The Home Ownership Thread

[aravenel]



Where do you live? That's crazy, must be an insane sellers market for that type of situation to exist.

Seriously...

 

[Piobaire]



Put a bid on a house. 20k over asking, waive appraisal contingency, as-is addendum. Still didn't win... feels bad man

That is crazy. You buying cash?

 

[Thomas]



Put a bid on a house. 20k over asking, waive appraisal contingency, as-is addendum. Still didn't win... feels bad man

HOLY COW.

 

[VLSI]

Phoenix area.

That is crazy. You buying cash?

I wish.

 

[Piobaire]

In those markets that were hit by the crash hard, and now are bouncing back fast, banks are being very cagey with appraisals. You might be putting your earnest money at risk if you are waiving appraisal contingency. Be careful!

 

[VLSI]

I know it but I have to be competitive I can bring some extra cash to the table if it were to appraise low though. There were 15 bids in this house in 2 days.

 

[Ataturk]

Hail turned my car into a golf ball and tore up the roof on my house...

...my old house, which has a contract on it.

SOB.

Buyer wants a new roof, doubt the insurance will pay for it, since only one face of the roof seems to have really gotten it, but if they do, do I want to sell them the house with a new roof for the previously agreed purchase price?

 

[RedLantern]



Where do you live? That's crazy, must be an insane sellers market for that type of situation to exist.

Stuff like that is happening in Seattle. Just super, super low inventory. Premium listings - stuff that is in a good area with good squarefootage/floorpan and either remodeled or just needs updating, is going at an insane premium. A lot of times those type of properties aren't even soliciting normal offers, basically holding a silent auction where they receive and review all offers at a specific time/date - of course they are not obligated to accept the offers, just seems like it makes it even more competitive.

 

[Piobaire]



I know it but I have to be competitive I can bring some extra cash to the table if it were to appraise low though. There were 15 bids in this house in 2 days.

Wow. Back to pre-07 days.

 

[aravenel]

That is insane. Kinda scares me for when I will be in the market to buy a house in a couple of years.

 

[VLSI]

Current growth isn't sustainable, but I feel the market is still depressed from where it "should" be after the crash. Not all houses are like this, just the good ones. But obviously I want a good house and not a money pit.

 

[otc]



Stuff like that is happening in Seattle. Just super, super low inventory. Premium listings - stuff that is in a good area with good squarefootage/floorpan and either remodeled or just needs updating, is going at an insane premium. A lot of times those type of properties aren't even soliciting normal offers, basically holding a silent auction where they receive and review all offers at a specific time/date - of course they are not obligated to accept the offers, just seems like it makes it even more competitive.

I would guess its a lot of younger first time buyers. People a little older than me who weathered the storm without issue. Got a job out of school, and kept it. Didn't feel the losses in 2008 because they didn't have any significant market exposure. 2-3 years of working doesn't put much in the market, especially if you were one of the people who put off figuring out investing and just had a bunch of money in CDs and high yield savings accounts that were paying 5% at the time. Who cares if you lost half of the 35k you had in a 401k...you've got that all back now.

They want the places with a nice floorplan and they don't want something that needs serious work. The people who own the places now (and didn't lose them) are probably still barely floating and really want to come out ahead on their sale.

 

[RedLantern]



That is insane. Kinda scares me for when I will be in the market to buy a house in a couple of years.

Current growth isn't sustainable, but I feel the market is still depressed from where it "should" be after the crash. Not all houses are like this, just the good ones. But obviously I want a good house and not a money pit.

I'm pretty much in the same boat - started looking at houses a little more than a year ago, but wasn't in a position to buy. My fiancé and I had just signed a year long lease and I was about to propose, so I knew we would have a wedding to pay for etc. Went through a period in the fall where we felt close to buying something, but I just realized we missed the opportunity to get a screaming deal on something, so there's no rush now. Probably going to stay in our apartment for another year or so, continue saving, wait for the market to sort out (backlog of buyers, inventory to increase as people come out from underwater and are more willing to sell). Hopefully in another year we will have more cash and more inventory to choose from.

 

[landshark]

I'm in real estate, and all of my listings receive offers in less than 2 weeks (usually multiple) and within 5% of asking price. The last few have also been cash offers (between $125-$400K).

On the other side, most of my buyers end up in multiple offer situations and don't always get their contract accepted.

For business, I am glad that it's this active. Long term, I am pretty concerned. There is a huge boom right now, they are building 10 new buildings in downtown Austin this year alone. The development in the surrounding neighborhoods and areas is exponential.

I just hope it doesn't fall apart too quickly and just slows to a regular pace when it starts to cool off.

 

[Joffrey]



Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

Didn't feel like creating a renting thread, so thought I'd ask here. My landlord is renovating the kitchen in my apartment over the next few weeks and is offering a $15 credit for every day the contractor is working here. Is that enough? Just curious. Though I'm not renewing my lease, I would appreciate the nicer digs. However, having a bunch of tools and supplies crammed in the apartment as the work goes on is gonna be annoying

.

Learned from contractor (who will be starting 4 days late) and it looks like I won't have access to the kitchen and half of my livingroom will be unusable due to storing tools, supplies and my kitchen utensils. The fridge will be plugged in the living room. I won't have any stove or sink to use. All of this for 2 weeks. I got back to landlord thinking the $15/credit was a joke given I'll be eating out every day (I usually cook) and I'll be losing functionality of 1/4 of the living space. Without suggesting a new credit, she offered $47.50 for every day construction is taking place. Feels good to get a deal.