House buying help please!

sickboy

sickboy

Active Member
For any of you that have ever done this, any advice is VERY APPRECIATED!
Ok, so the wife & I found an awesome home and we want to put in an offer. We have an agent, and parents that are knowledgeable, but I thought the more advice the better.
So this house is listed at $148,500 and has new windows and doors. But, the upstairs carpet is bleach stained going down the hall from the bathroom, the drive way needs repaired, and whoever finished the basement did a horrible job at dry-walling that I will to fix. So we figured 3k for the driveway, 3k for the carpet (will need about 700 square feet, estimate), 500 for the dry wall.
Would 138,000 including the fridge, wash/dryer, and seller pays closing cost be a good INITIAL offer? We don't want the fridge, wash/dryer, they are just bargaining points. Is this too low? They bought it in '02 for 130K and the county has it appraised at 141,500.
 
darknes

darknes

Active Member
Worth a shot. Unless you know there's a lot of interest in it and you REALLY want it, you don't want them to accept your first offer.
 
crimzy

crimzy

Active Member
I think it's too high. If I were you I'd start in the $125K to $130K range. As a buyer you are in the catbird seat. Do you know how long the house has been on the market? Have the sellers moved out yet? These things can signify a desperate seller and these are where you find good opportunities in real estate.
 
t316

t316

Active Member
Your initial offer is too high. I would offer $125,000 (As Is), and go from there.
 
sickboy

sickboy

Active Member
Cool, that's what I thought! I said 130K or even lower, cuz what are they gonna do...say no.
It has had a second showing other than us, but no offers so far. The average in Omaha is 95% of listed price, or roughly 141K. So I thought starting at 138k was way too high, but I was listening to the "round abouts' of the "experts". But I'm not afraid of haggling or leaving the table. I got my last car for 9,100 after it was listed at 12,999 and I got up and left.
However, the market around here has been moving in the last couple weeks. We have had 7 houses we were interested in sell in the last week (out of about 25 homes).
Anyway, THANK YOU for your input!
 
sickboy

sickboy

Active Member
Originally Posted by crimzy
http:///forum/post/2978268
Do you know how long the house has been on the market? Have the sellers moved out yet?
I do not believe they would qualify as the "desperate" seller, but I could be wrong. It has been on the market for 2 months (one of the more recent to be put on market), and it appears they are still living there. We asked but the listing agent hadn't gotten back to our agent yet.
 
crimzy

crimzy

Active Member
Originally Posted by sickboy
http:///forum/post/2978297
I do not believe they would qualify as the "desperate" seller, but I could be wrong. It has been on the market for 2 months (one of the more recent to be put on market), and it appears they are still living there. We asked but the listing agent hadn't gotten back to our agent yet.
When we were looking for our house, I generally was only interested in homes where the people had already moved out. If this is not going to be your final home, understand that the decision you make now will affect the cash you will make from the house in a couple years. Enjoy your position as the buyer and don't worry... there are thousands of houses to buy.
I'd also say that there is no "insulting" offer. Lowball the hell out of the sellers and if they counter, then they are dying to make a sale. If they don't counter then they are not under as much pressure and you can always make another offer. When we bought our house, we offered $45K less than the asking price (which had already been reduced). Before we had even moved in, we were at the house and someone came to the door and offered $23K more than we paid. Kind of funny but we could have made a quick $23K without even moving into the house. Oh well...
 
fishrule

fishrule

Member
I would say, go 120k with a 5k seller contribution to be applied to the closing costs. Thus you would be paying 125k, but have enough to cover your closing costs on both Mtg. fees and title insurance fees. (The seller still gets 125k. Your agent should know how to do this.) Most Mtg. companies will not allow the seller to pay your closing costs strait up. Also, most purchase and sales agreements state the title costs will be split evenly.
(Assuming you are mortgaging the house) Another place you can save money is by using a direct bank for your Mtg. instead of a Mtg. broker. Most brokers charge between $3000.00 and $8000.00+ in broker fees. Most banks only charge about $1200.00. Title Insurance should only cost about $600ish and standard closing costs are usually $150.00/side + recording fees.
One more thing is, make sure you get a fixed Mtg. Don't get a ballon Mtg. or a variable rate.
Good luck!!!
EDIT: I saw NIN Live in OKC last summer. I almost got a chance to see them again twice while I was working in Montana, but was way to busy to get time off work.
 
sickboy

sickboy

Active Member
Thanks for even more input!
I have been waiting for my agent to respond (yes at almost 1am, I picked a good one I just talked to her about 2 hours ago). She was worried about an offensive offer and that is why I was thinking a little higher initial, but I think when she emails (since she prob. won't call at this time) I will tell her I want to go lower.
But yes, I'm going through a bank, and will have 80% of it fixed at whatever the market says that day thanks to my wife's awesome credit score (mine's good too, just not like her's), but about 10% will be variable. We can knock that one out fast though, and once its gone, I will be paying just slightly more for a house than I do in renting an apartment.
 
sickboy

sickboy

Active Member
Originally Posted by FishRule
http:///forum/post/2978380
EDIT: I saw NIN Live in OKC last summer. I almost got a chance to see them again twice while I was working in Montana, but was way to busy to get time off work.
The last time I saw them was the night before thanksgiving last year. I think it may have been my favorite!
Edit- btw that pic is from my cell, hence all the arms on the bottom.
 
fishrule

fishrule

Member
Originally Posted by sickboy
http:///forum/post/2978385
Thanks for even more input!
about 10% will be variable. We can knock that one out fast though, and once its gone, I will be paying just slightly more for a house than I do in renting an apartment.
Just make sure you look the terms over closely. Some variables can have a 3-5 year limit with balloons attached when they are second mortgages. Otherwise, 10% isn't that bad that you couldn't refinance it later on, so long as the house value stays up.
 
sickboy

sickboy

Active Member
Originally Posted by FishRule
http:///forum/post/2978392
Very Nice! Make sure the flooring is strong enough to hold a 1000 gallon tank.
Never know when that might come in handy.
good point! I'm looking to upgrade soon, but maybe just to 1000 pounds of water. I wish 1000 gallons.
 
stdreb27

stdreb27

Active Member
Don't forget, the housing market in the midwest, Texas OK LA (I'm not so sure about Kansas and Nebraska) are still very strong compared to the west coast and Michigan...
And don't forget the agent wants a deal because that means she gets $$. But the more you offer the more she makes. She isn't going to have to work as hard to talk the seller into an asking price. However if you lowball them she's going to have to work. So she has a STRONG incentive to suggest higher offers...
 
t316

t316

Active Member
crimzy;2978304 When we bought our house said:
https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/data/smilies/rotfl.gif[/img]
I believe I would have taken that offer Crimz...
Click to expand...
 
renogaw

renogaw

Active Member
i love the view. that couch needs to go though, it totally cuts out the room in that .. room.
 
sickboy

sickboy

Active Member
Well, there are two offers in on the house already this morning
, so I can't lowball that much. I think we will probably put in a decent offer just b/c we love the house, but if we don't get it....oh well, the search continues.
 
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