I'm the earlier poster with question about putting down an offer on a house...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks for the feedback. We heard from the listing agent--he'll get back to us within 24 hours. Now I'm worried that 15k below listing price is too low, based on PP's input. Is 435k really low for a 449k listing price?

If it's in a good neighborhood and worth $449k, then *yes* $435k is too low and even insulting. Why do people think it's across the board a buyer's market? If you think it's worth $449k don't low-ball (which is what you did), offer $440 and know you will come somewhere in the middle.

OP here...DH doesn't think the house is worth 449k but we're willing to overpay a bit if we have to for a variety of reasons. It's not in DC...far less desirable (to most people) location.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hang in there. We went through similar situation. Found dream house. Put offer in that day at full list price. Gave them 24 hours to respond and sweat a lot. Heard the next day there was another offer coming in. We basically freaked out for a few hours and discussed whether to revise offer with escalation clause. Fortunately, our offer won out and we got the house.

And yes, even in this market, there is very little inventory at certain price points and locations. We sold our house before it was even listed (with multiple offers). Amazing what a "coming soon" sign in your yard can do.

I'm weeping as I read this. Our house is on the market, and we'll be lucky if we get an offer in a month or two. It's very, very slow where we live. Houses that sold in hours (like ours) a few years ago are sitting on the market for months. Outside of the DC real estate bubble, the recession is very very bad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks for the feedback. We heard from the listing agent--he'll get back to us within 24 hours. Now I'm worried that 15k below listing price is too low, based on PP's input. Is 435k really low for a 449k listing price?

If it's in a good neighborhood and worth $449k, then *yes* $435k is too low and even insulting. Why do people think it's across the board a buyer's market? If you think it's worth $449k don't low-ball (which is what you did), offer $440 and know you will come somewhere in the middle.

OP here...DH doesn't think the house is worth 449k but we're willing to overpay a bit if we have to for a variety of reasons. It's not in DC...far less desirable (to most people) location.

Real estate is worth what you are willing to pay for it. If you are willing to pay $449K, then that is what it is worth to you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here...I know, I'm a mess. I have to somehow put this out of my mind. We've been looking for a house for so long and this is the first one that has felt really right. What a stressful process!

My worry is that another buyer submitted a good offer, but I would think that the listing agent would let us know and give us a chance to put our best offer out there.

Why did you give your best offer in the first place? Calm down, you do not want to appear too desperate to the listing agent they could use this as a way to get you to up your offer even if there is no competing bid. BTW, I am assuming that you are not buying in DC.

Why would you make that assumption? I would assume she is buying in either DC or the metro area given this is a local message board

Because DC allows escalation clauses in real estate purchase letters (don't remember the exact name of the form) - if OP were buying in DC and has a buyers agent that is worth paying then she would not have to worry about having to make a second bid to get her best offer out there.

This is not unique to DC. VA has escalation clauses as well. It would be reeking of desperation to include an escalation clause in this market, unless this house potentially has multiple bids, this sort of stuff is what went on during the bubble. That would be a pretty dumb move on the buyers agent.

An escalation clause only kicks in if there are multiple bids and since there is no way of know whether there will be other bids its a safe option if you really want the house and are willing to pay more to have it.

It reeks of desparation. If I were a seller, then I'd just negotiate you asclose as I could get to your top dollar.

[Anonymous]

OP - What happened? Did you get the house?

[Anonymous]

Don't overpay. This is how the problems began.....

[Anonymous]

OP here...Thanks for checking in! We got the house! They accepted our offer and didn't even counter-offer. We were shocked because they took a while to get back to us and we were fearing the worst. I think their broker is just a bit slow on his feet...apparently he doesn't even have a fax machine and doesn't really text, etc. We are SO relieved. Thanks so much everyone, for your valuable input!