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How Do I Buy a Condo?

K

Kenji4861

Banned
I'm looking through realtor.com and I'm pretty sure, like a car, we don't just pay what they tell us to right?

How much can/should I offer for a place? For example, if it's a $250k condo, would it be ridiculous for me to ask for $225?
 
you buy a condo like you would a house. offer lower than what you expect to pay.. and settle somewhere in the middle of the offer price and the listed price.
 
How much can/should I offer for a place? For example, if it's a $250k condo, would it be ridiculous for me to ask for $225?
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You can lowball as low as you wish, the worst that can happen is you will piss off the owner and he will not even counter-offer your lowball.

In real estate (most markets) properties sell below the listed price, there is generally 1-3 rounds of offer/counter-offer being traded before a final price is agreed upon. If you are serious, get your own realtor (the seller pays him/her...the commision is split between the listing realtor and your realtor) so you will have someone with your best interests in mind as opposed to using the sellers agent who wants to get the most money for the property, and is in all reality representing the sellers interests.
 
I just bought in November. My condo originally had an asking price of $116k, she dropped it to $109,900 after 45 days. I offered $106k and she countered w/exceptions and I accepted. My agent, who had some experience, said 5% off was an acceptable offer but it depends on your market and how fast properties move. Have your agent or access the MLS and get a couple years worth of listings/selling prices for the area where you are looking.

cliff's answer: $25k off is 10% which is bordering on lowballing but it all depends on your market. If you're gonna lowball, ask for all of the appliances, the family pet and a couple nights with the spouse... :beer:😀

edit: when you look at the final sale prices, also check how long it took those properties to sell and how much they were discounted from asking price. Each property is different; my condo is entirely finished except for patching nail holes where pictures were once hung. Some of those super-cheapies that sold previously may have needed a ton of work.
 
We own a condo, and my sister in law bought a condo in july. was listed for $130k, she offered $120k, they settled on 125k. She also got all the appliances/washer dryer and light fixtures and window dressings. We got a good deal on our condo. Previous owner sold it for less than what it was worth. She took a hit on it. But we got all the appliances and window/light fixtures as well.
 
my grandfather is selling his condo in colombia at the moment. 4br/2bath. beautiful spot in one of the biggest cities. low murder/kidnapping numbers. 😎
 
And one more point.

Use caution buying condos, the maintenance/association fees can kill you. And guess what...they never, ever go down...always up 😛
 
I have an add/bump. Realtor.com does not show the assoc. fees in their listings. In GR, we have www.grar.com which shows all TRUE MLS listings (and the assoc. fees for condos) for greater Grand Rapids. It's possible your locale has a real MLS website; I don't know how to find it though.
 
Originally posted by: Sluggo
And one more point.

Use caution buying condos, the maintenance/association fees can kill you. And guess what...they never, ever go down...always up 😛
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Good point.. Our condo fees started out fairly low. $250/mth including utilities. (that was 5 years ago) they jumped $40 from last year to this year. up to $320/mth
 
my ex girlfriend sold her 3br/2.5bath/1car garage condo in san jose for 400k (listed for 400k). she received an offer of 388k and wrote the realator a nasty email saying not to bother her w/ lowball offers

buying/selling a condo is 99% the same as buying/selling a house
 
As mentioned, it depends on the market. We made three offers on houses in 2003 and the first we lowballed by about $2k, and they took instead an offer for what they were asking. Another house we made an offer at what they were asking and it was already under contract (at asking price). The house we ended up buying we offered exactly what they were asking. There was just no budging locally because last summer houses were going FAST and you were lucky to get it at asking price before somebody else came in! BTW we used a real estate agent who directed us accordingly.
 
Originally posted by: SweetSweetLeroyBrown
depends on how hot the market is

you can go as low as $220 on $250 if the Market is slow...if it's hotter, go for $235-$240
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And, in a really hot market, a bidding war could develop - taking the price higher than $250K.

 
Originally posted by: CChaos
3% under the list is a lowball worthy of a nasty email?
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It shouldn't be! I can understand writing back saying no lowballs, but being nasty about it is pointless and petty.

 
I looked at new condos and there is zero wiggle room for haggling, especially in NYC.
 
the market in our area is literally ridiculous(montclair, nj).

to wit: last year we bid about $40,000 above the asking price of $399,000 on a small 3 bdr/1 bath. the winning bid was $511,000. the year before, the house next to that one was asking $319,000 and it sold for $351,000.

crazy sh!t!
 
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