Nothing like a nice long plane ride to get me back to a rational state of mind (currently blogging from Kansas).
New home shopping is a lot like window shopping.....all the products are displayed so nicely, tempting you to buy.....but then you get it home, and there it sits....all by itself, without the rest of the display...and the magic that you saw and thought you purchased quickly fades....you don't use the product near as much as you thought you would.....and start to realize the justifications you used to purchase it aren't really panning out.
Mental reminder to self.....no purchasing till we know more details on hubby's next contract (in Spring).
I need a hobby....waiting makes for a really lame obsession.
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The housing thing is like shopping for new car. When you look at a shiny new car sitting in the showroom with new car leather smell tickling your nose, you get the feeling, I must buy this car now !! But as with car, if you impulse buy, you end up getting screwed. Same thing with homes.
I am starting to look at few houses now and every time I visit a house I get caught up in the buying fever and feel that I must buy this home now. However, in few days that feeling subsides as I think, I can buy bigger home in better neighborhood if I wait until next year or more.
I made an offer on a house few weeks back and by the time they rejected my offer I was glad they did.
Anyway, I have a new home shopping rule. If I go visit a house, I don't do anything for a least a week (2-3 weeks would be even better and with this market house is not going anywhere) until the logical brain part of me had a chance to mull the pros and cons over many times. After the week(s), I most likely won't buy the house so it is a good rule for me.
It's taken a while for me to convince my wife that "window shopping" is not a good idea.
First, it inflames her nesting instinct, which makes it harder for her to be patient (it would do the same to me, but I've refused to go out on visits with the realtor since last spring).
Second, I believe that showings and visits to open houses are counted by sellers and their agents as "interest" and will only serve to drag this thing out.
What does it take for a seller to lower their price?-- virtually no calls or showings, for months. I want my local sellers to reach that point soon, and often. Being a "looky-loo" at properties that are still 100K over my budget is counter-productive. I content myself with checking the MLS and doing drive-bys - that's enough information for now.
How the hell can a few showings and a couple of open house visits be counted as "interest"? We had an offer rejected this summer because the agent said there was so much "interest" - 3 showings for the upcoming weekend. The seller's agent called us on Monday in a panic because 2 showings didn't happen and the third said they were interest, and so the agent said they were willing to negotiate. Of course, they didn't meet our price and we walked away. Thank God they didn't meet our price because the place has been sitting at only $5k above what we offered for about 2 months.
When I sold my house this summer, after 2-3 weeks of no offers we cut our price. We did that 3 times, for a total of about 8-9% off our original asking, and guess what - we sold in 60 days. Thank God the other sellers were too stupid to do the same thing because if they did, we would have had to go even lower to be the best priced property on the market.
Good advice on the window shopping - I think I will wait at least another 6 months before visiting anything new. Waiting a week or two to make an offer is also great advice. Heck, if you wait two to three weeks and the place is still there, it is likely overpriced....
Well, window shoopping is good. I've kept my eye on one neighborhood for the past couple of months & Whooa! what do I see? A house on prior listed at $415K down to $357k. A $58,000 drop.Ouch. That would have been my down payment! I keep chomping at the bit wanting to buy but I'll wait till spring or summer. That price drop also was true for one other home in the same neighborhood.
One of the homes I am tracking (70087540) just dropped from 375k to 325k so 50k in one drop and 15% at that.
113 / sq. ft. is tempting...
Of course there is no piture of the yard and no lot size listed so it is a 2875 home likely on a 3000 lot.
It is also strange that people want me to spend 300-400k and cant even take a picture that is in focus. lol
http://tinyurl.com/ytrshb
Jacob,
That house has a little lot (not huge, but something.) You can see it by using the satellite view of the property.
I tool am completely amazed at the following:
1) Large Purchase price with very generous commissions.
2) Lack of detail or information in the ads.
3) Horrible pictures. Hey agents - why not buy something better than that crap $48 digital with your next $10K commission check? Thanks!
4) Trite phrases in the ads, like "Bring your buyers", "Show with confidence" etc. That's just lame.
About "Window Shopping" - My wife loves to play with MLS and look at the offerings, but then she starts talking about homes that are $100K or more out of our range. She says they could drop into our range. I say that they are wildly wrong to begin with, why look. This conversation is repeated often.
I love the idea about waiting a week. If it goes without you, another one will appear. Waiting also puts more pressure on the seller. Nice approach.
-EJ
ps: Buying Time: I love this blog - we are looking exclusively in Folsom - we think alike in that regard. EDH is too far a commute to downtown for our tastes, but Folsom seems ideal for our little family. I agree with you that we'll see declines, but we won't see a full impact there. Time will tell. My consolation will be that we got what/where we wanted, even if our timing is slightly off. Of course, I'm thinking next year or later.
One area I'm looking at seriously is a 3 block area of maybe 75 homes total. Homes were listed at 350K to 425k this spring. Nothing sold and now smack in the middle of this small defined area a REO just came on the market for 247k. It's already got the upgrades and just needs a little TLC and some paint. The homes around it that tried to sell are now rentals while the sellers hope for better times.
This house is a few doors down from my supervior's. They never even tried to list it as they knew they were screwed. Someone may buy at that price - we'll see.
Blessed are the comp providers >; )
"Blessed are the comp providers >; )"
Amen....
I still like the idea I threw out on Landers blog many moons ago. We create a buyers club, where three or four of us rediculously lowball a seller, then the person who actually wants to purchase comes in 25k above the other offers, so that their lowball offer actually looks appealing.
It could work with the right folks. However if enough offers get accepted...it eventually leaves some folks without people to lowball for them.
BT,
The buyers club is a great idea. Only, what happens if one of the lowball offers is actually accepted?
Doesn't one have to put in earnest money to write an offer?
"Doesn't one have to put in earnest money to write an offer?"
You write a check to go with the offer. It isn't cashed - it is placed into escrow when they accept an offer. No acceptance, the check is returned.
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