House Buying / Selling Updates Thread

[carrotsmakemefat]

There have been a lot of threads but I’m curious where people stand that have been looking. How is your progress ?

[carrotsmakemefat]

My update. Still looking and still seeing prices go crazy high 😳 I almost don’t know what to do.

[aspentosh]

I'm pretty sure you're looking in my area based on some posts I've seen, and yeah... it's insane here. 3br are selling for $100k more than we paid for our 4br in just our neighborhood. And going under contract in a day!

Sending luck to all the people looking to buy!

[Susie]

We're shopping and low key prepping our house to go on the market if/when we find something.

Went to 2 showings last week.  

One was all charm and hot mess:  gorgeous (in theory) old Dutch Colonial, but had a CO detector going off in the basement, water actively dripping through the kitchen ceiling (leak originates on 2nd floor), lead paint, asbestos, water damage, wiring and HVAC issues, the works.  We'd need a budget double asking price to do it right, and we don't have that.  It's been sitting on the market for months, and I expect that will continue because it's just that big a hot mess.  The owners bought it for $389k (according to the listing), did some kitchen & bath updates, and are trying to sell it for $439k (down from $490k this fall).  I think they way overpaid for it when they bought it, given the condition it's in.  That's hard to fix retrospectively.  I am curious to see what will eventually happen with it.

The other was a totally workable house, that went on the market Thurs., we saw it Fri., and Sat. our agent told us it had multiple offers and did we want to move on it.  We passed; I didn't love the interior layout and wasn't sure how to update the exterior to work for me.  It wasn't perfect enough to get into a bidding war over.

Those are the only two houses in our school district <$800k that have 4+ beds, 2+ baths, and 2+ garage spaces.  Things are totally bonkers here.  

The only thing I can say is that at least, if we get something, we're pretty sure we can sell fast.  We would likely list around 18-20% more than we paid in 2008.

[dcn]

Can I ask a really basic question? We are likely going to buy in the city we are moving to this summer. I can find a realtor no problem. How do we find a lender to get pre approved? We’ve always rented up until now.

[mccallister84]

Feb 28, 2021 14:05:52 GMT -5 dcn said:

Can I ask a really basic question? We are likely going to buy in the city we are moving to this summer. I can find a realtor no problem. How do we find a lender to get pre approved? We’ve always rented up until now.

Do you have or know a realtor? If so I’d ask them to recommend a lender. They’ll know who gets things done smoothly. We have bought twice now and the second time we went with our realtors recc and it went way better than the first time when we just picked a random mortgage broker.

[tacoflavoredkisses]

Our house goes on the market in 11 days.

Then we get to go through trying to find a new house. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous.

[acr]

We started looking in the last few weeks. Tough to know what houses will sell for since the listing prices are still much lower than final price. We don’t have a time crunch other than trying to buy before prices continue to rise even more in our market

[stackingtens]

We listed our house Friday and sold it in 48 hours with three offers. We have tenants living there, so we put them in an AirBNB for the weekend in order to minimize their disruption, and hoped we could sell it in one weekend to avoid bothering them again. So I'm feeling very grateful this morning.
In our area (medium cost of living but HIGH real estate costs due to no inventory, high demand due to major university and quality of life), my realtor said that everything in the $350-450k range is selling in an average of 4 days at 106% of list price. 450-600 is 10 days average, at 99% of list price. Our house was in the first group and sold in 2 days at 103% of list price. I can't imagine having to move that fast as the buyer. It's never been quite that crazy here.

[carrotsmakemefat]

I also feel like Northern Va is a bunch of crap on the market. Maybe 15-20% are good and the other 80% are all non-desirable areas. Like people are trying to off load.

[goldengirlz]

We were hoping to enter the market this spring but now we’re leaning toward staying put.

If we do stay, we want to do some big upgrades, but I’m still on the fence about committing the funds. I guess we’ll wait it out a bit longer, even if it means another summer without air conditioning. (We don’t live somewhere that gets especially hot in the summer — most years — but climate change has created some pretty brutal heat waves recently. Unfortunately, we need major electrical upgrades to be able to support that kind of load.)

[scm1011]

We have flip flopped from definitely staying in our place to wanting to move. We are the midst of a cash out refi and we'll likely use that as a down payment on a new place (and keep our current 2-family home as a rental). I'm not sure how successful we'll be though, since like most places the market is insane here. So many people win with all cash offers which just isn't an option for us unless we sell our current place. We don't want to do that for a variety of reasons.

[mactastic]

I'm still pinching myself - we closed last week in a bananas market. We put an offer in on the first house we saw with an option to go 15k over asking and got outbid on an all cash offer. Saw a second house and it was WAY better - an additional bedroom (4 vs 3), the insides were all updated, and a better layout. List price was 20k lower than the first one. We offered 5k over to start with and the bid was accepted immediately. The entire month between accepted offer and closing I was just holding my breath waiting for something to go wrong, but inspection and appraisal both went well and here we are. The sellers did ask for a 45 day continuance, but that lined up perfectly with our lease, maybe that's why they were so quick to accept our offer? I know first time buyers have more flexibility, the prospect of also having to sell sounds so stressful. I'm just thrilled and relieved we'll soon have a house for our brand new baby and a yard for our geriatric dog. Buying a house with a three month old - wouldn't recommend it.

[tripleshot]

Mar 2, 2021 9:06:56 GMT -5 scm1011 said:

We have flip flopped from definitely staying in our place to wanting to move. We are the midst of a cash out refi and we'll likely use that as a down payment on a new place (and keep our current 2-family home as a rental). I'm not sure how successful we'll be though, since like most places the market is insane here. So many people win with all cash offers which just isn't an option for us unless we sell our current place. We don't want to do that for a variety of reasons.

We’re thinking about doing a cash out refi or HEL in a few years to use as a down payment too. Did you tell the bank your plans for the money? When we’ve refi’d before with no cash out, the CU kept asking why we wanted to refi (lower interest).

[scm1011]

Mar 2, 2021 12:10:12 GMT -5 tripleshot said:

Mar 2, 2021 9:06:56 GMT -5 scm1011 said:

We have flip flopped from definitely staying in our place to wanting to move. We are the midst of a cash out refi and we'll likely use that as a down payment on a new place (and keep our current 2-family home as a rental). I'm not sure how successful we'll be though, since like most places the market is insane here. So many people win with all cash offers which just isn't an option for us unless we sell our current place. We don't want to do that for a variety of reasons.

We’re thinking about doing a cash out refi or HEL in a few years to use as a down payment too. Did you tell the bank your plans for the money? When we’ve refi’d before with no cash out, the CU kept asking why we wanted to refi (lower interest).

Initially we had wanted to use the money to make improvements, so thats what we told them. When we decided that even with improvements our current space wouldn't work long term I approached them about it, because I wanted to make sure everything was above board. I was clear it was a hypothetical (because our market is insane and the likelihood of something coming on the market in our price range that meets our needs and us winning a bidding war is sadly not great), but that we're keeping this option on the table. The broker told us that at closing we have to sign a release saying we plan to keep our current home as our primary residence for the next 12 months, BUT its not binding and they understand that plans change etc. As long as we aren't currently eyeing a house and plan to immediately put the funds down as a down payment they said its fine. If that were the case, the loan would have had to change terms (with a higher interest rate). So we'll see. We're scheduled to close 3/15 and I'm hoping something pops up this spring. 

[turkletsmom]

Mar 2, 2021 10:17:24 GMT -5 mactastic said:

I'm still pinching myself - we closed last week in a bananas market. We put an offer in on the first house we saw with an option to go 15k over asking and got outbid on an all cash offer. Saw a second house and it was WAY better - an additional bedroom (4 vs 3), the insides were all updated, and a better layout. List price was 20k lower than the first one. We offered 5k over to start with and the bid was accepted immediately. The entire month between accepted offer and closing I was just holding my breath waiting for something to go wrong, but inspection and appraisal both went well and here we are. The sellers did ask for a 45 day continuance, but that lined up perfectly with our lease, maybe that's why they were so quick to accept our offer? I know first time buyers have more flexibility, the prospect of also having to sell sounds so stressful. I'm just thrilled and relieved we'll soon have a house for our brand new baby and a yard for our geriatric dog. Buying a house with a three month old - wouldn't recommend it.

This is great!!!  Congrats!!

[purposelyvague]

We are looking to selling around May, so I've been watching the market off and on here for awhile, to get an idea of what we can list for. We live in a HCOL and the market has been bonkers, and the prices keep just going up. Everything is selling in less than a week, unless it's a shit show.

[Pom]

We interviewed a REA today. Planning on putting our house on the market first of April. Mr. P’s company sold in November and he was released a week ago. We’ve been waiting for this to happen for a year so setting downsizing plans in motion and leaving Houston for our second home in Michigan. Market is hot, low inventory so this will hopefully be good for us. We plan to buy another home up north but for now, there is nothing to buy. We are grateful we remodeled that house recently. I am overwhelmed at the de clutter process. 😳

Good luck to everyone!

[heygrey]

Mar 2, 2021 10:17:24 GMT -5 mactastic said:

I'm still pinching myself - we closed last week in a bananas market. We put an offer in on the first house we saw with an option to go 15k over asking and got outbid on an all cash offer. Saw a second house and it was WAY better - an additional bedroom (4 vs 3), the insides were all updated, and a better layout. List price was 20k lower than the first one. We offered 5k over to start with and the bid was accepted immediately. The entire month between accepted offer and closing I was just holding my breath waiting for something to go wrong, but inspection and appraisal both went well and here we are. The sellers did ask for a 45 day continuance, but that lined up perfectly with our lease, maybe that's why they were so quick to accept our offer? I know first time buyers have more flexibility, the prospect of also having to sell sounds so stressful. I'm just thrilled and relieved we'll soon have a house for our brand new baby and a yard for our geriatric dog. Buying a house with a three month old - wouldn't recommend it.

Congratulations! 

We bought in late September and I held my breath for the entire 27 day closing. When everything else was going over asking, we managed to shave a few grand off the price after inspection. I think our ability to close quickly (we were renting and didn't need to give notice) made them pick us in the end. 

[pinkalicious]

Feb 28, 2021 14:28:11 GMT -5 mccallister84 said:

Feb 28, 2021 14:05:52 GMT -5 dcn said:

Can I ask a really basic question? We are likely going to buy in the city we are moving to this summer. I can find a realtor no problem. How do we find a lender to get pre approved? We’ve always rented up until now.

Do you have or know a realtor? If so I’d ask them to recommend a lender. They’ll know who gets things done smoothly. We have bought twice now and the second time we went with our realtors recc and it went way better than the first time when we just picked a random mortgage broker.

So much this! I’m a Realtor, and I have 5 lenders that I recommend on a regular basis. I use these lenders because I know that they can get it done, the process is smooth, and I’m in constant contact with them. I also know that if I get a new client that wants to go see homes, at 2pm on Saturday and it’s 12:30 on Saturday, I can get a preapproval in that timeframe so that I can take clients out.

[mactastic]

Mar 2, 2021 21:57:54 GMT -5 heygrey said:

Mar 2, 2021 10:17:24 GMT -5 mactastic said:

I'm still pinching myself - we closed last week in a bananas market. We put an offer in on the first house we saw with an option to go 15k over asking and got outbid on an all cash offer. Saw a second house and it was WAY better - an additional bedroom (4 vs 3), the insides were all updated, and a better layout. List price was 20k lower than the first one. We offered 5k over to start with and the bid was accepted immediately. The entire month between accepted offer and closing I was just holding my breath waiting for something to go wrong, but inspection and appraisal both went well and here we are. The sellers did ask for a 45 day continuance, but that lined up perfectly with our lease, maybe that's why they were so quick to accept our offer? I know first time buyers have more flexibility, the prospect of also having to sell sounds so stressful. I'm just thrilled and relieved we'll soon have a house for our brand new baby and a yard for our geriatric dog. Buying a house with a three month old - wouldn't recommend it.

Congratulations! 

We bought in late September and I held my breath for the entire 27 day closing. When everything else was going over asking, we managed to shave a few grand off the price after inspection. I think our ability to close quickly (we were renting and didn't need to give notice) made them pick us in the end. 

Yes! We bought for 5 over asking but got $3,500 in concessions from the sellers for things they'd rather throw money at than fix (moderately old water heater and furnace that will need to be replaced in 3-5 years), so it feels like we got it almost at list price! I know they are doing a new build and having an offer in hand was imperative for their own closing. I want to weep, though, when I see that they initially bought in 1996 for $68k.  

[liveintheville]

Mar 2, 2021 9:06:56 GMT -5 scm1011 said:

We have flip flopped from definitely staying in our place to wanting to move. We are the midst of a cash out refi and we'll likely use that as a down payment on a new place (and keep our current 2-family home as a rental). I'm not sure how successful we'll be though, since like most places the market is insane here. So many people win with all cash offers which just isn't an option for us unless we sell our current place. We don't want to do that for a variety of reasons.

Are you moving cities?

[scm1011]

Mar 4, 2021 9:38:00 GMT -5 liveintheville said:

Mar 2, 2021 9:06:56 GMT -5 scm1011 said:

We have flip flopped from definitely staying in our place to wanting to move. We are the midst of a cash out refi and we'll likely use that as a down payment on a new place (and keep our current 2-family home as a rental). I'm not sure how successful we'll be though, since like most places the market is insane here. So many people win with all cash offers which just isn't an option for us unless we sell our current place. We don't want to do that for a variety of reasons.

Are you moving cities?

I hope not! Really hoping to stay in Somerville/Cambridge but would entertain East Arlington or Medford (close to the ville border) for the perfect property. We need to stay walkable to the T so that limits our search area.

[liveintheville]

Mar 4, 2021 9:52:44 GMT -5 scm1011 said:

Mar 4, 2021 9:38:00 GMT -5 liveintheville said:

Are you moving cities?

I hope not! Really hoping to stay in Somerville/Cambridge but would entertain East Arlington or Medford (close to the ville border) for the perfect property. We need to stay walkable to the T so that limits our search area.

Phew! Didn’t want to lose you

[imimahoney]

Can a lurker jump in?

We live in thr burbs north of Boston and are trying to stay not only in our current town but also in our current elementary zone. Besides prices being insane, the pickings are basically 0. No one is listing their house and if they are, they just don't work for us. Super frustrating.

Our current home will sell very fast so we are looking first and will list once we sign a p&s. I'm just antsy to get things moving.

[minzy]

I’m not in the market but I found myself on a call with a local experienced real estate agent last week (DC outskirts, MD side). He said that inventory in our area is a mere 5-6% of what it usually is at this time of year, that it is definitely a seller’s market right now. Thought was that things might pick up as covid rates go down and some of the eviction protections are lifted.

[vmars]

So I need some advice. My neighborhood is also selling quickly and for top dollar. The catch is we were on the market back in 2019 and only got one low ball offer so we took the house off the market since we were about to have our second baby. In the interim we have had ppl interested, but nothing every happened due to different circumstance.

There is nothing wrong with our house but it’s 3 bedrooms 2.5 baths in a neighborhood with mostly 4 bedroom homes. The people purchasing in our neighborhood have very large families and want bigger homes. I am hesitant that my house will sell quickly as the rest because of past experience. However my realtor suggested I sell now to maximize my profit.

One thought I had was to try and get an offer where they’d rent the house back to us so we could make a non contingent offer on our next house. The area we want to move in is also hot and low inventory. The other option would be to sell the end of summer and live in a winter rental in our preferred town (it’s a beach town) until we find something next spring. That involves moving 2x and not ideal. WWYD?

[acr]

Making an offer today for 21% over asking and waiving appraisal contingency. So if it appraises for less, we’ve got to pony that up. No clue what kind of difference that could be! Ugh. Had to go to our parents to ask them to help out if we end up needing to come up with that money.

This is the first house we’ve seen that seemed like it would work for us - schools, distance to parents, and size/layout for indefinitely wfh for the both of us.

It kills me that 5 months ago housing costs were significantly less in the Austin area than they are now. If only I’d paid attention then

[carrotsmakemefat]

We also have an offer in for this weekend ! Under our budget in NOVA but needs some cosmetic updates. Waived financing and appraisal/ inspection for info purposes (it’s been a rental for awhile). We went 30k over with another escalation.
I’m kinda nervous about the inspection but I guess we will see how it goes ! (Assuming we get it).

If we don’t get it we’re looking at another rental. I want to start moving before I get too big in my pregnancy.

[carrotsmakemefat]

Also my interest rate went from 2.75 to 3.25 just in the two weeks since we last placed an offer :/