question about bidding on homes and prices

Thanks again for your advice everyone..

My DH and I are planning on looking for more homes this weekend. We have been looking in a few areas.. but we don't want to spend any more than 330-335k on the house. Some of the homes we have been looking at are around 359K-do you think this is too high? The real estate agent tells us to look and give in an offer and that it can't hurt... do you think we are wasting our time? would some homeownders go down to 330-335K from that original price?

Need some advice about price ranges and how that works with bidding...

Thanks again!!!

Re: question about bidding on homes and prices

Well the house we bought a month ago on Monday was originally 420,000. The week we saw it was the same week they reduced the price to 399,000. We initially offered 372,000 and they said they were insulted but after a few counter offers we settled on 389,000. During attorney review (before the signed contract) they got another offer for 399,000 so we then raised our offer to 400,995 as our final and best offer. It was accepted and we got the house. It was appraised for a few thousand more than we paid, but the counter offer thing really left a sour taste in my mouth.

So long story short, if you get into a bidding war you could end up not getting the house and get stuck. We got an excellent mortgage that was locked into this house at 5.125% with no points so we litterally would have lost a lot by not getting this house. Now that we live here I am happy but at first I was upset.

Also, with negotiations after the inspection we paid less than our offer - about what the counter offer was. So it was ok, but still.
So if you only want to spend 330,000 and you expect to get the house for that your innital offer would need to be a lot lower. A seller might not even want to deal with you if you low ball them that much. I would stick to looking at houses for slightly less. Our first realtor kept showing us homes that were about 425-450,000 and that was more than we wanted to spend. I had to get a better realtor to help us. If youyr realtor is not listening to you and your needs then they are not good. Also looking at homes that are more than you can afford will make the ones you can afford look not so good for some reason.

good luck

Re: question about bidding on homes and prices

Some realtors try and show you things above your price range because it means more money for them.

Try to find a buyers agent. And stick to your guns. good luck!

Re: question about bidding on homes and prices

Posted by ssbride05

Thanks again for your advice everyone..

My DH and I are planning on looking for more homes this weekend. We have been looking in a few areas.. but we don't want to spend any more than 330-335k on the house. Some of the homes we have been looking at are around 359K-do you think this is too high? The real estate agent tells us to look and give in an offer and that it can't hurt... do you think we are wasting our time? would some homeownders go down to 330-335K from that original price?

Need some advice about price ranges and how that works with bidding...

Thanks again!!!

Re: question about bidding on homes and prices

Posted by Redhead

Posted by ssbride05

Thanks again for your advice everyone..

My DH and I are planning on looking for more homes this weekend. We have been looking in a few areas.. but we don't want to spend any more than 330-335k on the house. Some of the homes we have been looking at are around 359K-do you think this is too high? The real estate agent tells us to look and give in an offer and that it can't hurt... do you think we are wasting our time? would some homeownders go down to 330-335K from that original price?

Need some advice about price ranges and how that works with bidding...

Thanks again!!!

IMO...it really depends on how the market is going in that area.....
It is different for each town.
Ask your realtor about the market in that area and the price ranges.

For me a house in good condition in the 359 price range would most likely be eatin up very quick and probably for asking price.
But other areas you may be able to bid much lower, depending on the house condition and like i said the area!

But i know how you feel...I am looking in the upper range myself hoping that they could come down when bidding....
IMO talk to you realtor about the homes bought recently...