The trick is to offer more than asking contingent on a home inspection (they will find things wrong) Then ask for money back for repairs and get a check during settlement..... Its doubtful they will want to relist it rather then give you money back....
I am in very similar shoes to you living in Ontario. I bought my first Home in 2000. A 1400 square-foot bungalow for $161,000. It was a late 1950s build. In 2005 I bought a new build (my dream home) for $340,000 and rented out my first home till 2008 which I sold for $280,000. Things plateaued for about 3-4 years well the US housing market became stable again. My first home would now sell for $450,000ish. From 2012 to 2018 almost everything in my area went up 200 to 250% in price. In 2018 there was a 10% drop in price. In my area, if you weren't in the market with a piece of the share things got out of hand fast. I don't own a big piece of property. 70' x 100' (or 0.16 acre). I only have one next-door neighbour and nobody behind me for over a mile, but on the other side of my street houses are jammed in 40 feet apart. I'm on city water and city sewage, I have natural gas, high-speed cable and fibre optic, all copper wiring and plumbing, but where I live it comes at a price. I'm paying $584/m City taxes this year. I do have a great piece of property so long as no neighbour calls the fire department on me. I live in a GM or OLD GM town. At one time it had over 30,000 employees. Three years ago it went from 7000 employees to 600. This was a little shake in the market. But, we had openings with the nuclear plants, University, college, hospital tripled in size and cancer research and development projects. Really rich people started to flood which needed to be taken care of. Just for example; the honey waggon to go to my cottage and empty the septic tank in 2015 was $125. Just last weekend it cost me just shy of $300. I have an artesian well that has hard water. It is 175 feet deep and only generates 10 gallons per hour. I have to replace the pump about every 10 years. But, every US dollar today is worth $1.34 Canadian. I do think a lot of residence of the US have it pretty good with housing, if their health is pretty good.
One really nice feature of that house Zapins was interested in was that it looked somewhat secluded from the pictures anyway. I personally put a lot of value in that although others might not. I was particularly grateful to live in a very secluded place when I first started messing with oil burners! Prior to buying my first house 5 years ago I rented a house for ten years that was so secluded I could work in the yard till noon on my day off and then go put pants on. Pee anytime you want and shoot woodchucks right off the deck. As it is now I have to be more discerning about where I pee but I'm at least 200 ft from neighbors on either side and woods for a mile behind me, so it's still pretty good. I have to travel to go rifle shooting but I can live with it. There are usually some compromise involved in these decisions and it's nice to have a choice. Pete
Normally, I'd be inclined to make a joke here. However, there's no way that I could one-up the mental imagery of the above. Well done, sir!
@Zapins, you mentioned that you lost out in the house. Sorry, to hear it. When looking for a house in a competitive market, its always good to get loan pre-approved and have money in bank for a deposit. My inclination is buy instead of rent. If freedom to do what you want when you want is a high priority, then buying is almost certainly the best path. However, your anticipated 2-year occupancy of the house could translate into losing some money when you go to sell. If mortgage rates climb closer to historical norms, then that loss could be more than a little painful, since high mortgage rates typically translate to lower sale prices. I can think of a couple ways to go if breaking even or making a profit in house is important to you. First, buy a fixer-upper where everything in house is structurally sound before you buy it. In other words, your sweat equity is earned pretifying an ugly house. Second, buy a move in ready house that you will rent when you move on. I would only take this option if I could at least break even on monthly costs including the cost of a property manager. Never be an absentee landlord. Rented houses require a lot of time to protect investment.
If that happens, especially if it happens quickly, a lot of people will be screwed, they're up to their eyeballs in debt at the current rates, tack another 3, 4, or 5 percent on to the current rates and they won't be able to cope and there will be countless mortgage defaults and personal bankruptcies. At that point, there will be lots of deals available to people who have cash on hand or still have good credit. Eventually rates will rise again, let's hope the powers that be at the time (government, the fed, banks etc.) manage the increase well and allow people enough time to adjust or the results will be economic catastrophe. Where this is concerned, I'm not very hopeful.
I came down to Virginia to look at houses. Found a very nice one. Very nice. The most amazing garage workshop I could ever want fully wired with 100 amp sub breaker even has bathroom and toilet in the garage. Everything around the house and property is in mint condition. They want 142.5 k but I will see if they will go for 133 tomorrow. Most of the surrounding houses aren't as nice and several are somewhat rub down. The house is above the average for the area but there are also other nice houses intermixed on the surrounding streets. Low crime rate per neighbor, looks like a safe place for middle to low middle class people. It's been on the market for quite some time. 170 odd days, so probably overpriced at 142. I spoke with neighbors who said they think its too much at 142 and would offer 130ish. Maybe thats why so long without selling? Unsure exactly because the 80 yr old owner clearly spent every day fixing everything and keeping it in perfect condition. It's really very well maintained.
Cute house. I like the floors. Taking a shit next to a washer and dryer is a bit odd and the boob lights on the ceilings can be easily dumped. Looks good from the photos. Check out that hood closely. I see 5 trailers less than 500feet away. (Actually, they neighborhood is littered with single wide trailers. Damn shame!) They are never good for property values of single family home owners. Interesting that city zoning even allowed that nonsense. My dad told me whenever you look to buy a house, ALWAYS visit the hood on a Sat/Sunday. This saved my ass here in my town. We had found a nice home and on saturday when we did a drive by, it was 4x4's and boats parked in peoples front yards and I counted no fewer than 6 basketball nets in the road. PASS! I asked a resident there if they had an HOA, he said, no... I said YOU NEED ONE! Here we are 10years later and that neighborhood has turned to complete shit! I've never seen new 4bedroom homes that were 1200sq ft. They were more like 1bedroom houses with 3closets. They were new homes, but new cheap homes for young families. I get it, but it wasn't for us. No matter what the house... The 3 most important things about a home is LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION! Never forget that!
That would run the equivelant of $300K in my area over here. I knew I should have emigrated back in the 90's! Best of luck Zap, I know nothing about the US market but hope you get a plan on track.
That's a nice looking house. The garage looks almost as big as the house! Something to think about. Is this house one of the highest value homes in the neighborhood? If so, I'd think twice before buying. You plan on moving in 2 years. Might be difficult to resell without losing a chunk of change. Most/many people pick the neighborhood where they want to live before finding a house. Chances are, there are homes in better hoods nearby in same price range as that house. Best to buy least expensive, good-enough home in best neighborhood in your price range. Will be much easier to resell or rent, should you go down this path. Largest group of people looking for homes are families with kids. Next are couples who are planning to start a family. These people care about school quality more than anything else, in general. Here's my personal home buying rubric. 1. After determining my price range, I look at school districts. I find the neighborhoods with the best ranking elementary, middle, and high-schools. 2. I make a list of all the homes available at or near my price range with the highest ranked schools. 3. Next, I order those homes by distance to elemtary school. Moms and Dads like it if they can walk their kiddies to school in the morning. Also, close to school is safer when kiddies are old enough to walk themselves. 4. I also look at distances to middle and high schools, but those are less important than elementary school distance. 5. This step is advisable for sure. I check out state sex offender registry online, if available. Any home with a registered perv on same block or immediate vicinity, get nixed. 6. Next, I order homes by grocery store drivability. Might not be good to buy a house right next to a strip mall with grocery store, but being within 10 mins drive is important. This is less important in rural neighborhoods. 7. Next, cross off homes that don't have city water, sewer service. Water wells and septic tanks. No thanks. This rule might not make sense in rural neighborhoods, since most houses will have their own wells, septic tanks. 8. Internet service. These days, gotta have access to broadband Internet. This comes in many forms. Fiber is great, but I could live with cellular depending on price and ability to turn phone into wifi hotspot. 9. I cross off homes with pools. Pools ALWAYS have problems. Pool problems are expensive. Of course, in hot places like Florida, this rule might not make sense. I use the above to make my first pass list of homes. After this, I start looking at home quality stuff. Typically, more full bathrooms is more better. At least three bedroom, two full bathrooms is important for resale or rent price. One more thing. Almost forgot. Homes get bonus points if I can walk around outside naked, piss wherever I want, and can shoot woodchucks from my porch!
Its a nice house, but the comps in the immediate area are half the asking price. I'm not sure how well it would appraise for a mortgage because of this....
and I thought one of you guys were going to crucify me over spotting the trailers... I have nothing against a trailer, but just NIMBY. (not in my back yard)
We're waiting on the beer truck first, then comes the crucifixion I lived in a trailer for a few. Bought it fully furnished with a brand new lawn mower for $2500.00 yee yee... lol
That's a nice piece of property. I noticed that this morning the Zestimate was $133.9k, now it's $133.2k. That carport patio would make a nice foundry area. Garage workshop, propane tank on the side of the house. Grab that sucker.
Just got back from NJ. I saw 8 total properties. 6 were totally not suitable and would require too much time/money to bring back up to livable condition. The 2 contenders here are below: House 1: Same one Downsides: - Older couple, may not be able to move within 1 month meaning I'll have to double move, or store my stuff in the garage and rent another place for a month - Unsure about local trashy looking properties may impact resale later. There are several other houses within a few streets of the house that are similar value or higher, so it isn't the most expensive house in a trashy neighborhood - Was on market for 170 days at 142.5 k so it seems they have over priced the house for the area, they may not accept lower offers. Also may mean when I go to sell it in a few years I may lose money. - Laundry room is in a weird location: master bathroom?? (wtf??) But basically I think this is a simple fix that won't cost a lot to move the laundry machines on the other side of the kitchen in the lounge with the fire place and put up a sheet rock wall to make a dedicated laundry room. Upsides: - 3 blocks away from local high school and middle school and the kindergarten, which is a pro for reselling - Best garage ever, ready for all hobbies, plenty of space - Fully set up for dogs with fences in place (mother will come live with me for a while with her 2 dogs) - Vegetable patch - Immaculate condition from what I could see - I don't think there will be any major fixes over the next few years - 13 minutes from work, and 46 from the second hospital - Sits on 3 lots of land, so that gives resale options later Thoughts: - Based on what I can see my mortgage is going to be about $700 with all taxes and insurance included. To rent in this area a house costs $1200. So, even if when I go to resell later in a few years, if I rented for 2 years I'd pay 28.8 grand or if I bought this place it would cost 16.8 grand, so basically even if I sell the place at a 12,000 dollar loss in 2 years it would only bring the total cost per month up to the $1200 which is basically the same amount I'd have had to pay if I rented. - I could also just give it to my mother to stay in if she likes it down there - I could rent to other medical residents/students/local professionals that will work at the schools/etc and make 1200/month What am I missing? ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Downsides: - AC unit looks like its on its last legs and may need replacing - No dog fence for our dogs - Appliances are old and need replacing - Water heater of unknown age may need replacing? - Power not set up in garage for workshop yet but would be easy/cheap to install since breaker is inside garage - Bathrooms are ok, but not very nice to look at - Kitchen is ok, but not amazing - Garage is not as nice as house 1 - Further away from schools in area and places to work, unwalkable (15 mins by car?) Upsides: - Nice quiet place to raise a family - House is move in ready, empty and could be moved into as soon as bank closes - This house is one of the cheaper houses in the area in a good neighborhood, other houses are more expensive - This place is 25 minutes from one hospital and 26 from the other, so perfectly in the center - Nice new deck, will need painting - Very quiet area, can get good sleep here - Cheaper to buy the house at 125 asking price - Property is in decent condition, just needs beautifying - I May be able to sell the place for more than I bought it for in a few years if I put in some money to update appliances/property/garden/kitchen/maybe bathrooms Thoughts: - I feel like this house might be a good backup option if house 1 doesn't go through mainly because it will need some work to make it look better and get new appliances. It looks structurally intact but needs to be fixed up a bit, and at the back of my head I keep thinking I'm going down to VA to work hard and not going down to fix up a house. Any free time I have I want to work on hobbies not be forced to organize workmen or build things up. So I feel like it is less ideal in that respect. But there are a lot of other benefits for it.
I don't spot any flaws now, but in two years when you have turned that huge covered pinic area thingy into the foundry it was always meant to be, it wont be worth as much, and you wont be able to leave it
