Offer on a house this week.. help with offer strategy! (Tampa: for sale, real estate)

[angirocks]

I think we have found the right house. My only hesitation is it is in Valrico and my husband will be working on MacDill and I hate to have him driving so much every day, but he will be working nights so hopefully it won't be too bad. We have three more to see, but I love this house.

So here are some estimated facts and what I am thinking of offering.

List price $280
On the market: 70 days
Owners "motivated" but apparantly they want to buy a better house on the beach, so I am thinking that is not "too" motivated like if they were relocating or something.

We are thinking of offering $252000 (which would be around 10% lower than list) and asking the sellers to pay closing costs and points and leave the washer dryer which are really nice front load LG and are not listed in included appliances.

I assume they will counter this.

I have not heard what my realtor suggests we offer, this is just my gut idea.

What do you guys think?

[SLCPUNK]

It's important for the realtor to give you an idea of how the home is priced before you make your bid. Have you pulled comps to see how the home is priced? 252 could be steep for some homes in that area or a steal for others.

I think the drive will be easy, especially at night.

[kyle19125]

Hope your husband likes his car! What's the fascination with being far from MacDill? Does everyone who works at MacDill live in either Brandon or Valrico?

[angirocks]

Originally Posted by kyle19125

Hope your husband likes his car! What's the fascination with being far from MacDill? Does everyone who works at MacDill live in either Brandon or Valrico?

I would have loved to live right off macdill. There was nothing in our price range that was a nice enough home. Believe me we tried. And he does like his car and loves to drive. We lived 20 minutes from work in DC, but in traffic it was an hour. An hour of traffic when it should take you 20 minutes is far worse than an hour when it should take you an hour.

[angirocks]

Originally Posted by SLCPUNK

It's important for the realtor to give you an idea of how the home is priced before you make your bid. Have you pulled comps to see how the home is priced? 252 could be steep for some homes in that area or a steal for others.

We will of course take in consideration what our realtor says, I just like to plan ahead and get ideas and suggestions, etc.

How do I "pull comps" to see how the home is priced?

[rezfreak]

Originally Posted by kyle19125

Hope your husband likes his car! What's the fascination with being far from MacDill? Does everyone who works at MacDill live in either Brandon or Valrico?

Pretty much The area around macdill is a joke. We drove there to look at houses and i thought we were going to get shot or something. Its generally a military off base commonality that they go for the quieter suburbs, like brandon and valrico. This is my second base and was the same way as my last one.

Dont know if this factors into other people, but military is to call someone in to work, they call the closest one to the base usually. Or, if the base goes on weather watch, if you live close, you still have to go in sometimes - yet there was several times at our previous base that because we lived 30 mins away, we got the day off

[Pragmaticus]

Originally Posted by angirocks

We will of course take in consideration what our realtor says, I just like to plan ahead and get ideas and suggestions, etc.

How do I "pull comps" to see how the home is priced?

No offense but you sound a little bit not knowing what exactly that you're doing in the purchase of a life time (for many at least). And that is a recipe for desaster unless your realtor is on top of the things. Anyways, here is my suggestion to your OP.

1) It is impossible to know based on just a list price if a house is at "market" value (but remember market is what you are willing to pay and they are willing to accept). Your realtor will "pull comps", meaning look for similar houses that sold in recent months from the MLS that they have access with. If you want to try it for yourself there is a limitted access from realtors. com (Real Estate Listings & Homes For Sale). Type the address of the house and it will pull a map of sold and listings on the place that you are trying to buy. Don't base your decision on what's listed because some people can't sell below a certain amount or some trying to make a killing even now.

2) Based on price comparison of the area and with some adjuctment, say, for the condidtion of the house, size, if there is smwiming pool and so on you and your realtor would come up with a figure that is appropriate to YOU not just some random number. What's closed (houses that sold in the neighborhood) will normally set a SILL (not a price FLOOR because we are in down market) for the neighborhood. And you go from there..

3) Also check on the sellers mortgage and at what price those people bought the house. This might be quite good negotiating tool.

4) If you do enough search on the values of the house on the area that you are interested, you will spot houses that are priced to sale in no time and jump on it. But that would take time.

Best of luck to you and be very careful.

[housingcrashsurvivor]

Realtor.com shows 32 homes for rent in Valrico averaging $1,400/month. Based on the prebubble year 2000 price to rent ratio of 12.4 for Tampa, the price of an average dwelling there would be about $208,320.

Here's a perfectly lovely 3/2 house you can rent for $1,350/month.

http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/1805-Staysail-Dr_Valrico_FL_33594_M58994-02950

And here's one in the same area asking $209k

http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/2009-Heartland-Circle_Valrico_FL_33594_M57643-48393

At a list price of $280k, here's one in Valrico http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/1609-Grand-Heritage-Boulevard_Valrico_FL_33594_M51278-28425

And here are the ones for rent in that area:

A 4/2.5 for $1700 (year 2000 p/r = $250k)

http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/1402-Emerald-Hill-Way_Valrico_FL_33594_M57655-14642

Another 4/2.5 for $1600/month (year 2000 p/r = $238k)

http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/2125-Valrico-Heights-Blvd_Valrico_FL_33594_M58009-30586

I do not know the individual house you are looking at, of course, or the character of its area, but according to what I see available on R.com, your price looks high.

Have yourself a look at what's been selling nearby. Look particularly at the cost per sq ft of heated space and base your offer upon that. Do not get emotional about the third garage door, some lighting fixtures or a swimming pool as all that at this point is just to get you to buy their house before somebody else's house sells. The value such items add to a product in this market is no longer equity, it is just expediency. Nothing you pay for, rather something you get paid for.

"You know how you get a year's supply of Omaha steaks every time you buy a Bentley?"~~Karen (Will & Grace)

PS

I did a study on Realtytrac.com which you can review here //www.city-data.com/forum/tampa...ures-area.html

It shows the 33594 zip of Valrico had 406 foreclosures back in March 2010. Rt.com shows 337 today, a 17% reduction. So based on that, your area of interest does appear to be on the mend.

[ilikepizza]

If you are going to offer that low then I wouldn't ask for closing costs and points paid as well. If you come in closer to asking price then it would be okay to ask for closing.

[BBI]

Originally Posted by angirocks

I think we have found the right house. ... List price $280 ... On the market: 70 days ... We are thinking of offering $252000 (which would be around 10% lower than list) and asking the sellers to pay closing costs and points and leave the washer dryer which are really nice front load LG and are not listed in included appliances. ... I assume they will counter this. ... I have not heard what my realtor suggests we offer, this is just my gut idea. ... What do you guys think?

Whether that offer is right really depends on the seller. Some good general questions are what the current owners paid for the house, when they bought it, how long it's been on the market, and what are similar houses in the neighborhood are selling for. FYI, all this info is on zillow.

For instance, just picking a random house for sale off zillow at your price in Valrico, I see 2803 Laurel Leaf Dr listed at $280,000. The current owners paid $62,000 for it in 2009. Do you think they'd take a $100,000 one-year profit? There's only one way to find out: offer $162,000. Or, less extreme, how about 5332 Twin Creeks Dr? It's listed for $285,000 but last sold in 2002 for about $188,000 and, before that, sold in 1999 for $185,000. Are houses in Valrico worth more more now than in 2002? If so, are they worth 30% more? (That's your $240,000-ish offer over $188,000). Offer around $200,000 (previous sale price plus 6% RE agent fees) and force the buyer to make that call. Worst case scenario, the buyer rejects you, and then you can (i) make a new offer or (ii) make a lowball offer on one of the 70 other properties listed for sale in Valrico between 250k and 300k.

One last thought, don't rely too much on your RE agent re price. Obviously ask for advice, but remember that they're salesmen who maximize their money by selling at the highest price you're willing to pay.