Anonymous
Post 02/08/2023 08:20     Subject: Is it good to be a picky buyer?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Maybe I’m built differently, but when it comes to a home, I want to make sure that things are correct. Such as foundation, walls, plumbing, electrical, drywall, flooring. I want everything to be as right as can be or I don’t want the house.

I’m about a year in with the home building process. Looking in either Montgomery County or in NOVA (Fairfax/McLean)Recently we really liked a house that met all the checkboxes, but there was an issue with drainage and flooding that the seller didn’t care to disclose…they always tried to avoid the subject. So I walked. My realtor got upset with us to the point where she isn’t speaking to us and said we should’ve taken it anyway. But if I find one red flag, I’m out. The way I see it, this is my biggest purchase of 1.5 million+ dollars, I want it to be right and not run into a trap that’ll costs time and money down the road. Now I know I’ll never find the PERFECT house without doing a custom build, but I just expect the quality to be on par with the price.

But is my realtor right? Am I too picky? I’m just patient in making sure we find the right place for the right fit. Am I asking too much to want a quality home?


Expecting perfection in a house is unrealistic. That said I might have walked over drainage and flooding issues too.

That said, most things are fixable and you need to know the difference between cosmetic blemishes and incurable defects.

So I am going with ridiculous. Team Agent.


The agent should have been more helpful with determining blemishes vs. incurable defects. If OP is walking because something will cost $500 to fix, then that's ridiculous. But it sounds like OP just sees there's a problem that the seller didn't disclose and doesn't know what it would take to fix the problem. The agent isn't providing the experts to give OP the data that she needs, and is instead just pushing OP to buy. That's the agent's fault.
Anonymous
Post 02/08/2023 08:09     Subject: Is it good to be a picky buyer?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Maybe I’m built differently, but when it comes to a home, I want to make sure that things are correct. Such as foundation, walls, plumbing, electrical, drywall, flooring. I want everything to be as right as can be or I don’t want the house.

I’m about a year in with the home building process. Looking in either Montgomery County or in NOVA (Fairfax/McLean)Recently we really liked a house that met all the checkboxes, but there was an issue with drainage and flooding that the seller didn’t care to disclose…they always tried to avoid the subject. So I walked. My realtor got upset with us to the point where she isn’t speaking to us and said we should’ve taken it anyway. But if I find one red flag, I’m out. The way I see it, this is my biggest purchase of 1.5 million+ dollars, I want it to be right and not run into a trap that’ll costs time and money down the road. Now I know I’ll never find the PERFECT house without doing a custom build, but I just expect the quality to be on par with the price.

But is my realtor right? Am I too picky? I’m just patient in making sure we find the right place for the right fit. Am I asking too much to want a quality home?


Expecting perfection in a house is unrealistic. That said I might have walked over drainage and flooding issues too.

That said, most things are fixable and you need to know the difference between cosmetic blemishes and incurable defects.

So I am going with ridiculous. Team Agent.


Scummy agents tend to stick together to make their sale. “Take this flooded house who cares! Mommy needs her new Tesla!”
Anonymous
Post 02/08/2023 08:02     Subject: Is it good to be a picky buyer?
Anonymous wrote:Maybe I’m built differently, but when it comes to a home, I want to make sure that things are correct. Such as foundation, walls, plumbing, electrical, drywall, flooring. I want everything to be as right as can be or I don’t want the house.

I’m about a year in with the home building process. Looking in either Montgomery County or in NOVA (Fairfax/McLean)Recently we really liked a house that met all the checkboxes, but there was an issue with drainage and flooding that the seller didn’t care to disclose…they always tried to avoid the subject. So I walked. My realtor got upset with us to the point where she isn’t speaking to us and said we should’ve taken it anyway. But if I find one red flag, I’m out. The way I see it, this is my biggest purchase of 1.5 million+ dollars, I want it to be right and not run into a trap that’ll costs time and money down the road. Now I know I’ll never find the PERFECT house without doing a custom build, but I just expect the quality to be on par with the price.

But is my realtor right? Am I too picky? I’m just patient in making sure we find the right place for the right fit. Am I asking too much to want a quality home?


Expecting perfection in a house is unrealistic. That said I might have walked over drainage and flooding issues too.

That said, most things are fixable and you need to know the difference between cosmetic blemishes and incurable defects.

So I am going with ridiculous. Team Agent.
Anonymous
Post 02/08/2023 07:58     Subject: Is it good to be a picky buyer?
Anonymous wrote:23:53 clarifying before all you DCUM sharks come blubbering that we're wasting our realtors' time:
Yes, we're picky and we told our realtor that we are. OP is 100% correct, this is the biggest purchase of our lives. We aren't desperate to buy so we'd rather wait and buy a house we're happy with then feel like we got trapped.
We used to go out looking at houses a lot but we respect our realtor and now only go to look if we are very interested in the house, because we know what we want. We've only looked at houses once in the past 3 months because nothing good has been on the market.

Because of the fantastic and ethical way our realtor has behaved, I want her to get a big fat commission just as I imagine she does.


What you're describing is the way it should work. We've bought multiple homes. Each time, we look at a bunch of homes to narrow down what we want, then wait for what we want to come on the market to buy. We recently had to drop a realtor who was pushing us to buy stuff that didn't meet the criteria we provided. She did something else unethical too and that was the last straw, but we would have dropped her anyway because she was wasting our time and only out for her commission.

The best thing realtors could do is to provide useful information. Show comps, point out that here's what a similar home but with a better kitchen and master suite went for. Give us the info we need to make good decisions. So few realtors do this so we end up researching it ourselves.
Anonymous
Post 02/08/2023 07:45     Subject: Re:Is it good to be a picky buyer?
You are not too picky.

Whatever you buy, YOU have to live with. You should just take as much time as you like. That's the challenge with the buyer's agent relationships, but it's the risk that agents take up front. If your realtor is not working, get a new one.

Anonymous
Post 02/07/2023 23:58     Subject: Is it good to be a picky buyer?
23:53 clarifying before all you DCUM sharks come blubbering that we're wasting our realtors' time:
Yes, we're picky and we told our realtor that we are. OP is 100% correct, this is the biggest purchase of our lives. We aren't desperate to buy so we'd rather wait and buy a house we're happy with then feel like we got trapped.
We used to go out looking at houses a lot but we respect our realtor and now only go to look if we are very interested in the house, because we know what we want. We've only looked at houses once in the past 3 months because nothing good has been on the market.

Because of the fantastic and ethical way our realtor has behaved, I want her to get a big fat commission just as I imagine she does.
Anonymous
Post 02/07/2023 23:53     Subject: Is it good to be a picky buyer?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Actually to me it sounds like the real issue is OP doesn't want to be pressured by realtors. That's the biggest reason why DH and I used Redfin. They didn't push us to buy, very low pressure. We eventually found what we want and got it.


OP here. That’s exactly what it was. We felt pressured to buy anything when the homes had several issues. We almost did buy a home but the seller changed their mind on selling at the last minute when the rates started going up. If they didn’t change their mind, we’d have moved in by now. I don’t blame them for not selling. But once that happened, our realtor finds any rando place and wants us to sign on it asap and I’m not wired like that.


OP, it sounds like you need a new realtor. Actually GOOD realtors are rare but they are patient and fighting for YOU, not just their commission. Our realtor has been an absolute dear and she's been actively showing houses to us for... oh, 5-6 months now. When we were closing on a house and issues came up with the septic, our realtor actually ADVISED us to walk because she knew that we might be looking at a 30k+ price tag to fix (and the seller was only offering 3,000$). And we did walk partially based on her advice. A good realtor is working for you, not themselves.
It sounds like you probably walked instead of trying to negotiate, personally I would have tried to negotiate first but if the seller is trying to hide something, it's a bad sign. So while it might not be what I would do, I understand walking due to that. Sellers can be really shady and they shouldn't be allowed to lie or obfuscate without consequences.
Anonymous
Post 02/07/2023 21:18     Subject: Is it good to be a picky buyer?
Anonymous wrote:Shoddy, quick workmanship on a home flip or new build is obvious to me. Get a better inspector if you really don’t get it.

We’ve seen new cabinets with dents in them- the workers did it; mismatched tiles on the floor or where meets the wall, unattached hvacs, new deck even with the sliding door.

All sorts of stuff not at code. Why? Because the developer hires the GC who hires the sub contractors who has whatever cash-pay cousin show up to work that day and it’s slop workmanship. We even had someone with roofers out an attic fan and a ridge vent in a new build. Inspector said to order them to close the ridge. Once he started finding slop, he got really picky.


Worse are they builders/sellers who tell you to not get an inspector…like what??
Anonymous
Post 02/07/2023 12:24     Subject: Is it good to be a picky buyer?
Shoddy, quick workmanship on a home flip or new build is obvious to me. Get a better inspector if you really don’t get it.

We’ve seen new cabinets with dents in them- the workers did it; mismatched tiles on the floor or where meets the wall, unattached hvacs, new deck even with the sliding door.

All sorts of stuff not at code. Why? Because the developer hires the GC who hires the sub contractors who has whatever cash-pay cousin show up to work that day and it’s slop workmanship. We even had someone with roofers out an attic fan and a ridge vent in a new build. Inspector said to order them to close the ridge. Once he started finding slop, he got really picky.
Anonymous
Post 02/07/2023 12:24     Subject: Is it good to be a picky buyer?
Anonymous wrote:Frankly your title insurance lawyer would help you with terms more than a realtor.

And we never use a realtors suggested inspector. Too many kick backs and bad alignment. We get our own and lean towards hiring retired general contractors who take 3-4 hours to inspect a house and fill up each bathtub, checks all sockets, landscaping, age of systems/ appliances/roof, etc.

Just subtract the deferred maintenance from the purchase price or be ready for it down the pike.

But no one’s wants to move in and the first high volume rain see water in their house.



+1 to all of this
Anonymous
Post 02/07/2023 11:07     Subject: Is it good to be a picky buyer?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:OP, I am in a similar boat to you. What is working of for me is finding a quality builder and being involved as much as I can in the process. Obviously more time and $$$, but the end product is worth it. So many of the spec homes out there are mediocre to crap, even in the high-end range.


Yeah I don’t understand how so many spec builders get away with such garbage. People truly don’t care anymore.


They don’t know. People have no clue if they are getting crap windows, hvac, etc but they only care that it’s new.


Very true. I’m sure OP would be “picky” about my house we are selling soon, but all the flaws are up front. There will be no surprises, but the eventual buyer will price in whatever upgrades they want.