Newly listed townhome.

[ragazzo]

If a really nice townhome that is newly listed is going for $349K, how much should I offer?

 

What city is it in?

 

[ElFenix]

how many sq ft?


(the most important thing is to know how much other houses in the neighborhood are going for)

 

[Mr N8]

I don't think they would accept more that 10% down from their asking, but I would still ask 15%, just in case. It would suck to have them readily accept your first offer, and then you are wondering what you could have gotten it for.

 

[vi edit]

If it's a fast moving market and my asking price was reasonable I'd wipe my butt with an offer that was $30,000+ below my asking price.

But that's just me and I don't know jack about your market and if the place is overpriced or not.

 

[Vic]

Doesn't the idea of paying almost $350k for a glorified apartment bother you? Personally, if I'm gonna shell out $2k or more each month to live somewhere, I want a place where I can turn up my stereo and have a yard to enjoy, and NOT shared walls with my neighbors.

 

[Doggiedog]

In NJ, I'd be willing to bet you'll get into a price war. When I was looking for a house a while back, I put in $10K above asking and I still lost...by a lot.

Edit: My ex-boss put his place up on the market last summer and the first person to come plopped down the $1.6M asking price without hesitation.

 

[K1052]

Originally posted by: Vic
Doesn't the idea of paying almost $350k for a glorified apartment bother you? Personally, if I'm gonna shell out $2k or more each month to live somewhere, I want a place where I can turn up my stereo and have a yard to enjoy, and NOT shared walls with my neighbors.

Unfortunately, that is not an option for everyone. At least not without a 2+ hour daily commute.

I really wish it was.:frown:

 

[richardycc]

depends how hot is your market, sometimes even an offer at the asking price won't get you the house.

 

[vi edit]

Originally posted by: Vic
Doesn't the idea of paying almost $350k for a glorified apartment bother you? Personally, if I'm gonna shell out $2k or more each month to live somewhere, I want a place where I can turn up my stereo and have a yard to enjoy, and NOT shared walls with my neighbors.

For a first home or a professional that isn't home a lot it's a great compromise. Typically townhomes are part of an association that covers all landscaping and external repairs on the place, you get the same amount of living space for a decent amount less (~10% here) and you do lots of times have an even bigger common ground to mess around in behind the place than you would owning your own home.

It's not for everyone, but it works well for many.

 

[sohcrates]

I just lost my THIRD contract on townhomes in the wash DC area. this is *such* a sellers market. on every single contract i have offered FULL asking price, Included up to 10K in escalation, AND struck appraisal on most and home inspection on ever one. And i still lost them all. I am about ready to give up. This market here in insane. And i'm looking at homes in the 400K region

 

[meltdown75]

Go low, like, really low. $300,000. If you're not involved in a bidding war, the ideal price to get this property at would be around $325,000. I'm just going on trends I have seen in real estate markets in my area. Oh I work in property assessment btw - when I'm not on ATOT.

 

[Doggiedog]

Originally posted by: meltdown75
Go low, like, really low. $300,000. If you're not involved in a bidding war, the ideal price to get this property at would be around $325,000. I'm just going on trends I have seen in real estate markets in my area. Oh I work in property assessment btw - when I'm not on ATOT.

Methinks you are not familiar with the real estate market in the NYC-NJ-CT area.

 

[blackdogdeek]

Originally posted by: sohcrates
I just lost my THIRD contract on townhomes in the wash DC area. this is *such* a sellers market. on every single contract i have offered FULL asking price, Included up to 10K in escalation, AND struck appraisal on most and home inspection on ever one. And i still lost them all. I am about ready to give up. This market here in insane. And i'm looking at homes in the 400K region

when we were looking in the montclair, nj area 2 years ago there was a house on the market for $395K. we bid $440k and didn't get it. someone bid $505k and they didn't get it either.

the winning bid was $511k.

 

[sohcrates]

Originally posted by: blackdogdeek

Originally posted by: sohcrates
I just lost my THIRD contract on townhomes in the wash DC area. this is *such* a sellers market. on every single contract i have offered FULL asking price, Included up to 10K in escalation, AND struck appraisal on most and home inspection on ever one. And i still lost them all. I am about ready to give up. This market here in insane. And i'm looking at homes in the 400K region

when we were looking in the montclair, nj area 2 years ago there was a house on the market for $395K. we bid $440k and didn't get it. someone bid $505k and they didn't get it either.

the winning bid was $511k.

wow, wonder if it even appraised anywhere near that

i'm quickly learning that if people want a home, they are obviously willing to pay for it

 

[Vic]

Originally posted by: sohcrates

Originally posted by: blackdogdeek

Originally posted by: sohcrates
I just lost my THIRD contract on townhomes in the wash DC area. this is *such* a sellers market. on every single contract i have offered FULL asking price, Included up to 10K in escalation, AND struck appraisal on most and home inspection on ever one. And i still lost them all. I am about ready to give up. This market here in insane. And i'm looking at homes in the 400K region

when we were looking in the montclair, nj area 2 years ago there was a house on the market for $395K. we bid $440k and didn't get it. someone bid $505k and they didn't get it either.

the winning bid was $511k.

wow, wonder if it even appraised anywhere near that

i'm quickly learning that if people want a home, they are obviously willing to pay for it

That was my first thought when I read that story. How the hell did they appraise it?

 

[meltdown75]

Originally posted by: Doggiedog

Originally posted by: meltdown75
Go low, like, really low. $300,000. If you're not involved in a bidding war, the ideal price to get this property at would be around $325,000. I'm just going on trends I have seen in real estate markets in my area. Oh I work in property assessment btw - when I'm not on ATOT.

Methinks you are not familiar with the real estate market in the NYC-NJ-CT area.

You bet yer ass I'm not.

 

[vi edit]

Originally posted by: Vic

Originally posted by: sohcrates

Originally posted by: blackdogdeek

Originally posted by: sohcrates
I just lost my THIRD contract on townhomes in the wash DC area. this is *such* a sellers market. on every single contract i have offered FULL asking price, Included up to 10K in escalation, AND struck appraisal on most and home inspection on ever one. And i still lost them all. I am about ready to give up. This market here in insane. And i'm looking at homes in the 400K region

when we were looking in the montclair, nj area 2 years ago there was a house on the market for $395K. we bid $440k and didn't get it. someone bid $505k and they didn't get it either.

the winning bid was $511k.

wow, wonder if it even appraised anywhere near that

i'm quickly learning that if people want a home, they are obviously willing to pay for it

That was my first thought when I read that story. How the hell did they appraise it?

I'm assuming it's illegal to bid on a house for an asking price and then just cut a second check directly payable to the seller as a bonus to accept their offer?

 

[MBony]

link to pics/info?

 

[Doggiedog]

Originally posted by: Vic

Originally posted by: sohcrates

Originally posted by: blackdogdeek

Originally posted by: sohcrates
I just lost my THIRD contract on townhomes in the wash DC area. this is *such* a sellers market. on every single contract i have offered FULL asking price, Included up to 10K in escalation, AND struck appraisal on most and home inspection on ever one. And i still lost them all. I am about ready to give up. This market here in insane. And i'm looking at homes in the 400K region

when we were looking in the montclair, nj area 2 years ago there was a house on the market for $395K. we bid $440k and didn't get it. someone bid $505k and they didn't get it either.

the winning bid was $511k.

wow, wonder if it even appraised anywhere near that

i'm quickly learning that if people want a home, they are obviously willing to pay for it

That was my first thought when I read that story. How the hell did they appraise it?

This isn't uncommon. There are areas around here that have particularly good school systems and new developments or nice houses are hard to come by. In my case, the house I bid on was already overpriced for what you were getting but I still felt I had to beat the asking to get it. My RE agent told me $25K above asking would get it but I felt it wasn't worth it. When it was sold, it was $50K over asking which was ridiculous for a small townhouse with a terrible interior layout and a 3/4 sized indoor garage. The only redeeming factor was that the school system is the best in the area.

 

[Kelemvor]

I tall depend son the area. If houses sell fast in that part of town, then offer them asking or just a bit under. 10% less is $35k which is way out of line. I'd offer may $10k less if you really think it's not worth it or there are repairs that are needed (you will make a home inspection contigency right?!?!)

 

[Vic]

Originally posted by: vi_edit
I'm assuming it's illegal to bid on a house for an asking price and then just cut a second check directly payable to the seller as a bonus to accept their offer?

I don't believe that is illegal, it just doesn't make sense. Why not just include the "bonus" in a higher offer?
If a buyer wants to pay more for a home than it is worth, they certainly can do so, it's just that financing is based off either the appraised value or the purchase price, whichever is lower.

Doggiedog, the issue is that appraised values are based off of comparable sales in the area. If the purchase price cannot be supported by reasonable comps, then there can be problems with the buyer's financing.

 

[Doggiedog]

Originally posted by: Vic

Originally posted by: vi_edit
I'm assuming it's illegal to bid on a house for an asking price and then just cut a second check directly payable to the seller as a bonus to accept their offer?

I don't believe that is illegal, it just doesn't make sense. Why not just include the "bonus" in a higher offer?
If a buyer wants to pay more for a home than it is worth, they certainly can do so, it's just that financing is based off either the appraised value or the purchase price, whichever is lower.

Doggiedog, the issue is that appraised values are based off of comparable sales in the area. If the purchase price cannot be supported by reasonable comps, then there can be problems with the buyer's financing.

The problem with reasonable comps is that there are times when there are no comps available. Take the place I bid on. That was the first available unit in that complex in 2 years. The town its in is very conservative and there is only one new development (that one) in the whole town. The rest of the town is populated by houses that are 100 years old. There are many areas around here that have highly restrictive zoning laws. Finding suitable homes those towns is very difficult and when one does appear on the market, you can be sure there will be bidding wars on them.

 

[ragazzo]

What are some sites that do comps?

 

[vi edit]

Originally posted by: ragazzo
What are some sites that do comps?

Some county assessors will list appraised values and purchase prices of home. Just do a search and see what a similar house went for if you saw a home in your area sell recently.