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Post by 6l6 on Apr 24, 2021 9:52:25 GMT -5
This sort of thing has been going on for years here in Silicon Valley. Lots of young families making huge bucks in High Tech can afford about anything they want.
However, traffic density at commute hours is off the charts and if you don't want to have to cross a bridge to get to work, you must live on the San Francisco Peninsula. All land here that could be built on was filled decades ago. SO... there will always be just X number of houses and if you want one you'd better bring a VERY stout checkbook.
I bought my house here back in 1978 before there was a Silicon Valley. Still, the proximity to San Francisco Airport (15 minutes away) and the incredible year around weather have both made this a place where you are buying location and not square feet of living space. 1978 was probably the last time I could have qualified to buy my house.
Homes in my neighborhood usually sell in the first morning they are listed. People are already standing in line, prequalified, and ready to move in. There is very little financing of homes. Just sell some stock and pay cash (in the millions).
Realtors used to hound us (and our neighbors) to sell our homes. I finally drove the point home that our place goes to our kids when my wife and I are gone, and the "harassment" has stopped.
All of my family is here and I've always loved living here. There's nowhere I'd rather live since I first saw this area back in 1966. But my heart goes out to those young families who cannot afford to own a home here and never will be able to. That would have been us if Silicon Valley was around back in 1978.
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Post by Leftee on Apr 24, 2021 10:38:00 GMT -5
RE: Marietta - Traffic is worse, that’s for sure.
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Post by walshb 🦒 on Apr 24, 2021 12:22:49 GMT -5
RE: Marietta - Traffic is worse, that’s for sure. Yup! We passed on a nice log cabin on 3 acres in Woodstock, partly because it took us 10 minutes longer to get to it than our GPS had predicted. Light after light after light, sitting there 'forever' waiting for them to change, and I just don't want to live the rest of my life that way! I don't have that kind of patience. I know 10 minutes isn't even that much in that area.... Marietta can be just as bad. This is another reason we're looking W/NW of Atlanta/Marietta, we just want to get out of that high traffic zone.
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Post by walshb 🦒 on Apr 24, 2021 21:36:50 GMT -5
Last night we made an offer with no contingencies, we are that sure that our house is sold. The buyers of our present house have already been measuring to put a fence up in the back yard, etc. So, this is a little odd, but our offer has been 'accepted'. However, the offer is through a company apparently similar to Zillow, using an online form that meets all their criteria...so after it was "accepted", our realtor had to write up an actual offer, we signed it and it was officially submitted. Now it's just a matter of the seller signing it. A cash offer because that's the only kind that seems to be accepted in the area. Hopefully, we'll be moving to Dallas, GA in about a month.
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Post by walshb 🦒 on May 3, 2021 17:58:12 GMT -5
Update: Both sides are in limbo now, the buyer of our house requested a $5K decrease in THEIR offer because the house appraisal was $5k under what we listed it for. Well, the way houses are going up in value, that difference would be erased in 2 or 3 months! But, we reluctantly (on the wife's side) agreed to reduce the selling price that they offered, by $5k. But still waiting for a new contract to come through.
On the Dallas side, the inspectors found lots of problems on the (2 year old) roof, amounting in about $4.5k in repairs needed. Also, the HVAC and furnace are both 21 years old and "on their last legs". Not mentioning some electrical issues that were noted.
So, we submitted a "repairs amendment" and expected to hear back something, but crickets, so far. We're hoping they just reduce the sale price by about $10K or so, and we'd be ok with that, even though it would cost us more than that in repairs.
Nothing comes easy, that's the bottom line! We thought we had found a great house to buy, then all this happens!
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tomcaster
Halfnote
Posts: 91
Formerly Known As: strat-hacker
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Post by tomcaster on May 4, 2021 11:13:48 GMT -5
We are going through this now in NY. Downsizing rather then relocating. It's great to sell higher than anticipated in one day, but now we are seeing the other side and it's brutal. We are seeing prices 10% higher than months ago-there is such a lack of inventory-it's never been lower. Anything nice is gone in a day or two at most. We have also had to come up on what we were looking to spend by a significant amount. I feel we are going to have to settle for less of our ideal home no matter what, which sucks.
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Post by walshb 🦒 on May 4, 2021 14:02:04 GMT -5
We are going through this now in NY. Downsizing rather then relocating. It's great to sell higher than anticipated in one day, but now we are seeing the other side and it's brutal. We are seeing prices 10% higher than months ago-there is such a lack of inventory-it's never been lower. Anything nice is gone in a day or two at most. We have also had to come up on what we were looking to spend by a significant amount. I feel we are going to have to settle for less of our ideal home no matter what, which sucks. That does suck! Really sorry to hear that! We are downsizing also, not by a lot, I'm basically losing my "music room" which was the bonus room above the garage, in our present house. You're right, the better homes are gone in a flash! Which was the case on both sides, for us. I was getting up early every morning and examining any new listings on Zillow, especially ranches, since that was important to us. I'm quite sure we were the first to look at the house we will most likely be purchasing. (Things are progressing in that direction, despite my last post above.) I wish you luck in your search! If you haven't already, set up your search criteria in Zillow and you should get emails every day with new listings, revisions to listings, etc. It worked for me. Feel free to post updates here, also! That's what the thread is about, after all. Good luck!!!
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Post by Mfitz804 on May 4, 2021 15:54:00 GMT -5
Update: Both sides are in limbo now, the buyer of our house requested a $5K decrease in THEIR offer because the house appraisal was $5k under what we listed it for. Well, the way houses are going up in value, that difference would be erased in 2 or 3 months! But, we reluctantly (on the wife's side) agreed to reduce the selling price that they offered, by $5k. But still waiting for a new contract to come through. On the Dallas side, the inspectors found lots of problems on the (2 year old) roof, amounting in about $4.5k in repairs needed. Also, the HVAC and furnace are both 21 years old and "on their last legs". Not mentioning some electrical issues that were noted. So, we submitted a "repairs amendment" and expected to hear back something, but crickets, so far. We're hoping they just reduce the sale price by about $10K or so, and we'd be ok with that, even though it would cost us more than that in repairs. Nothing comes easy, that's the bottom line! We thought we had found a great house to buy, then all this happens! Smart move, because otherwise you have to bank on an all cash buyer. Banks won't give a mortgage if the sale price exceeds the appraisal. As far as whether this ever happens, or whether you can do a separate side agreement for the sale of some personalty for the extra $5k, well let's say I may have heard that may have happened on occasion. Out here, we don't go to contract until there has been an engineer's inspection. That way, your roof or services have already been evaluated and you can adjust the contract price accordingly. Of course, you still run the risk of the seller saying "no", but you at least know what you are dealing with before the ink hits the contract.
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Post by jhawkr on May 4, 2021 16:22:48 GMT -5
Here we do contracts pending inspection. It ain’t a deal until the inspection is done and parties agree. Then it goes to closing.
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Post by slacker 🐨 on May 5, 2021 6:34:25 GMT -5
Wow, just looked up my house that we moved into in July '19. Zillow does an estimate and it says our house is worth about $100K more than we paid for it. That's crazy. When we bought it, it was on the market for over 2 years. The house up the street (that is unbelievable ugly and impractical) sold in 3 weeks last winter.
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Post by slacker 🐨 on May 5, 2021 6:36:38 GMT -5
Here we do contracts pending inspection. It ain’t a deal until the inspection is done and parties agree. Then it goes to closing. I think that's true in most places, but when the market gets so hot, buyers start making desperate moves to try get a seller to pick their offer. Cash offer, waive inspections, no contingencies all make an offer look more palatable.
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Post by slacker 🐨 on May 5, 2021 6:44:09 GMT -5
Update: Both sides are in limbo now, the buyer of our house requested a $5K decrease in THEIR offer because the house appraisal was $5k under what we listed it for. Well, the way houses are going up in value, that difference would be erased in 2 or 3 months! But, we reluctantly (on the wife's side) agreed to reduce the selling price that they offered, by $5k. But still waiting for a new contract to come through. On the Dallas side, the inspectors found lots of problems on the (2 year old) roof, amounting in about $4.5k in repairs needed. Also, the HVAC and furnace are both 21 years old and "on their last legs". Not mentioning some electrical issues that were noted. So, we submitted a "repairs amendment" and expected to hear back something, but crickets, so far. We're hoping they just reduce the sale price by about $10K or so, and we'd be ok with that, even though it would cost us more than that in repairs. Nothing comes easy, that's the bottom line! We thought we had found a great house to buy, then all this happens! Out here, we don't go to contract until there has been an engineer's inspection. That way, your roof or services have already been evaluated and you can adjust the contract price accordingly. Of course, you still run the risk of the seller saying "no", but you at least know what you are dealing with before the ink hits the contract. Saying no...or worse. The house we're in now was on the market for several years and we made a "full price" offer (quotes because the seller had dropped the price a number of times over that period) that was accepted. We found some things at inspection and asked for $8k to cover them. Their response was to raise the price $5k! Our broker thought we could fight it, but they instead offered to pick up the $5k because it was an easier path for them. We went forward with the deal. We found out later that the sellers had a $30k higher offer that came in after we had signed the purchase agreement and that they were trying to drive us off the deal so that they could take the higher offer. They did not expect us to take the +$5k counter. We're pretty sure they were in financial difficulty and were forced to sell what is a very nice home in a killer location.
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Post by walshb 🦒 on May 5, 2021 7:02:35 GMT -5
Saying no...or worse. The house we're in now was on the market for several years and we made a "full price" offer (quotes because the seller had dropped the price a number of times over that period) that was accepted. We found some things at inspection and asked for $8k to cover them. Their response was to raise the price $5k! Our broker thought we could fight it, but they instead offered to pick up the $5k because it was an easier path for them. We went forward with the deal. We found out later that the sellers had a $30k higher offer that came in after we had signed the purchase agreement and that they were trying to drive us off the deal so that they could take the higher offer. They did not expect us to take the +$5k counter. We're pretty sure they were in financial difficulty and were forced to sell what is a very nice home in a killer location. Wow. That is particularly odd, because you said it had been on the market for 2 years. And now it's up about $100k in just 2 years. What a story, and glad it worked out for you!
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Post by slacker 🐨 on May 5, 2021 8:25:30 GMT -5
Saying no...or worse. The house we're in now was on the market for several years and we made a "full price" offer (quotes because the seller had dropped the price a number of times over that period) that was accepted. We found some things at inspection and asked for $8k to cover them. Their response was to raise the price $5k! Our broker thought we could fight it, but they instead offered to pick up the $5k because it was an easier path for them. We went forward with the deal. We found out later that the sellers had a $30k higher offer that came in after we had signed the purchase agreement and that they were trying to drive us off the deal so that they could take the higher offer. They did not expect us to take the +$5k counter. We're pretty sure they were in financial difficulty and were forced to sell what is a very nice home in a killer location. Wow. That is particularly odd, because you said it had been on the market for 2 years. And now it's up about $100k in just 2 years. What a story, and glad it worked out for you! We're not exactly sure. To be fair, that's a bit under 20% increase in value. At the time we bought it, we felt it should have sold easily for at least $50k more than we paid. It sold 17 years ago for $150k more than we paid. It would cost double what we paid to rebuild it. The exterior was a bit....unkempt. The people who lived there paid someone to mow, but really didn't do much more, so it was a bit overgrown. Walking around the exterior when we first visited (we arrived before the realtor), I had already written it off. Then we saw the interior and learned more about the neighborhood and we were sold. I'm guessing it hit the market at a bad time and, as a higher end home here, most people spending that kind of money want a turn-key place. This required a bit of TLC, but it was mostly small stuff. The neighborhood is very close knit...we all know each other and hang out some (when there's no pandemic). Almost every neighbor has said they love our house...several almost bought it. One was really bummed because they bought just a couple months before ours went on the market and they'd much rather have ours.
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Post by Leftee on May 5, 2021 8:27:36 GMT -5
Wow. That is particularly odd, because you said it had been on the market for 2 years. And now it's up about $100k in just 2 years. What a story, and glad it worked out for you! We're not exactly sure. To be fair, that's a bit under 20% increase in value. At the time we bought it, we felt it should have sold easily for at least $50k more than we paid. It sold 17 years ago for $150k more than we paid. It would cost double what we paid to rebuild it. The exterior was a bit....unkempt. The people who lived there paid someone to mow, but really didn't do much more, so it was a bit overgrown. Walking around the exterior when we first visited (we arrived before the realtor), I had already written it off. Then we saw the interior and learned more about the neighborhood and we were sold. I'm guessing it hit the market at a bad time and, as a higher end home here, most people spending that kind of money want a turn-key place. This required a bit of TLC, but it was mostly small stuff. The neighborhood is very close knit...we all know each other and hang out some (when there's no pandemic). Almost every neighbor has said they love our house...several almost bought it. One was really bummed because they bought just a couple months before ours went on the market and they'd much rather have ours. I remember when you bought the place. I thought, “money pit.” So glad it has worked out so well. 😊
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Post by walshb 🦒 on May 6, 2021 6:16:53 GMT -5
So, we submitted a "repairs amendment" and expected to hear back something, but crickets, so far. We're hoping they just reduce the sale price by about $10K or so, and we'd be ok with that, even though it would cost us more than that in repairs. As it turns out, this is exactly how much they agreed to lower the price of the Dallas house. The septic inspection went well also, so yesterday we signed the amendment to the contract and it looks like we will be moving to GA about the middle of June. Thanks to the great offer we got on your home, and downsizing slightly to a nice ranch, we will have plenty of money left over for the repairs, plus new patio furniture, etc.
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Post by budg on May 6, 2021 12:12:49 GMT -5
We’re in a similar market. White hot and want to locate in Wisconsin by the step kids and grand kids since we retired last year. Only problem is market where we want to move to is super white hot . Sure we can get a great price for our house, but I feel we would be giving it back and then some when we move . Houses there are only on the market for a few days and going for 25k more than the asking price is not unheard of. Plus it’s pretty slim pickings . Plenty of 100 year old farm houses hitting the market ,’not my idea of a forever home . We are actually thinking of waiting now.
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Post by Leftee on May 6, 2021 12:20:15 GMT -5
Thanks to the great offer we got on your home, and downsizing slightly to a nice ranch, we will have plenty of money left over for the repairs, plus new patio furniture, etc. Promptly report to the guitars and amps forums. You will find further instructions there.
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Post by walshb 🦒 on May 7, 2021 6:50:17 GMT -5
We’re in a similar market. White hot and want to locate in Wisconsin by the step kids and grand kids since we retired last year. Only problem is market where we want to move to is super white hot . Sure we can get a great price for our house, but I feel we would be giving it back and then some when we move . Houses there are only on the market for a few days and going for 25k more than the asking price is not unheard of. Plus it’s pretty slim pickings . Plenty of 100 year old farm houses hitting the market ,’not my idea of a forever home . We are actually thinking of waiting now. Probably not a bad idea. It worked out for us, but we were extremely lucky. There's also the contingency problem, mentioned a few times already. It's nearly impossible to purchase a home now with the contingency of your present home selling. We tried it twice, and never had a chance at either house. So you either have to have cash available, or be certain that your present house will sell before the closing date of the house you're buying. A little too risky, probably, for most of us.
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Post by slacker 🐨 on May 7, 2021 21:46:49 GMT -5
I looked at my house again. Value went up 34k in the last 3 months!
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Post by budg on May 8, 2021 5:49:26 GMT -5
We’re in a similar market. White hot and want to locate in Wisconsin by the step kids and grand kids since we retired last year. Only problem is market where we want to move to is super white hot . Sure we can get a great price for our house, but I feel we would be giving it back and then some when we move . Houses there are only on the market for a few days and going for 25k more than the asking price is not unheard of. Plus it’s pretty slim pickings . Plenty of 100 year old farm houses hitting the market ,’not my idea of a forever home . We are actually thinking of waiting now. Probably not a bad idea. It worked out for us, but we were extremely lucky. There's also the contingency problem, mentioned a few times already. It's nearly impossible to purchase a home now with the contingency of your present home selling. We tried it twice, and never had a chance at either house. So you either have to have cash available, or be certain that your present house will sell before the closing date of the house you're buying. A little too risky, probably, for most of us. Thanks . I wasn’t aware of the issue with contingency clause . That would have to be a must for me. Way too risky imo. I appreciate your insight.
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Post by rdr on May 8, 2021 9:15:08 GMT -5
I looked up the house I grew up in, built by my folks in 1954 for $16k. 3 BR, finished basemen,1/3 acre, northern Virginia. Not big or real fancy. Now $600k! It's really gone up in the last year. Probably because it's inside the Beltway.
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tmc
Wholenote
Posts: 906
Formerly Known As: tmc
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Post by tmc on May 11, 2021 19:22:19 GMT -5
This will vary by market and special circumstances, but I wonder how close, in general, the Zillow estimate is to the actual sale price.
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Post by Mfitz804 on May 11, 2021 20:19:11 GMT -5
This will vary by market and special circumstances, but I wonder how close, in general, the Zillow estimate is to the actual sale price. I just looked up my address. The Zillow number is a little low. They give you a range and a number. The upper end of the range is close, probably off by about $50k.
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Post by walshb 🦒 on May 12, 2021 21:55:05 GMT -5
This will vary by market and special circumstances, but I wonder how close, in general, the Zillow estimate is to the actual sale price. I just looked up my address. The Zillow number is a little low. They give you a range and a number. The upper end of the range is close, probably off by about $50k. Ours was low also, at least based on the selling price. Sometimes, Redfin selling prices are quite a bit higher than Zillow; they were in our case, anyway. I also noticed the Zillow estimate disappeared, as soon as we had a pending sale.
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