Home Buying Advice, Please?

The "insult" is bullshit. You don't hand the offer to the customer so who gives a crap. And don't worry about the perceived lack of wiggle room. Not all houses or sellers are the same. Low-ball.

 

Forget about what you are pre-approved for. That will put you in the poor house. We were pre-approved for twice what we could really afford even with our old house still not sold.

Also, if you really like the house, come back and knock on some doors and ask people about the neighborhood. One thing home inspectors and Realtors can't and won't do is check out the neighbors.

Nothing worse than living next to some batty fruitcake or some miserable teens or somesuch.

 

Ace, I can't agree with you more about the preapproval. I keep telling my wife to forget it. I know what we can afford — or should want to afford.

I was already scoping out the neighbors. I plan on going back.

 

Exactly. Telling someone his mother is a whore is an insult. A low offer in a business transaction is not. It's pretty obvious why realtors (I'll capitalize it when I'm on the clock, but not otherwise) are afraid of anyone threatening their monopoly.

 

Low ball all you want. So long as you can take the heat if they reject you outright, go right ahead. A market is what you are willing to pay and they are willing to accept.

Remember schools. They are a great indicator of whether the value will hold. Parents are always going to be looking for great schools, even in today's market.

 

Two things:

1. Don't scrimp on school district. If you're in a metro area, you don't have to be in the absolute best school district, but you need to be in the top 15 percent of school districts in the area. That will mean a lot when you try to sell.

2. How much below asking price can you go? The longer the house has been on the market, the more room you have. If the house has been on the market more than a couple of months, the sellers are going to get antsy.

3. OK, I lied, I have three things. Be very careful on a foreclosed house or one that's moving in that direction. Yes, you can get deals, but sometimes they haven't always been taken care of. On that topic, I would look at public records to see where there have been a bunch of foreclosures. You don't want to be in that area as it will only impact the value of your house.

 

Speaking of schools, I'd go further than district and look at the actual schools that serve the home. Check the percentage of students on free/reduced lunch; it's one of the best indicators of quality of the school. And no, I'm not kidding -- I substitute teach, and in my experience it correlates almost scarily well.

 

Just found out today that there is an offer in on the house already. It will likely be conditional — on the condition the buyers sell their home. As soon as the offer is on the table, firm and signed, I'll know how much it's for.

Also, the house is priced to sell because it's a divorcing family.

 

Good luck, fella!

I'm with acc up there. My two rules are (1) Great schools and (2) No yellow-line road.

There's nothing wrong with living on a busy road, unless you have to sell fast.