Buying a house....what do most people do....?

[Scarpozzi]

So I'm trying to buy my first house. I don't exactly have a lot of cash saved up because I'm 23 and haven't made REAL money yet. My job only pays me around $33k. I found a house in a EXTREMELY popular area. Many houses in this part of town have been renovated lately and sold for around $160k to $280k and they're nothing special....just tile, original hard wood, updated kitchens. It's all about location and distance to downtown...about 1 mile.


So I found a house for $95k and made an offer today of $87,500 plus buyer pays closing. That would bring the total to about $82,500... Is that too much to ask off the asking price? The house has only been on the market 11 days so I don't know what the seller is expecting...I just know I'm the first to jump on it.

 

[Ameesh]

Originally posted by: Scarpozzi
So I'm trying to buy my first house. I don't exactly have a lot of cash saved up because I'm 23 and haven't made REAL money yet. My job only pays me around $33k. I found a house in a EXTREMELY popular area. Many houses in this part of town have been renovated lately and sold for around $160k to $280k and they're nothing special....just tile, original hard wood, updated kitchens. It's all about location and distance to downtown...about 1 mile.


So I found a house for $95k and made an offer today of $87,500 plus buyer pays closing. That would bring the total to about $82,500... Is that too much to ask off the asking price? The house has only been on the market 11 days so I don't know what the seller is expecting...I just know I'm the first to jump on it.

its never too much to ask, you are making the biggest investment of your life, you can ask for whatever you want. i think your first offer is a reasonable starting point. its about 15% off what they were asking, which is fine, it gives them some room to move up and you can stoill be satisfied.

 

[DrPizza]

Hmmm....
"buyer pays closing"??

I hadn't heard of that before - which specific costs are you referring to?
For instance, they buyer already payed the property taxes for the year on the house. Usually, they pro-rate the taxes paid for and part of your closing costs are to pay the taxes to the buyer for the portion of the year remaining.

It's been a while, I can't remember all the other costs.. Oh, but 87500 isn't a bad offer. It depends on the market, but in most markets, they expect a little back and forth over the final price.

 

[waggy]

call around! Since this i your first house you can find programs that will help you. In my area they have one that will pay 2% downpayment if you live in the town. etc.

but the offer you are thinking of is fine. I kinda lowballed on my first house and they accepted. But then again it was on the market for 2 years and they wanted to sale.

 

[SpunkyJones]

Originally posted by: Scarpozzi
So I'm trying to buy my first house. I don't exactly have a lot of cash saved up because I'm 23 and haven't made REAL money yet. My job only pays me around $33k. I found a house in a EXTREMELY popular area. Many houses in this part of town have been renovated lately and sold for around $160k to $280k and they're nothing special....just tile, original hard wood, updated kitchens. It's all about location and distance to downtown...about 1 mile.


So I found a house for $95k and made an offer today of $87,500 plus buyer pays closing. That would bring the total to about $82,500... Is that too much to ask off the asking price? The house has only been on the market 11 days so I don't know what the seller is expecting...I just know I'm the first to jump on it.

Nothing to worry about, your offer is fine, the worst that happens is that they say no, then you negotiate from there. Nothing wrong with a bit of low balling, for they are probably doing the same thing in reverse. Its all part of the game.

Paying under $90,000 for a house is making my head dizzy. I bought my first house last year for $290,000!!! Now I'm going to mope around all day at work.

 

[rh71]

"just tile, original hardwood, updated kitchen"... heh... that still cost us $330k for a starter house around these parts. Our closing costs were $10k and it hurt.

The one thing I'd be worried about is that it is an EXTREMELY popular area. It depends how much the place means to you. If it's not a case of must-have, then I'd agree your offer was fine. Feel them out. BTW, is this a for-sale-by-owner or what ?

 

[Linflas]

Originally posted by: DrPizza
Hmmm....
"buyer pays closing"??

I hadn't heard of that before - which specific costs are you referring to?
For instance, they buyer already payed the property taxes for the year on the house. Usually, they pro-rate the taxes paid for and part of your closing costs are to pay the taxes to the buyer for the portion of the year remaining.

It's been a while, I can't remember all the other costs.. Oh, but 87500 isn't a bad offer. It depends on the market, but in most markets, they expect a little back and forth over the final price.

The first house we bought the seller paid all closing costs. That plus my being eligible for a VA meant that we actually walked away from settlement with a check.

 

[tomstevens26]

Typically it's been my experience that you do one or the other - either negotiate on the asking price OR ask the seller to pay closing. Of course it can't hurt to ask....all they can do is say no.

Tom

 

[Jzero]

We requested $5000 towards closing costs in our contract.

It's kind of a lowball, but the worst that can happen is he says "No!" So why not?