Anybody else in trying to buy a house now?

[legendndisguise 10+ year member]

LOTS of that around here. I'm very thankful for spending 5 years in the home improvement industry. I've seen stuff with serious issues that will come up on inspections go for way over list price. I guess the big thing to do now is an appraisal clause because of the over inflated list price and offers and then the house doesn't appraise for anything close to that.
One of the first open houses I visited ended up selling for 22% OVER list price (nearly 200k asking price) and only the kitchen and master bath had been updated, everything else was still that dark colored 70s wooden panels from floor to ceiling. Some dumbass cash buyers got into a bidding war apparently.

One I went and looked at was during the end of demolition and the start of running new electrical and have HVAC ducts put in and all I could do was keep my mouth quiet. The investor kept complaining about the contractors repeatedly. Not something you want to do in front of a potential buyer. Another has been sitting for months and I happened to come across it again and the price has gone up $31k.

 

[Popwarhomie 5,000+ posts]

Section 8 for life cuh!

 

[JLJunkieMX107 10+ year member]

I've seen firsthand that it definitely depends on the area. We moved to Colorado Springs in 2015. We put in offers on at least 20 houses before we finally landed one. It definitely wasn't what we wanted but we needed a home & knew we needed to buy. The house was $197K (1,900 sq ft, 10,000 sq ft yard). It was a decent house but ended up getting totally wrecked by baseball sized hail and 100mph wind in late 2016/early 2017. Insurance paid for new roof, siding, paint, fence, and windows. The housing market in Colorado Springs EXPLODED heading into 2017. We put our house on the market for 8 hours in April '17 and had 16 showings (multiple people were in the house at the same time, it was basically an open house) and ended up getting 12 offers, all over our list price. We sold for $260K, it appraised for $240K, the buyer fronted $20K in cash to cover the difference. That's how crazy the market is there. A 2 year return of $63K on a house is friggin insane (especially one that you were living in, not a fix and flip).

We moved to Grand Rapids, MI (I received a job offer here) last May (2017). We were told the market was crazy here haha they haven't seen anything like Colorado. Found a nice house about 15 min. outside of town that had 5 completely wooded acres (state park and tons of trails within 5 minutes). The house is a 4 bedroom (3,000 sq. feet), finished basement, huge 6 car pole barn, and 3 of the 5 acres is fenced. It was listed for $240K, I put an offer in for $210K AND asked the sellers to replace the roof out of their pocket......they took the deal within 2 hours lol. The house is solid, built in 2000, totally custom design. In Colorado, something this would have gone for well over $500K.

Moving away from a "hot" housing market was the best decision ever (not to mention, the jobs here pay way more too). I work in a niche industry and luckily the market is booming here. My wife is a massage therapist and was averaging about $20 an hour in Colorado. Starting pay out here in MI for massage therapists is $32 an hour, even working at the friggin' YMCA as their MT lol. Lower cost of living and higher pay? Ding ding ding, that equals more car audio equipment for me lol

 

[macsdad 10+ year member]

god all u guys are rich.. my house worth 99k paid 15k for it (well my dad did 60 yrs ago lol) now we owe 35k on equity line (roof, windows heatpump, jacking up foundation etc) just trying to keep it from falling down..

No, not rich, but we both work. I can work a ton of over time if I want too, made over 20k in over time last year hope to do better than that this year.

 

[BOOMINGRANDPA 5,000+ posts]

No, not rich, but we both work. I can work a ton of over time if I want too, made over 20k in over time last year hope to do better than that this year.

yeah that's only way we live wife works 7 days a week (today was her day off so she only worked 3 hrs lol) i'm gonna have cancel my ins in couple months to be able to get anything fixed here..

 

[mazdakid 5,000+ posts]

We looked at probably atleast 20 houses in 2015, but lost my job so that was the end of that, kinda glad we didnt find one because of the whole job thing.

We started looking again last year after being at the new job for a while and finally bought one in july for $215k. Seemed like to get anything decent you had to go on the day the house was listed or you had no chance of getting it.

 

[mikedeezxxx]

I’m in So Cal and everything is way over priced and old as *****. Mostly anything affordable( laughing cause nothing is affordable here) is a total knock down or major major remodel. My wife and I I just decided to buy 5 acres in Acton instead and build our own house. Only way I see it possible for myself to be a home owner out here.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[AnthonyO 10+ year member]

Bought my house for 96k 12 years ago. Have spent 30k, new steel siding new roof, and windows. House appraised at $199,900 last year. Gonna redo both bathrooms, pull out all the carpet, and put in vinyl plank flooring. Wanna sell it in 2 to 5 years. Hopefully, the oil boom is back then and should bring $250k then. Wife and I no longer need a house this size. Want a town house. Hopefully, one in a condo association so they can do snow removal and maintain the yard...lol

 

[macsdad 10+ year member]

Mine needs minimal work on it. 2500 square feet, complete basement (yay man cave) 3 full baths, 4 bedrooms one of them is in the basement, attached 2 car garage, on about .75 acre. Nice neighborhood, top 3 school system, and virtually no crime to speak of. Was not really into purchasing, but the wife wanted more space than we had in her town home, rent was 840, mortgage is 950. But in a rental, they have to fix it, I am not really a do it yourself home fixer-upper. Oh well, I guess we will see how it goes.

 

[THATpurpleKUSH 5,000+ posts]

After a meeting with a builder, it looks like we will be going the new construction route.

 

[Boomin_tahoe 5,000+ posts]

Wrong time to be buying a house right now due to rising housing costs and interest rates are also climbing. House right around the corner from me f/s asking 450K. It's about the same as mine except a few more sq ft and a bigger yard. My house according to Zillow is 335K...I can tell you right now it's not even nearly worth that amount. But that's market value driving the costs up.

Wait until the housing market cools off...or another recession hits. That's the perfect opportunity to buy a house....and cheaper too. Bought mine in 2008 just before the financial crises, and we're supposed to have another one. Question is when.

 

[Louisiana_CRX 5,000+ posts]

I own 3 houses 2 commercial buildings a lake house and a beach house ..but getting ready to sell two of the houses and one of my commercial buildings ..all mine are paid for so no rent or mortgages ...I’m headed to my beach house this weekend ...to check out the nice rides at Scrapin th Coast

 

[Boomin_tahoe 5,000+ posts]

I own 3 houses 2 commercial buildings a lake house and a beach house ..but getting ready to sell two of the houses and one of my commercial buildings ..all mine are paid for so no rent or mortgages ...I’m headed to my beach house this weekend ...to check out the nice rides at Scrapin th Coast

BS....who's gonna believe this?