We've already done a first showing. We liked the house, but it was priced at 115k. It was, however, very well done inside. It was 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom. I would only consider the home if the basement could be finished.
Yesterday, they dropped the asking price to 95k. Now I'm even MORE interested.
I'd like to get a contractor in to give me an estimate during a second showing on finishing the basement or even their opinion *if* it can be done.
Is this something people do? Is this acceptable? How do I go about even doing this? I am of course willing to pay for that advice.
Congratulations! That sounds like a great fit for you and your husband! I'm really happy for you and hope this is a new beginning for you all. (Also, I'm surprised you cancelled the Seaworld pass---I know I was one of the ppl that told you too, but wow, you really are dedicated to this and turning your finances around).
What is the annual max on the dental? $1000 or $1500? Is it a discount plan, or is it 100% for preventative (cleanings), 80% for minor (fillings, etc), 50% for major (extractions, root canals, crowns, etc) or something similar (I have seen plans that are 80%/60%/50%).
If it is a discount plan, that's probably a bit expensive. If it is a dental PPO, that's a decent enough price.
For the health insurance, do you have to satisfy the deductible before the insurance covers anything besides preventative care (which should be at a $0 copay, btw), or do you just have to pay the copay at the doctor? Do you have to satisfy the deductible before things like X-rays or labs are covered? Do you have to satisfy the deductible before emergency room is covered, or is it a copay for the emergency room ($50, $100)? What is the coinsurance and maximum out of pocket?
FWIW, in my area, there aren't plans with a $7500 deductible ($2500 is most common), and most plans don't even have a $7500 individual max, it is usually $5000 for in-network. However, the cost for the plans is like 3x what you were quoted.
It's a PPO. I don't have any idea what the annual max is as I have never hit it, so it must be a lot. It's 100% on preventative and 100% on minor if you do amalgam, and only the dollar value if you choose composite.
For the health insurance, you only have the copays at the doctor (one wellness visit covered per year), but then any other procedures will cost you out of pocket, such as labs, Xrays, etc...I could choose $2500, $5000, $7500, or $10k deductible, so I chose $7500 to lower my monthly payments. If you went to the emergency room, you'd have to pay $250 as a copay.
After you hit $7500, you pay 20%, they pay 80%, and no OOP maximum---I know that's risky, but I didn't see any plans that did have OOP maximums that were available to me.
Are you very cavity prone? If you only get the occasional cavity, I would bank the $34/month and have it there in case you need it. Dental care isn't that expensive and the most expensive cavity I've ever had was $300 ($120 for the cheapest). I would only think that price was worth it if I was going to need a root canal or something major.
I'm not really cavity prone...I have two crowns which cost $1200 each and that scared me (that was about 5 years ago).
The OOP no insurance cost for a cleaning is $70 and I get them cleaned twice a year, then the cavity costs without insurance are composite only and usually around $300
Self-employed here. Just going over my budget again and checking everything.
Do you think $34/month is a good price for dental? And $159.50/month for health insurance ($7500 deductible, $35/office visit copay)?
I felt pretty good about these prices and have purchased this stuff already, but not sure if I should still look or do you think I can check these things off as "done"?
I thought your sister needed to be on the other side of town. Did something change?
Bethel Park is nice, but it's far.
If I'm paying that much more than my max, I would at least buy something in the area I wanted to be in.
I really think you need to go look at some of these places. I feel like you're making this more difficult than it needs to be, and I'd be willing to bet that you've excluded a few perfectly good places because you're being super picky when in reality maybe you don't need to be.
It's within 30 minutes of where she works...that's pretty much my radius.
My family has seen over 30 houses for me already to try to narrow it down...they just saw three tonight that were in really bad shape. It's very, very hard to tell from the photos.
I am going to Pittsburgh next week and there is not *one* single house that my family or my real estate agent can recommend I should see (so a second showing).
I do think maybe I'm being picky---I want at least 2 bedrooms, 1.5 bathrooms, structurally sound, not a total gut job on kitchens and bathrooms, and in an average area within 30 minutes of 15131, 130k budget.
That's it--like I don't care about a garage or room size or closets or off-street parking or anything like that. I spent 5 hours today and looked at every single house from 70k-160k in Westmoreland and Allegheny Counties online.
There's just not a ton of inventory right now.
Everything I've ruled out, I did it for major unchangeable reasons--like the one house tonight, we were so excited about---except the bedroom ceilings (it was built as an add-on dormer above the kitchen) were literally 6 feet tall. My sister was brushing the light fixture with her head and she's 5'7". The roof cannot be raised. Like that obviously has to be ruled out, in my opinion. Just major things like that, like where the floors were crooked, etc.
I'm just out of stuff to see. My realtor says a lot of this stuff on the market for over 200 days is just overpriced and that they must need to get that much since they haven't come down yet...there's a few houses I'd consider if there were major price drops due to the amount of work needed.
House cleaning pre-paid, with the name and number right on the card
Gift certificates to dream dinners or the like in your area
Peapod or other grocery delivery gift cards
Schwan's gift card with a catalog for home delivery
Oil change/lawn care info
A list of names and numbers of helpful stuff (if you know what her DH mainly did around the house), like:
1. Call Bob for oil changes, he's awesome - # 2. If and when you need to buy or sell a car, John is really good at that and loves doing it - # (Or "Bob's Fords" is a great dealer we have used for years or whatever) 3. Good babysitters in the neighborhood are _________ and __________ 4. ______________ shovels snow on the side and will come out and do your driveway
(And it would be great if you could arrange to pay for those services or something once if that would be helpful)
Maybe a few books on grieving (non-religious if she is not religious, I didn't like reading religious books as I am not).
Blank journals and nice pens for recording memories
A fancy/nice box for cards she will receive from everyone that she might want to keep
I can think of so much stuff...but that's what I came up with very fast.
What are the renovations they did? Bathroom? Kitchen? Flooring? You said probably electric and plumbing, so is it an older home? Maybe we can help you with estimating that. Do you know if the owners are professional flippers/investors, or was this just a one-off project? (That can affect their business-saavy and the deals they can get with contractors on materials and labor, as well as their knowledge of what to upgrade for their money and what not to.)
Here's some info from the listing:
Old world charm meets modern upgrades! This renovated home offers nearly everything NEW, NEW, NEW from the bottom to the top. Electrical and plumbing upgraded, BRAND NEW HVAC System, NEW roof, restored fireplaces and gorgeous origional woodwork throughout, NEW Stainless Steel appliances added to the brand NEW modern kitchen w/ granite countertops and maple cabinets, NEW Baths, 2nd level laundry, NEW front door & porch, NEW Side/Rear wrap-around porch, within walking distance to the T, and much more! WOW!
Professional investors---live 3000 miles from the home.
In the 200 DOM, has the asking price dropped? If not, you could put in an offer, but it seems as though the seller is holding firm. Do you have an idea of how much $ they invested in the fliP?
Is $130k your total budget (including closing)? If closing is separate, i would go up to $150k, hoping they would at least give 3% towards closing (that is standard for my area).
Two price reductions, started at 170k---on market in August, dropped 5000 in September, another 5000 in October.
They bought the house for 22k.
It's on the market for 160k.
I'd estimate that most of the renovations were not cosmetic and were actually electrical and plumbing, and then some cosmetic stuff.
It's investors.
Excellent school district. Busy road. No garage (those are the things probably holding it back).
Oh man, if I had to ballpark the renovations (and I'm really, really bad at this), I'd say maybe 50k? 60k?
It is my preferred style of home and something I randomly stumbled across.
Are you factoring in agent commission, points, closing costs etc into the 130 or are those not included?
No points because it's a cash purchase, closing costs--I'm not sure what these would run since it's a cash purchase and I hear that can be a little lower
I would always try to get sellers to pay closing because I'm cheap.
I'm okay with none of the extras being factored into the 130k. That would be the home price.
My GOD he was a really odd dude, but none of us could ever imagine THIS!!
That's so disgusting. I am a photographer (a wedding and portrait photographer) and I am careful to avoid any allegations like this--- I will not work with teens/kids without an assistant there as a witness and the child's parent, just in case, and yet this pervert is actually doing these things. That's how careful I am--we do not communicate with minors at all to set up the session. People like this are disgusting and sick.
I was widowed by suicide, although not quite in the same way---it's different for everyone. It's so difficult. Can you go to her? If you want some tips on what to do, I can suggest a few things that are helpful and not helpful.
You can call and just let it go to voicemail, although her voicemail may fill up. I'm so sorry for her loss.
Did you know that Judge Judy makes $45M year? Holy shit.
That's a lot of Rent-a-Center rims and ex-boyfriend's cell phone bills
(If you don't watch JJ, you won't get this---but 99% of the cases seem to be about couples that split up and have a discrepancy about bills or ppl that bought ridiculous stuff at a rent to own place and then borrowed money from someone else to pay for it).
No, but I can't for the life of me imagine why no celebrities live in a low-income apartment complex in rural central Florida. I really think it would be more popular!
Do they clean them out between each person? If not, she could be eating other peoples ashes as well.
I have no idea and it's too morbid to research.
In my area, you use an individual container for cremation. You are placed in a temporary casket and that is cremated around you, and that way, it's individual and not other people's ashes.
When you say bring boots, are you going to bring your own ski boots? Or just snow boots and rent skis and boots?
I'm a notoriously light packer. I'd just roll up my snow pants and jacket as much as possible, no boots, just wear sneakers or even flats into the rental office. And rent skis and boots.
What they owe had no bearing on what it's worth. Neither does what they previously paid. Only the current market. And the value of their renos doesn't matter if it was a flip or owner occupied. Heck, most would prefer owner occupied because they were less likely to cut corners. I know a lot of realtors say upgrades don't count for an appraisal, but they really do to the buyer which is ultimately what sets prices. Make sure your realtor is using comps that really are in the same class and then offer based on that. Don't trust a FSBO to set the right price. If it doesn't work, wait to see what happens when they have to list it with a REA
This. If you really want it, make your offer contingent on an appraisal so that you don't over pay. You've been doing a lot of shopping lately, what does your gut say? Does it look similar to other 75k listings?
It's SO much better than the 75k listings I've seen. I saw a 3/1 in this same neighborhood for 99k that was WAY worse in quality, but it did have a family room, so that was additional square footage.
I think when they list with a realtor, they'll list even higher, to be honest.
The biggest drawback to the house is that it's just too darn small. I wish they had added another bathroom because then I'd be sold.
I can't figure out where to compromise...I have to take something off my list in order to find a place to live soon!
cuadrado, it's a cash purchase. But yes, I don't want to overpay for the house.
I think honestly the ballpark is between my realtor and my friends. They're more educated than me because...
Asking: 115k Sold in 2008 for: 80k Realtor says: 75k Friends say: 90-99k I thought: 105k
I'd be happy with 85k? 88k?
I think I have an overinflated sense of what it is worth because it is the first place I've seen in my price range that's in a preferred area that's not really, really bad inside.
Do you think the market has fallen in 4 years or risen?
Will the FSBO pay your realtors commission if you use him?
Yes, prior to seeing the house I consulted with my realtor.
He said if I wanted him to be involved in the transaction and view the house, he would do it and he'd get 3.5% of the price (finder's fee) or $1750, whichever is greater.
I then consulted with the owner of the home and he said yes, he was willing to allow ppl with realtors to see it and yes, they would be amenable to paying for the buyer's agent, the standard 3.5% fee. They would be representing themselves, so they would save that part of the fee.
My realtor gave me the option to go alone, but I reassured him I would never, ever cut him out of the deal like that and I want representation as a first time buyer! Plus he's shown me so many other houses that I feel it isn't fair.
I checked all that out prior to going because I know that's a sticky situation. Was that handled right?
We are *only* starting to look at FSBO's because we've pretty much seen everything on the market we want to see. It's a low inventory time and most things out there have been sitting for months and months (since last April or June), it seems, and are priced too high for the value.
My family saw a FSBO for me. My realtor actually told me he didn't want to know what it was listed at...he was going to do some comps if my family liked it.
They did like it. It was small, but decent. I posted it here previously. Okay, so they're asking 115k. They paid 80k for it 4 years ago (and there was a homebuyer's credit then too). If they don't get an offer, they will go with a realtor in a few weeks.
My friends that live in Pittsburgh (and some have bought houses within the past two years) liked it, but said it needs to come down about 20k. They are not realtors, just recent house buyers.
The current owners did some decent upgrades to it, I believe, brand new bathroom, decent kitchen, fixed up the front, the place is very well cared for. My friends pointed out: "They didn't add anything significant (it's still a 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom). They can't expect to get their money back completely as it's not a flip, they lived there."
One friend said, IF I offer, to go at 90k. Hope to end up at 97k. That seems insulting?
Using fast math based on the public records, you can sort of guesstimate how much sellers still owe on the mortgage.
My realtor sent me comps and the last page said he estimates it to be worth 75k.
And then he sent me a line an email that said the seller paid more than that 4 years ago, so...like basically, he didn't really know where we wanted to go from here.
I mean, I cannot offer 75k. That's just a slap in the face, right?
The comps seem to *only* compare neighborhood, size, room size, age of home, etc, and don't take into account the nicer upgrades.
Is it possible these all are not good comps? Should I ask the realtor to run it again?
Has anyone ever made a really low offer on a house? I just see this as an impossibility.
My MAX budget is 130k, so I've ONLY been looking up to 140k max. But now a lot of people are telling me to look at 145k's because they might be like 25k overpriced (things sitting on the market a long time).
I don't know, doesn't that seem extreme? I thought offers were usually like 10% wiggle room, not 40k on a 100k home.
I really, really, really appreciate you ladies and all the advice you give me. I live alone and I have zero ppl I can discuss this with in my life, seriously, so I just wanted to say thank you so much for educating me and I promise to pay it forward.
We just renovated our 500sf basement, including adding a bathroom, for ~$30k.
(And I think the house is super cute!)
Where do you live (LCOL, MCOL, HCOL)? I'm taking a guess that it's 500 sq feet and I actually figured it would be 30k-40k. Did you do high end finishes? Or just drywalled and you did the finishing work? Thanks so much!
H is from Churchill. We don't get there too often because road tripping with a toddler sucks.
I know where this is! There are adorable houses for sale in Churchill and I would totally buy one if it wasn't for the schools...even then, for the right house, I'd overlook that!