I was going to buy a house...

[uberman]

You might have just lucked out. I've found realtors to be crooks. I put them with used car salesmen and people who sell timeshares. I know people who are very succesful realtors who brag how they fool people. That's just my opinion.

I dealt with a realtor who knew very clearly that we wanted a house without a cattle ranch or feedlot nearby. She steered us toward a house with a feed lot hidden behind some trees. We didn't know it was there. The house was great. We put down earnest money. When they rejected the offer we danced with glee.

 

[Scarpozzi]

Just remember, people may say you'll get a better deal if you wait for the market conditions to improve. In actuality, the market would have to fall apart for real estate prices to decrease. Too many people are buying and selling for profit and not for living. This generates bloated prices and even higher taxes for those who are just now getting into a home. Buy as soon as you can and get the best financing you can....refinance later if mortgage rates drop.... I'm still on my first house and will hopefully be able to buy a second home in 3 years time.

Consider buying a fixer upper if you can find one. Home improvement takes a lot of time to achieve, but can save you a lot of money up front if you do the work yourself and space projects out over time. Plus, you get more of a say in the details of your house. (example, my bathroom and bedrooms look like a million bucks but weren't insulated enough and were hidious when I bought my place....and it only cost me about $2000 total in materials over 2 years....approximately 2-3 weeks of labor days working weekends)

 

[Scarpozzi]

Originally posted by: uberman
You might have just lucked out. I've found realtors to be crooks. I put them with used car salesmen and people who sell timeshares. I know people who are very succesful realtors who brag how they fool people. That's just my opinion.

I dealt with a realtor who knew very clearly that we wanted a house without a cattle ranch or feedlot nearby. She steered us toward a house with a feed lot hidden behind some trees. We didn't know it was there. The house was great. We put down earnest money. When they did not except the offer we danced with glee.

My real estate agent constantly talked me out of houses that she took me to when she judged the neighborhoods versus the work needed to fix the houses up. We eventually found the one I bought and she was going to talk me out of it too, but then she looked at the houses in the area and saw that it's a hotspot of growth....my house was $40k under the market in my neighborhood. She gave me the go ahead to buy.

 

[SunnyD]

Originally posted by: Scarpozzi
Just remember, people may say you'll get a better deal if you wait for the market conditions to improve. In actuality, the market would have to fall apart for real estate prices to decrease. Too many people are buying and selling for profit and not for living. This generates bloated prices and even higher taxes for those who are just now getting into a home. Buy as soon as you can and get the best financing you can....refinance later if mortgage rates drop.... I'm still on my first house and will hopefully be able to buy a second home in 3 years time.

Consider buying a fixer upper if you can find one. Home improvement takes a lot of time to achieve, but can save you a lot of money up front if you do the work yourself and space projects out over time. Plus, you get more of a say in the details of your house. (example, my bathroom and bedrooms look like a million bucks but weren't insulated enough and were hidious when I bought my place....and it only cost me about $2000 total in materials over 2 years....approximately 2-3 weeks of labor days working weekends)

Right on... I agree with you completely. Unfortunately, even the crappy uninhabitable fixer-uppers around here cost just as much as an inhabitable house, for the exact reasons you mentioned. Thankfully the bubble started falling apart in the last six months, which has seen houses in my price range as people panic.

I do have another issue though - as I have no solubility in my situation, the house that I find must be inhabitable from day one, and as a condition I put to my wife due to the tightness of money, must be livable as is for the foreseeable future, as we may never have additional funds to improve with. I am the eternal pessimist as you can see, but for good reason. The last 10 years have been hard enough.

 

[uberman]

Originally posted by: Scarpozzi

Originally posted by: uberman
You might have just lucked out. I've found realtors to be crooks. I put them with used car salesmen and people who sell timeshares. I know people who are very succesful realtors who brag how they fool people. That's just my opinion.

I dealt with a realtor who knew very clearly that we wanted a house without a cattle ranch or feedlot nearby. She steered us toward a house with a feed lot hidden behind some trees. We didn't know it was there. The house was great. We put down earnest money. When they did not except the offer we danced with glee.

My real estate agent constantly talked me out of houses that she took me to when she judged the neighborhoods versus the work needed to fix the houses up. We eventually found the one I bought and she was going to talk me out of it too, but then she looked at the houses in the area and saw that it's a hotspot of growth....my house was $40k under the market in my neighborhood. She gave me the go ahead to buy.

It sounds like you found a diamond in the rough. There's many people who are happy with their timeshares.

Just a hunch but I'm wondering if Scarpozzi is a realtor.

 

[Dirigible]

That blows. Here's to you finding something even better soon.

 

[waggy]

Originally posted by: SunnyD
My euphoric thanksgiving high has been smashed into the ground about 5 minutes ago.

My wife and I were happy to finally be in a position to buy a home after 10 years of hard-fought battles with life. After weeks of looking, we finally settled on a home - a compromise of space versus yard for the Orlando area. We had made the choice of a modest almost-1300 sqft house with a decent sized yard, bigger than average which would suit the kids just fine.

After a bit of negotiating, we and the seller agreed on the price, and all that was left was for the paperwork to be signed. We completed our offer, and then waited for the seller to sign and we would proceed to the next step. As our agent patiently waited with us over the course of all last week, we figured the holidays, plus the fact that the seller now resides in Puerto Rico were holding things up.

Yawn, snore... fast forward to 10 minutes ago. My agent calls, and gives me the line, "You want the good news or the bad news?" Last time she asked this it was a minor thing regarding closing costs or something. Being Monday, I opt for the bad news.

The seller has decided not to sell the house. As in not at all... pulled the listing. After three months on the market, now, when the seller actually has a decent offer in his hands, he quashed the idea completely. Even the seller's agent was outright pissed.

man that does suck. hate it when they pull out at the last minute.

I know there's other houses out there, but to come this far for nothing just royally pissed me off, especially for the timing of the thing. This was already down to the wire, as my lease is up at the end of the month, and we are now looking at no permanent place to live for the foreseeable future.

well as much as that sucks you should have planned better. hopefully you find something or the landlord will let you do a month to month.

Originally posted by: Scarpozzi

My real estate agent constantly talked me out of houses that she took me to when she judged the neighborhoods versus the work needed to fix the houses up. We eventually found the one I bought and she was going to talk me out of it too, but then she looked at the houses in the area and saw that it's a hotspot of growth....my house was $40k under the market in my neighborhood. She gave me the go ahead to buy.

and she thought she had a say in it why? there is no reason she should agree with or disagree with the purchase. "she gave the go ahead to buy" pfft if it was a place i liked i wouldnt give a ****** if she gave the go ahead or not. its not her choice.

sounds like you let her have far to much conrol over the matter.

 

[Whoozyerdaddy]

I have a 1300 sq ft house for sale. It's a little outside of Orlando though.







Ok Ok... It's in Alaska. But it's very nice.

 

[Squisher]

I feel sorry for you, but in this buyer's market buying a house is the easy part.

Buyers have such the upper hand around here that the house I bought for $335K in the summer of '05 would probably go for around $300K now.

 

[Gilligansdingy]

Originally posted by: IcebergSlim
1300 sq/ft would be awfully cramped with more than 1 kid IMO

Try 2 kids and 800sq/ft. We move out on the 1st into first house. Don't know what I am going to do with 1900sq/ft

 

[Slew Foot]

The good news is that in 6 months that home in Florida will be 20% less.

 

[rudder]

Originally posted by: judasmachine
Do what I did and inherit one. It's much easier.

We at Smith Barney make money the old fashion way, we inherit it.


(actually the house is all I'm getting.)

hmmm now to find a way to knock off my parents and not get arrested. Any tips?

 

[AdamK47]

Getting a house is half of the problem. Having the wife spend your money to change things she doesn't like about it is the other half. I've spend $5000 in just two months for a $3000 fridge, $1500 new baseboards, and $500 curtains (for one window). The original fridge was fine, the baseboards looked good still, and I could have lived with the blinds on that one window, but noooo....

 

[chambersc]

Originally posted by: SunnyD

While a true point, sleeping arrangement are of little consequence. My kids have not had much opportunity over the last several years to actually enjoy the outdoors. Between work for me and school for my wife and kids, and the lack of decent neighborhoods around here, it becomes a problem to find daytime hours to take the kids to the park. Just having a yard for them to run around in would make a world of difference. As I've said, the majority of the last several years have been couped up in an apartment, and I'm tired of paying someone else's mortgage.

To top it off, down here a 1600 sqft house would cost me around 200k, which is way out of my budget.

Thanks for the tip on development though. I had one person mention a particular location with some planned development in the near future as a possible selling point. I think I may avoid that.

With any luck, we're going to look at another house literally a few blocks away from the one we were signing on. It's has some potential, but also costs a bit more.

To be fair, a development that ISN'T is sub-200s is going to be a rarity, even around deltona.

 

[Scarpozzi]

Originally posted by: waggy

Originally posted by: Scarpozzi
My real estate agent constantly talked me out of houses that she took me to when she judged the neighborhoods versus the work needed to fix the houses up. We eventually found the one I bought and she was going to talk me out of it too, but then she looked at the houses in the area and saw that it's a hotspot of growth....my house was $40k under the market in my neighborhood. She gave me the go ahead to buy.

and she thought she had a say in it why? there is no reason she should agree with or disagree with the purchase. "she gave the go ahead to buy" pfft if it was a place i liked i wouldnt give a ****** if she gave the go ahead or not. its not her choice.

sounds like you let her have far to much conrol over the matter.

Ultimately it was my decision, but I asked for her honest opinion. I was purchasing this house as a single guy and my first house. I didn't have parents or a wife to consort with... It was a big decision and I welcomed outside critique.
I just trusted this lady. We were teammates in 3-4 classes in grad school. (she was 20 years my senior though and had been a real estate agent for 11 years) Her motives were to get me in a house that would make me happy...and from my price-range, she knew the commission would be low. We spent plenty of time talking about what I was looking for and she supported me and recommended offers and counteroffers until I was able to talk the sellers down $5k off their already reasonable price. 2 months after I bought the place, the tax appraisal was $8k over what I paid for it...

It was the second best decision I've made in the last 3 years.

 

[Scarpozzi]

Originally posted by: AdamK47 3DS
Getting a house is half of the problem. Having the wife spend your money to change things she doesn't like about it is the other half. I've spend $5000 in just two months for a $3000 fridge, $1500 new baseboards, and $500 curtains (for one window). The original fridge was fine, the baseboards looked good still, and I could have lived with the blinds on that one window, but noooo....

$3k for a fridge? I would have taken it back. The most I would ever spend on a fridge is $1000...my current one is a 26 cubic foot Kenmore Elite that I paid $750 for because it has a small dent in the door that no one even notices. I'll be sure to enjoy having that extra $2250 to spend on beer to stock it.