Presenting an Offer

So I just got a call from a realtor we've been talking to. They're presenting an offer we made on a house that we like. It's a low-ball offer. We're only offering them 90% of their list price, but maybe they'll accept.

Keep your fingers crossed for us!

Good luck!

We're pulling for ya, Cheese!

Last March we saw a house we liked just down the street up for sale for $300k. Our neighbors were close friends with the people. In passing conversation near the end of April, I mentioned I liked the house but didn't have the money, blah, blah, blah.

The neighbor told a facinating story of drug use/abuse, spousal abuse and divorce. He mentioned that the wife got everything in the divorce and wanted to sell the house badly. I should call and make her an offer.

I called, didn't offer anything but asked her what her bottom line was. Lets say it was significantly less then the listed price. I called the realtor and got a look inside. It was a bit of a mess, so I offered about 10k below what her "lowest" price was. She took it AND payed closing costs. I put 6500 back into the house, we moved last Tuesday. Went from a 1500 sq ft house to a 2400 sq ft house on a much bigger lot (1/3 acre). With my improvements/cleanup, etc., the realtor now values the house at 320K, which means I have about 80K in equity (yes, thats not an actual appraisal).

Ahhh...the benefits of luck and sweat equity. I did all the work myself. Paint, laminate floors, carpet, AC, kitchen cabinets refaced and new appliances. It also helps to have friends in the flooring business and the appliance business. Significant savings were realized there.

Good luck with your purchase, Cheese

Good luck Cheese! Fingers crossed...90% isn't that much of a lowball. You should at least get a reasonable counter-offer.

Best of luck Cheese! Wife and I are gonna get our first house soon. Extremely exciting, kinda scary.

Good luck Cheese! I told you a house in the projects would be perfect for you!

good luck!

Good luck & (maybe) welcome to the money pit! The market is a little soft with all the subprime problems.

What David said, it seems like the perfect time to buy. Good luck to ya, I got my fingers crossed.

Good luck to you, bro! Do you own a house now, or is this your first?

They accepted the offer! Only negotiation they made was that they wouldn't sell it on contingency.

So we're going to get it appraised and inspected and then decide whether or not we're going to buy it.

WOO HOO! Congratulations! Awesome news!

Kinda makes you wish you lowballed them 80%, though, don't it?

Congrats man! :rockin: Keep us posted!

Ize

the_bird said:

WOO HOO! Congratulations! Awesome news!

Kinda makes you wish you lowballed them 80%, though, don't it?

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Yeah, my wife is nervous as to why they accepted the offer. The appraisal should help us figure out whether or not it's a good deal.

Anyone know how close Zillow comes to the real value of a house?

My sense of Zillow is that it's not terribly accurate, and I wouldn't really trust it given how dynamic the market has been. I don't think it's anywhere close on the value of my house. But, it'll at least give you accurate numbers as to how much the previous owners paid, which, depending on when they bought it, might give you some sense of value. It'll give you local comps, too, but again you've got to be careful, sales prices eighteen months ago may be wholly meaningless (I have no idea what the real estate market looks like around you).

No website can ever nail it and neither can the real appraisers. You pay 3 different companies to come in a value it, you'll get 3 different answers and they'll probably vary by up to 5%. It's worth whatever you'll pay.

my realtor said Zillow is not accurate but then again, she's a realtor.

Here's the house: http://www.zillow.com/aerial/DualMapPage.htm?zpid=3441211

They originally asked $470, then went to $450. I offered $405 with generous earnest money and a contingency. They took the offer, but said "No contingency".

We need to make sure it appraises out at the right amount.

nice house, that post just reminded me why im never moving out of Texas. Man houses are expensive up north.

Ryanh1801 said:

nice house, that post just reminded me why im never moving out of Texas. Man houses are expensive up north.

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Ya think? A half-million doesn't buy a lot of house in the NW Burbs of Chicago. This one is nice because of the illusion of a huge back-yard.

By the way, if anyone is looking for a house, check out this kick-ass Google application:

http://www.google.com/base/s2?q=&hl...=6&a_v1=60173&a_o1=0&a_n2=Listing+type&a_y2=1

wow....you guys are catching up with California prices


nice looking house btw

i don't know cheese... not much room to grow hops in that back yard w/ the house facing south. dam i'm glad i don't live in the big windy:rockin:

Cheesefood said:

Here's the house: http://www.zillow.com/aerial/DualMapPage.htm?zpid=3441211

They originally asked $470, then went to $450. I offered $405 with generous earnest money and a contingency. They took the offer, but said "No contingency".

We need to make sure it appraises out at the right amount.

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Nice job, Cheese. Congrats!

So you think you'll pass on it if it appraises below purchase price?

So the important question.. is there room for an attached brewery/granny porn studio?

We just took a look at it again. The house gives us nice East-West area for a garden, so hops are in the plan.

The garage has a decent area where one could put brewing gear, or I could build out an area in the back yard.

We're waiting for the realtor to finish up an open house he's currently at, then he's coming over and we're putting together a contract for some earnest money. We're going to buy the house!

Make SURE you spend the money and get an inspection done, though.

How big is the yard/lot? Hard to tell how far back the lot goes.

Cheesefood said:

We just took a look at it again. The house gives us nice East-West area for a garden, so hops are in the plan.

The garage has a decent area where one could put brewing gear, or I could build out an area in the back yard.

We're waiting for the realtor to finish up an open house he's currently at, then he's coming over and we're putting together a contract for some earnest money. We're going to buy the house!

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SO I take it that the assessment was good?

Cheesefood said:

Ya think? A half-million doesn't buy a lot of house in the NW Burbs of Chicago. This one is nice because of the illusion of a huge back-yard.

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That's why I like living on the other side of the state.

Our house was originally 240k, but in this neighborhood (30 miles from a major/minor city you can't get much over 150k, 2.19 acres and almost 2900sf. The closer you are to the city the more you can ask/get, but not out this far (that's a relative term).

I got ours for 138k because it needed a new roof (I kept it for another year, but now it's done) and appliances, etc. (done), remodeling (almost done...still need to tiile the main basement floor).
The BEST part is I paid it off in 2 years 2 months last July!

Congrats!!! When's the Beer Party, er, I mean Open House???

Realtor is on his way over with papers to get into a contract. They're looking for a closing date in August.

This is friggin' sweet.

Oh, I have a midterm tomorrow that I should be studying for.