We hit a couple of open houses this weekend. One was a lark, and the place was literally a mansion. At least it was really impressive for 1,400,000. Usually at that price point here, the house is nice, but nothing super special. This house was totally cool. It was built in the 20s by some noted architect, and it was made of stone. Of course I kept thinking about how much it would cost to heat and cool a house that is 5,000 square feet! Anyhow it was actually priced well considering how amazing the house and property were. We are not looking into buying that high by any means.
We checked out another house (in Rye). It was 1,250,000. For 2,000 sq/ft, .20 acres and old (seriously, 1960s kitchen) and old baths. They made an addition on it, but I know the house was bought for 860,000 in 2004. I do not think so. You put on a coat of paint, and suddenly the house is worth that much? No friggin' way. I always tend to tell Mike what I think I would offer for various houses. Last night he put it in a spread sheet he made with local market trends to help us forcast pricing. I was pretty damn close. Maybe I should become a realtor. I will treat your kids and conduct an open house. I suppose my sellers would not be happy with me!
We are so ready to move, but with the delusional people out there, who knows what we will be able to get. It is just totally insane and makes me absolutely sick to my stomach knowing what we will have to spend even when the market drops this year. I am just not willing to commit to something that huge and not be totally happy. I just want to be excited about where we end up.
2 comments:
Just keep in mind, whatever it is listed for is not what you have to pay! You can negotiate. In this market, I would not feel bad about lowballing. Who knows how desperate they are! If the house has been on the market for months, they will be more likely to lower their price.
Also, I have found that while you can listen to realtors about what price your offer should be, take what they say with a grain of salt. They are getting paid a precentage of what you spend (paid by the seller of course) so the more you spend, the more they make. We have offered less than what the realtor recommended, and been very successful with it.
KC
We are preparing to low ball. It is an opportunity to do it. I know the price does not matter. If they will not be realistic, we are not going to get it which is fine too. There are a lot of houses out there and they need to wake up eventually.
Personally, if the realtor says their town is immune to the housing crisis, I think they are full of BS.
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