Buying A House Sucks

[Ian]

With the kid and all, my family has out grown our current house. We've been looking at homes the last month or two and finally found one that the wife and I both liked. The house had been on the market for about a year but was brand new. The builder wanted $262k for it so we offered him $250k, hoping he'd meet us somewhere in the middle. To make a long story short, we offended the guy and he didn't even come back with a counter offer.

After looking at a few more houses in that price range, we figured that the house really wasn't that bad of a deal, considering what it offered. So we made another offer at asking price. The only contingency was that we had to sell our house first.

So the guy counter offers at.. get this.. $269k. Yes, that's $7k higher than what he was asking, stating that its been on the market so long he needs to break even.. blah.. blah. At this point, I think I'm just going to tell the guy to kiss my white ass. As much as I like the house, I'm not going to get ripped off.

Has anyone else run into a similar situation? Our realtor had never seen someone ask more than the list price and she's the VP of the company.

[Justin42]

This happens all the time in LA... although it's slowing down now... the market is absolutely ridiculous right now.

[Ian]

So let me get this straight.. it's normal for people in LA to advertise one price and then ask another?

[Justin42]

It's normal for the asking price to skyrocket higher... people will hold out to try to start bidding wars, and for a long time it was working.

Not quite the same situation-- I guess you're describing an absence of buyers and the guy's asking more... this is more a flood of buyers upping the price... but for a while people were being told to offer 5-10% *over* the asking price as an *opening* offer to even have a chance to get a house. Offering the asking price was seen as a guarantee to fail.

I still think the realtors in LA are 95% of the cause of the bubble we're in... they saw how much money was out there and made up all these stupid ideas (like offering over asking price)... my parents have a friend (in the biz) who convinced them I'd NEVER be able to afford a house if I didn't **buy**right**now** and you know a ton of people did just that, no matter how silly the purchase really was, for fear they'd never get anything.

[CowboySlim]

check zillow.com

Slim

[JamieW]

http://www.grapheine.com/bombaytv/play_uk.php?id=777399

[Ian]

I like this one that you made:

http://www.grapheine.com/bombaytv/play_uk.php?id=777444

[CowboySlim]

Great movies, Jamie!

About the house deal, reminds of Veff and all his house travails.

I had some more lawn care stuff for him more suited to springtime,
so I waited because it would have sent him into overload had I given
it all to him last fall.

VEFF, whereyat?

Slim

[CowboySlim]

Ian,

Check

www.zillow.com

for the house value. They have every house in the USofA.

Very easy to use. Just enter street address and Zip code. Free, NMIR.

10-4?

Slim

[hoxlund]

im shopping for a house right now also, its fun but at the same time i have to move all my crap

but im upgrading from apartment to 2000+ square foot house

[hoxlund]

I like this one that you made:

http://www.grapheine.com/bombaytv/play_uk.php?id=777444

fucing hilarious, thx guys, i always thought i would be the female in me and aviationwiz's relationship

[LoneWolf]

Our house search took awhile, but once we found the one that worked for us, it wasn't difficult at all. Some of it might be that I have a really good realtor (who has since become my client for IT, kind of a win-win situation for the both of us), but I think it depends on your housing market, and whether you're going new/used. There can be some really sketchy builders out there putting out good-looking-but-not-as-well-built spec homes in the hope to sell them quickly and turn a profit. Some local guy built two small houses behind my folks on a lot better suited for one, with the idea of trying to make a quick buck. The first owner was at least smart enough to get a lawyer involved to force him to fix a lot of dumb things before she moved in (example: no electrical outlets in the basement. At all.). My folks had to get the city inspector involved; he was going to landscape the lot so all the water runoff went into their back yard, and he just barely cleared the minimum required distance between their property line and the house.

There's plenty of good builders too, but a few smaller ones are also in debt to their eyeballs, and have to make so much on a house or they're in real trouble, especially if the housing market shifts while they're sitting on them. Sounds like the guy you're talking to is either a small builder or a quirky one, Ian. A smart builder isn't offended by offers, even if they're ridiculous. They'll either agree, offer a compromise, or politely say they can't work with the offer you've provided. I'd keep looking.

[Spazmogen]

Get a home inspection before you spend a dime on a place.
Yes it may cost a few hundred, but buying a lemon will cost a lot more than that !

If the seller/agent squawks, take it as an omen:there's something they're trying to hide from the buyer.


I've heard horror stories from people that bought brand new, and swear they would never buy new again.

Builders cut corners all of the time to make profit.

if that house has really been on the market for about a year, the builder should be looking in the mirror for the cause.

[JamieW]

At the very least I'll be there in a week and a half. I'll go talk to him. I imagine it will go something like this:

http://www.grapheine.com/bombaytv/play_uk.php?id=782992

[LoneWolf]

Get a home inspection before you spend a dime on a place.
Yes it may cost a few hundred, but buying a lemon will cost a lot more than that !

If the seller/agent squawks, take it as an omen:there's something they're trying to hide from the buyer.

I've heard horror stories from people that bought brand new, and swear they would never buy new again.

Builders cut corners all of the time to make profit.

if that house has really been on the market for about a year, the builder should be looking in the mirror for the cause.

Yep, we spent $300 on our home inspection, but our guy spent three hours with me going inside and out of the house and garage, checking every detail, and showing what he found to me as he went. I got a complete computer print-out with all his notes and detailed pictures in a binder at the end (he brought a laptop and portable printer with him) and a second revision e-mailed to me in PDF format. He went over the foundation, wiring, plumbing, floors, we even both went up on the roof. It gave me a lot of confidence that the house we bought is solid.

I don't think I'd buy new unless I actually bought property and had the house built, where I could talk with the designers/contractors/builders and have everything spelled out. I've seen a few too many spec-houses with stupid issues that meant a house that could have stood 50+ years well was showing issues after five years due to poor landscaping (causing leaks in the foundation), or using less expensive parts to cut costs (i.e., cheap roofing or siding). Or just not having the flexibility that ought to come in a new house , resulting from poor room design or cutting corners (i.e., limited electrical outlets). It's a lot harder to fix stuff that wasn't done right on a new house than it would have been for someone to do it right the first time, but when you're a cheap builder and all you're interested in is a quick buck, that doesn't matter, there's plenty of first-time home buyers that go in without enough information that will likely buy your house and then it's their hurt.

[smartin4]

Get a home inspection before you spend a dime on a place.
Yes it may cost a few hundred, but buying a lemon will cost a lot more than that !

I totally agree, though depending on your state/provincial laws, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to be a home inspector. Just about anyone can do this job as long as you can pass a couple of tests.

My grandmother is in the preliminary stages of filing a lawsuit becasue the "inspector" (and I use that term very loosely) missed sheetrock damage in the ceiling due to a leaky roof, missed some obvious code violations, and worst of all, he missed the fact that the basement leaked water, a mistake that cost her almost 30 grand to have fixed. She had to have a French drain system put in because the leakage was so bad.

The douchebag that sold the house never disclosed (a blatant violation of the law in NJ) the fact that this was an issue, but since he was selling the house because he was declaring bankruptcy, she can't get anything from him. Turns out, after speaking with the neighbor, this house has had drainage issues since it was built 15 years ago. There are no more issues now, except that it cost her an extra $36 grand (roof & drainage system) immediately after having to overpay for a house because of this freakin' overinflated market.

She now has to go after the "inspector", her lawyer spoke to his insurance company, who were not very happy to find out that he never let them know that he was sent a letter by the lawyer stating that these issues were passed over and not caught, and that she expected to be reimbursed for these problems.

[Ian]

The building inspector we used for our current house was great. He went over everything with us and even gave us a binder full of tips on general house maintanence. We'll probably use him for this house too.

Oh yeah.. we got the house and at 262k too.

Now we have to sell ours and move. I hate moving.

[dodecahedron]

well, congrats and enjoy your new house.

yeah, moving sucks.

[MediumRare]

Oh yeah.. we got the house and at 262k too.

Congratulations! Hope it meets your expectations!

Now we have to sell ours and move. I hate moving.

I feel for you. I hate moving too- it's one of the reasons we've been in the same apartment the last 22 years.

One good aspect- if you move often, you don't accumulate so much "stuff" (junk, ballast, really useful items, or whatever you call it).

G

[LoneWolf]

well, congrats and enjoy your new house.

yeah, moving sucks.

One bit of advice...check if there's a "Two Men and a Truck" franchise in your area.

My wife and I boxed our things, and along with my folks, we brought the boxes and small to medium furniture into the garage at the duplex we rented to save on costs. Then we had them do the rest. They saved me the heavy lifting, the need to rent a U-Haul, padding blankets (U-Haul charges you for those), etc. and it only cost us three hours of their time. They were fast and efficient, and careful with our stuff too. It was worth every penny.

[CowboySlim]

I totally agree, though depending on your state/provincial laws, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to be a home inspector.

I am a rocket scientist and I am never going to buy another house again.

When I need to move or get a different place, I'm going to get a double wide.

Slim

[Ian]

I learned ages ago to hire someone else to move the big stuff. There's a local wrestling coach that has a moving truck. He's got his wrestlers working for him and they do a damn good job.

My computers and stuff... those get moved by me.

[dolphinius_rex]

My computers and stuff... those get moved by me.

You just ship me all those old drives you want to get rid of

[Spazmogen]

My computers and stuff... those get moved by me.

You just ship me all those old drives you want to get rid of

Add me to the drive purge list

I recommend wiring the LAN before you paint the rooms and add furniture.

[Ian]

Most of the rooms already have cat5 run to them. Unfortunately, they're setup for phone right now. Not that I need it outside of my office. Everywhere else in the house I just use wireless.