellevue. it isn't even that nice...older building, small lobby, etc.

yeah the salaries are a little higher over there but not that much higher...

anyway, good luck out there. prices are already pretty high.

[Ira500]

Originally Posted by RVD90277

i know we're in the seattle forum but just for reference...i just got back from a business trip to NYC. i stayed at a friend's house. 2 bedroom 1700 sq ft apartment near columbus circle. i kid you not...$9500/month in rent. he said that he had the option to buy for $3.5m. this place would be $3k tops in downtown Seattle or Bellevue. it isn't even that nice...older building, small lobby, etc.

yeah the salaries are a little higher over there but not that much higher...

anyway, good luck out there. prices are already pretty high.

Yikes! My college roommate lives in a 3 bedroom 1700 sq ft apartment with his wife and daughter in Harlem, that he claims is a fantastic bargain for 4000 per month. Maybe it is?

[Garfunkle524]

Originally Posted by sfkane

We did not get the house- though I expect that we outbid them. The listing agent told our agent that the other offer was "structured better". What can that mean?

We're closing in about a week on an eastside home. We paid above asking price but not by much. We weren't the highest bidder. So why did we win? Our real estate broker put our mortgage broker in touch with the seller's agent. Our mortgage broker explained to the seller's agent that we had more than 20% to put down, we were extremely organized and responsive, and that our income qualified us well above what we were actually spending.

And voila! We won despite being outbid. Sellers and their agents want a stress-free close more than anything. Financing is such a huge part of the process that if the financial institution is willing to brag about their ultra-qualified clients, that's a huge huge plus. If the financing looks in the least bit sketchy, it's not worth the risk when there's a rock-solid alternative.

Originally Posted by Hemlock140

There are currently two homes for sale in our neighborhood (Sammamish). One is 3,000 sf built in 1979, listed for $614k and has been on the market 2 months, so they are not all selling fast over asking. Another is smaller, 1674 sf at only $479k and has been on the market only a week, but had the first open house today so we'll see how fast it goes.

We looked hard in Sammamish. I bet that house under 500k goes quick. Anything under half a million up there was getting snatched up the first weekend on the market. It seemed like it was more about the price range than the quality of the house. That was just our experience though.

[SouthSeasLifestyler]

Originally Posted by sfkane

Yikes- that scares me. We have 60 days of temporary housing within which to find something. Being homeless would not be cool.

We managed - but only by the skin of our teeth! We were looking at houses 48 hours off the plane and basically had no social lives for the next 8 weekends going to open homes in just about every area on the Eastside ... but we did it! Check if there is an option to extend the temporary housing - we needed an extra 10 days at the end, and it was very useful not to have to scramble from temp housing to temp housing.

OP - yeah, some people are waiving all contingencies - one offer we bid against waived the building (our building inspector found rotting subfloors in that house!) so, though it might be frustrating to lose out to such "well-structured" offers, they bear a terribly great risk and in the long run may have more regrets than you. However, having bid and lost too, I know what an emotional rollercoaster it can be, you have my sympathies!

[GoBlueInSeattle]

Originally Posted by sfkane

This is mainly a vent. We put an offer on a house last week- in Issaquah off of May Valley Road. We had a pre-inspection, an escalation clause that went well over asking price, we were putting at least 30% down, and there was only 1 other offer. We did not get the house- though I expect that we outbid them. The listing agent told our agent that the other offer was "structured better". What can that mean? The only thing that we can think of was that there was this new box that you could check to waive your rights to do anything if the appraisal came back below the agreed price. We did not check the box (because we think that's crazy). Ideas?

Did you get a mortgage pre-approval through a lender? They are NOT the be-all to end all, but if you have a good mortgage broker and you are thorough on what you provide your mortgage broker & they pull your credit so that your loan application file is essentially complete except for an appraisal, it can be worth it. We were comfortable we did a thorough job on our application, we carefully reviewed our credit reports from all THREE credit reporting companies and it allowed us to waive our financing contingency with the exception of the appraisal. It also allowed us to shorten our escrow period on the offer by a week. There were 6 bids on our house, 3 of which matched us on price and some which were more cash down (none were 100% cash). We had the least amount of cash down, but we won on the basis of the shorter closing and having our financing lined up with the ability to order our appraisal the da. (Our broker included all our mortgage application materials in the offer package.)

I think our other piece was working with an experienced broker. She had plenty of gray hairs and has been in the business for several decades with a reputable firm well known in the Seattle market. One of the brokers at her firm knew the seller's broker personally. None of this Redfin stuff or some piece of eye candy fresh out of college with no network.

[Yakscsd]

Originally Posted by sfkane

Being homeless would not be cool.

You are right. Imagine how the people who are actually homeless feel?

[sfkane]

^sorry. Didn't mean to offend.

[sfkane]

We had a pre-approval letter for a mortgage. We are now actually going through the underwriting process so that we can do quick closes in the future.

[Kayela]

We had a pre-approval letter for a mortgage. We are now actually going through the underwriting process so that we can do quick closes in the future.

Quite frankly no one would have considered an offer without that. Our mortgage broker was personally in touch with the seller's agent, and had written us a strong letter of approval (after we'd gone through as much of the approval process as possible). You really have to be on top of your financing. One of the things we brought to the table was a quick close. However - we were competing with lots of well-qualified buyers, so that was considered to be a given.

We went through a couple of brokers for national firms who did not seem to get this. Finally we appealed to out agent, who hooked us up with a local broker who really came through, and very much understood what it took to compete in the current market.

[sfkane]

Thanks- I will definitely ask my agent about that.