So I found a place I like Saturday morning. Its a nice 2 Bed / 1.5 Bath end unit townhouse with a 1 car garage. Its a newer townhouse, looks good inside and is in my price range. All sounds good so I made an offer 5K below their asking price yesterday. I got a call last night from my realtor telling me that another offer had come in as well. The selling agent is going to present both offers today at 5pm. She wanted to know if I wanted to up my offer, which I said no. I know that its still early in the year and I have nothing pushing me to move.

So by this evening I may be getting ready to move, or hitting the pavement looking for another place

 

With the market the way it is, I wouldn't rush into buying anything. Time is on your side. Good luck.

 

Yea, it sure does suck paying tens of thousands of dollars less then you would have a few years ago

 

5 years ago this same house sold for half the current asking price

 

prices arent dropping everywhere. Here in Chicago, the condo market is still quite stable. The dramatic value increases have stopped but there is certainly no bottom falling out or anything, if things stay stable thru this storm, i will be happy.

 

Yes it does suck. I found a nice 2 bed, 1.5 bath townhouse with garage.

Listed for 259.9 during the 1st week of december
Offered 240k @ end of Jan. Seller came back saying 253.9 is the lowest he will go. I say 250. He won't budge and I'm not paying more then 250. Told him my offer was what it was due to currently low mortgage rates and that if rates go up my next offer might be lower. No good

So now a month and a half later, over 3 months on the market I go back saying 245k since rates are up. "Absoultly not". My realtor says the other realtor said they had one other offer besides mine but couldn't agree on the price either.

So I'm guessing this guy doesn't want to sell. In this market how are you only willing to move down 2.3% ???

 

In this market (I know, I'm going to be selling and buying very soon) the seller has to come in with an aggressive price to begin with. Gone are the days of asking $500K, hoping for $450K.

When we price our place we're coming in very aggressive.

Anybody looking for a mint condition townhome in Mercer County?

 

I'd much rather be in the buyer's position than seller's position (which we are in) right now.

 

Well I agree id rather be the buyer than the seller. Also luckily for me I am in a position where I have absolutely nothing pushing me to move. Of course I would rather find a place sooner than later, but I have the option to wait. Also another great thing is that the interest rates have dropped twice today, so if we can come to an agreement I get to lock in

 

And 2 years ago, it would have sold for probably sold for 25% more then the current asking...Point is, its a buyers market, be happy...

 

Only if you first move it to northern middlesex county.

 

I can spit and hit the Middlesex County border if that helps (Cranbury). I commuted to Cranford from here and it was really not bad.

 

Well I was supposed to find out at 12 today, then it got pushed back to 4, then back to 6. Well my agent finally called me around 8:45 to let me know that the seller choose the other offer because it was higher. So I now get to keep on looking

 

Might not be that bad for you. You may find an even better place shortly.

In a rising market in '98/'99, we were outbid on two other houses before getting one-- the other houses were smaller, did not have as good a "flow" between rooms/areas, had less high-end fixtures and were not in the fresh move-in condition of the house we got.

And yes, better to be the buyer than seller now!

 

Yes this is what I keep telling myself, although from what I can see the whole "buyers" market idea hasn't fully hit my area yet. I mean people are still getting their asking price or more.

 

Looks like prices are slightly creeping up in your area. But, most values have dropped by around $100K since early 07.

 

Is he priced agressively already? Remember...not everyone NEEDS to sell in order to skip forclosure.

I have my house listed for 20k less than everyone in my neighborhood and in my surrounding area. My house is in the nicest neighborhood as well. I just want to get rid of it to move closer to work...I could just rent it if i choose to but decided to use the equity in a new house. I get a lot of lowball offers on top of my already low price. I just tell them no thanks. I know it's a buyers market but a lot of the buyers think they can take advantage of everyone. My negotiating room is only $10k. There are a lot of desperate sellers though.

 

Just figured out a deal for mine last Friday. 7k below asking and they pay closing.
They're not ready to move out until the end of June which is the same time I wanted to move it so that worked out well but the wait sucks!

 

I don't think so. And neither does the other guy that supposedly put an offer on the place, because it must have been the same as mine or lower as they couldn't agree on the price. Also based on the 'research' I've done, the expectation is that we should be at 2004/2005 price levels. The late summer ones in his development sold for 233 and 240. Middle of 2005 had 260 and 262. The last actual sale was at the end of July 2006 for 274. Someone tried selling in 2007 for 285 or 289 with no luck.

So who's crazy me or the seller? BTW, he bought it for 200k early in 2004. @ 250 he'd be making 25-30k on the sale after realtor fees...etc. They didn't do any work on the place other then maybe carpet and paint and new apps when the moved in. Everything else is original by the looks of it.

 

Gonna suck even more. Mortgage rates are going up up up.

 

Isn’t it odd that the home been on the market for XXX days then finally you put an offer on the table then ALL the SUDDEN another offer comes in? HAHA

Shame on those Realtors working together to make an Extra buck!! Realtors are just as bad as a car salesman!


I see that $hit on HGTV happen on 1st time homebuyers. All the homes on the market that cannot sell, then a buyer is interested and OPPPSS.. another offer on the table, will you like to beat that offer? hahahah!

 

Well the home was only on the market for 1 week before it sold. I don't think anyone was playing any games.

I have moved on to another property which was a for sale by owner and we have a contract. However now Bank of America is dicking me around on my loan

 

Try somebody else....we've worked with great people at Chase and Bank of Kansas City. I can share contact info if you want it.