First of all, thank you all for the encouragement you sent my way from my posting about house searching, its been really touching. I plan on responding to everyone's comment, I've just been very very me
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First, note that both times we bought, Sonya's mom, a licensed real estate agent, did all this stuff for us. So, I may be talking out my ass.
One possibility is to bring something else to the table. Do you already have the mortgage approval in hand? Then you can offer immediate closing. In this market, that can be a powerful chip to put on the table.
I would strongly suggest not accepting any offer "as is." We did that on our first house, to knock about $10K off the price. That house needed a lot more than $10K worth of work. However, being willing to take the house with certain items not fixed (clearly spelled out in the contract), can be a good bargaining point.
And, this is a buyer's market. Don't be afraid to play hardball. After all, you can afford to walk away much more easily than they can. Which also means, don't let yourself fall in love with it. Finally, make sure you don't end up buying more than you can afford. It will come back to bite you eventually.
Try to find out what homes are going for in that neighborhood, it is possilbe that the home is priced high. Find out how long it has been on the market, the longer it has been on the market the more willing they will be to except a low offer. If you have an agent, they might be able to find out if there have been any other offers on the house that have been rejected, might give you a ballpark number for what is being considered. See if there has been a recent appraisal done on the home somewhere, sometimes there is one and that can help with negotiations.
Get yourself a buyer's agent (not that even they can necessarily be trusted...) It shouldn't cost you any money, the seller's agent will have to split the commission.
Both I and my brother found that if the sellers accept your lowball offer they will do minimal/fake repairs and cause minor annoying damage that won't be apparent at closing, like loosening pipe fittings or breaking bulbs off in their sockets. Fuckers. So be careful.
And the economy is probably going to deterioate further for the next year or two, so don't rush into the purchase or overpay.
Comments 3
One possibility is to bring something else to the table. Do you already have the mortgage approval in hand? Then you can offer immediate closing. In this market, that can be a powerful chip to put on the table.
I would strongly suggest not accepting any offer "as is." We did that on our first house, to knock about $10K off the price. That house needed a lot more than $10K worth of work. However, being willing to take the house with certain items not fixed (clearly spelled out in the contract), can be a good bargaining point.
And, this is a buyer's market. Don't be afraid to play hardball. After all, you can afford to walk away much more easily than they can. Which also means, don't let yourself fall in love with it. Finally, make sure you don't end up buying more than you can afford. It will come back to bite you eventually.
Reply
Find out how long it has been on the market, the longer it has been on the market the more willing they will be to except a low offer.
If you have an agent, they might be able to find out if there have been any other offers on the house that have been rejected, might give you a ballpark number for what is being considered.
See if there has been a recent appraisal done on the home somewhere, sometimes there is one and that can help with negotiations.
Reply
Both I and my brother found that if the sellers accept your lowball offer they will do minimal/fake repairs and cause minor annoying damage that won't be apparent at closing, like loosening pipe fittings or breaking bulbs off in their sockets. Fuckers. So be careful.
And the economy is probably going to deterioate further for the next year or two, so don't rush into the purchase or overpay.
Reply
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