Is it worth wildly overpaying to get a unique/'right' house?

[Viper GTS]

I have found myself in a bidding war for this:



Modest house, small lot, and an absolutely absurd six car garage that stretches basically the entire width of the property. It's WAY below our budget, listed at $409k. Somebody beat us to it and it's already under attorney review, but I have until this afternoon to convince them otherwise.

We are seriously considering coming in with a $460 or 470k offer which is likely far too high for the neighborhood. Most houses are well under $400k. We'd eat the appraisal shortage in cash which would hurt in the short term.

The argument for doing this is basically that this is a one of a kind property, no zoning rules will let you build that garage today. I'm effectively paying for that variance. With taxes roughly half anywhere else we have been looking the appraisal shortage I'm eating now is break-even in maybe five years. Also this search process would hopefully be over, because it sucks.

The argument against is obvious, I'm buying near all time highs and paying 50k+ over asking price on a $409k house.

Having never done this before I have no way to quantify this. My perspective is somewhat skewed by the fact that I've been looking at lots of $6-700k houses trying to find something that does what we want so even at $460k it seems stupidly cheap.

Is this the kind of thing that people end up regretting, or is it justified by being a cheap (relative to income) solution to nearly unattainable desires?

Viper GTS

 

[sdifox]

Lol houses around here are all bidding wars. We were the lowest bid but we got it because we were the most flexible on closing date. That suited the seller's needs.

 

[PottedMeat]

absolutely absurd six car garage that stretches basically the entire width of the property.

what i'd do
step 1. fill with cars and motorized equipment
step 2. remove 1 car to driveway, fill slot with tools and household crap
step 3. repeat step 2 until garage is 100% shed

step 4. baseball hailstorm and no place to hide

 

[Viper GTS]

what i'd do
step 1. fill with cars and motorized equipment
step 2. remove 1 car to driveway, fill slot with tools and household crap
step 3. repeat step 2 until garage is 100% shed

step 4. baseball hailstorm and no place to hide

Sadly that is what we see a ton of. Houses with three car garages advertised as having lots of storage or hobby space.

Or you could put a fucking car in it like you're supposed to.

Viper GTS

 

[Exterous]

Regret will depend a lot on personality and if you ever find out how much you overpaid. We had a two bid situation on the house we're in now and I found out we over paid by $10k. Thats like 2%, was still below market value and it still bothers me a little at times. I've also never been attached enough to a house to feel its the 'right one'. Just houses that meet most of the criteria that I can fix what doesn't.

 

[vi edit]

All I can say is do a lot of soul searching on the safety of your employment and is this is a place you *really* plan on staying at for a long time. That is a massive amount of cash to toss out the window on an oddball feature. You will have a lot of trouble flipping it in the future. That is as much a feature as it is a turn away. It takes a very special buyer that wants/needs that kind of thing in their backyard.

I would also try and get a quick lawyer review to make sure there is no room for city/zoning to come in and force you to tear it down.

 

[zinfamous]

6 car garage means you can run two separate theater rooms, with enough space left over for a workshop and 1 car.

btw, I like the zombie farm going on behind the property. be wary of teenagers and drunken midnight sexors.

 

[KB]

Do you really need the garage? Could you store stuff at a storage locker?
When was the garage built? If recently, the zoning board could look at it and determine its out of code.
And why go so high so quickly? They would probably be happy with 425K.

The fact you are willing to go that high means you really like the house and would regret it more if you lost it than if you overspent.
I think you know what you need to do.
Best of luck.

 

[MrSquished]

Going to 460 or 470K seems like a much higher jump than you need to go. They are only in attorney review. That offer is probably at 400K or so, you should just need to go over 20-25K. This is a 400K list price - the seller would be thrilled with an extra 25K, why give them 50-70K?

Take your money, offer 430K or 23K over ask, and make the offer stronger elsewhere, like put 30% down. Makes your offer look stronger, and that money is working for you, not in the seller's pocket.

The only thing is they'll give the original buyer a chance to match. Do you know if the listing agent is also representing these buyers?

 

[PricklyPete]

If you live there for the next 20 years...you won’t care. If you live there 5...you will kick yourself.

When I bought my first house...I had all kinds of plans I what I was going to do with it..blah, blah. Only lived in on two years before I took an opportunity that I could not resist. Rented the place out for another 6 before selling it.

You need to be really sure...and if you are...just give them an extra 25k...no reason to come in that strong.

 

[Thebobo]

6 car garage means you can run two separate theater rooms, with enough space left over for a workshop and 1 car.

btw, I like the zombie farm going on behind the property. be wary of teenagers and drunken midnight sexors.

That's where all the neighborhood teenagers go to smoke weed and drink beer. Well at least that's were I would of gone but these days they probably all have cars.

 

[Viper GTS]

Going to 460 or 470K seems like a much higher jump than you need to go. They are only in attorney review. That offer is probably at 400K or so, you should just need to go over 20-25K. This is a 400K list price - the seller would be thrilled with an extra 25K, why give them 50-70K?

Take your money, offer 430K or 23K over ask, and make the offer stronger elsewhere, like put 30% down. Makes your offer look stronger, and that money is working for you, not in the seller's pocket.

The only thing is they'll give the original buyer a chance to match. Do you know if the listing agent is also representing these buyers?

Both initial offers were at asking. I went to $430k, they matched it, I went to $440k and it's now last/best by this afternoon. My agent is convinced that the buyer is not using the same agent as the seller.

Do you really need the garage? Could you store stuff at a storage locker?
When was the garage built? If recently, the zoning board could look at it and determine its out of code.
And why go so high so quickly? They would probably be happy with 425K.

The fact you are willing to go that high means you really like the house and would regret it more if you lost it than if you overspent.
I think you know what you need to do.
Best of luck.

Garage is old, it needs work (new garage doors mostly, plus it needs far more lighting and power).

It will not be used to store stuff - I've had no fewer than three cars for the last four years, and had four until last weekend. It will be nearly full of cars and/or car related stuff on day one - toolbox/future cnc shop bay, dedicated lift bay, and four cars + par one in the lift bay when I reach that point.

Viper GTS

 

[tynopik]

no garage attached to the house? that's a pain

what's the solar setup like?

what advantage do the $6-700k homes have over this?

 

[Greenman]

If it's what you want then buy it.

 

[UglyCasanova]

A house is worth whatever you are willing to pay for it. If you are stating it’s overpriced though I think you just answered your own question. The lender when underwriting isn’t going to give you more than the appraised value so you may run into financing issues if you start bidding it up. And I wouldn’t want to be in a situation knowing I’m going to take a loss if I have to sell.

 

[Viper GTS]

no garage attached to the house? that's a pain

what's the solar setup like?

what advantage do the $6-700k homes have over this?

Don't know on the solar. It's new-ish (done last year), so my cursory investigation says probably 200 or 300 watts per panel times nine panels. It's grid tied, with no battery system. Wiring is fully updated with a somewhat obscene 225A service (it's not a big house) and lots of circuits. Very much like I would have done if it were mine. And yes, a couple attached garages would make this even better - Ideally I'd like 2 or 3 attached + something like this external but that's $1M+ territory easy before you start seeing that kind of thing. I don't really want project/modified cars stored under the house (fire, etc) so I'll take solely detached over solely attached any day.

This is the NY metro area (Northern New Jersey), so $6-700k gets you a 3-4 bed, 3 bath house in a more desirable neighborhood (closer to the city basically). Two car garage, maybe three if you are lucky. Essentially nothing has more than three, and nearly nothing has both attached and detached. Most have not been updated as recently or as thoroughly as this one, so you're looking at a $6-700k house that immediately needs a ton of work.

Basically this part of the world sucks for cars unless you have essentially unlimited money. I have far more than most, but nowhere near unlimited.

Viper GTS

 

[pauldun170]

I just realized I could use a 6 car garage.
2 cars? Check
2 Motorcycles? Check
4 Bicycles? Check
Big ole toolchest
Yard equipment, ladders, camping gear? Check

||Car||Car||Motorcycle||Motorcycle||Tools workspace||Everything else||

How safe is the neighborhood? Do I have to worry about people breaking into the garage?
Ima gonna bid $5 over whatever Viper GTS bids.

 

[purbeast0]

It's not "overpriced" if you are willing to pay for it. If it was "overpriced" you wouldn't be willing to pay for it.

And only you can make the decision as to how much you think it's worth, not a bunch of strangers on the internet.

 

[tynopik]

so $6-700k gets you a 3-4 bed, 3 bath house

what does this house have? and how many people are going to be living in it?

in a more desirable neighborhood (closer to the city basically).

would they be a shorter daily commute and by how much?

if it's just shorter for something you would visit on the weekends or once a month, that doesn't seem so important

 

[MrSquished]

Both initial offers were at asking. I went to $430k, they matched it, I went to $440k and it's now last/best by this afternoon. My agent is convinced that the buyer is not using the same agent as the seller.

Ahhhhhh. Ok so then yeah, if the house is worth it to you at the 460K range then do it. Since the house is already at 430K and someone else is willing to spend that money, you won't be paying that much over market value at the end of the day. It sounds like you have some very unique needs that you can't get anywhere else but here so go get and enjoy the life you build there, as well as the cars. You said you have the cash to cover appraisal issues. Are you waiving the appraisal contingency with your offer?

 

[Red Squirrel]

I bet the bureaucracy involved and getting that garage built probably cost a crazy amount of money, so it's something to factor in. That is one hell of an awesome garage, and house has solar panels too. That's a big selling point too imo. 400k is quite a lot of money either way though. There are houses in that range here but they don't really have anything super special other than the fact that they are huge mansions, though they usually have like a 2 or 3 car garage.

If you can afford it I'd say go for it. I'm not so much of a car person but I do like the idea of a huge work area, which I don't have with my current house. Next house I think that will be my primary focal point. I still dream of buying land in an unorganized township so I can build whatever the hell I want but there is not much land like that in my area. There's a 60k parcel of land about 2 hours from here, I'm still kinda eyeing it but I feel I can probably do better.

 

[Zeze]

Based on what I read, you're effectively overpaying $50K+ just because of the 6 garage? Well do you have 6 cars that need garages immediately?

I didn't see any other reason except you're sick of looking (I know how that feels, I saw 30~ houses in person before finally buying).

 

[Zeze]

Lol houses around here are all bidding wars. We were the lowest bid but we got it because we were the most flexible on closing date. That suited the seller's needs.

Where are you?

Is it me or housing boom is still EVERYWHERE today in US? Homes get sold within the weekend, if not in 24 hours - all on my first account:

1. Northern NJ: When I bought my home it was sold within 24 hours thanks to me. I saw 30 homes over 6 weeks before while carrying an infant.
2. Northern MA: My mom sold her house in 30 min drive suburbs within 2 days.
3. ATL suburbs: My cousins bought a brand new home before it was even listed on MLS.
4. Dallas - Fort Worth: Homes are built like toys over there. I hear they're gobbled up all in a bidding war above the asking price.

Is this 2008 crash all over again? Probably not immediately, lending practices haven't deteriorated as much.

 

[SKORPI0]

6 car garage means you can run two separate theater rooms, with enough space left over for a workshop and 1 car.

It has a 1000 sq. ft. unfinished basement....

 

[Zeze]

It has a 1000 sq. ft. unfinished basement....

@Viper GTS hey you're like 40 min drive from me. Buy it and I'll stop by.

That garbage does not look appealing to me actually. It's worn down considerably and it WILL BE a big money/time sink. I'm surprised you're paying $50K EXTRA just to have this. But I guess that's how everyone's different.