General

We were gonna do it... Go over budget and bid on the house. Haha... Yeah... We talked to the selling realtor, many bids over asking. There's such little inventory now and competition is aggressive. Super curios to see how much it goes for.

Probably best to wait until spring/summer regardless. Hopefully rates will come down a bit more too.

My house sold. I'm sitting on cash now trying to decide next thing to do with my life. I've been talking to banks and figuring out the process to buy investment properties.

Commercial and multi-family real estate is going nuts. For the longest time in WA you couldn't find better than a 4% cap rate anywhere decent, maybe a theoretical 7% cap in Aberdeen or Goldendale or somewhere out in the boonies.

Now you can find 7-10% with relative ease. Moving to commercial / industrial, there is storage facility that I bet is doing 18-20% cap for what they are asking.

sinnie wrote:

Right now St. Louis, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Pittsburg have IMO the housing markets with the most opportunity. St. Louis has some amazing buildings, some needing a lot of TLC, some move in ready.

https://www.loopnet.com/Listing/6300-Minnesota-Ave...

I don't know the area at all, but that seems like an amazing wedding venue / rent out to boy scouts / rent out to a church, etc.

Not gonna lie, I feel like my rent is going to go up again this year since they did one of them appraisal things by a 3rd party company to assess repair costs, etc...

Surprisingly, while I was waiting on a job I applied for in Columbus, OH, I did some research and cost of living is similar, somewhat lower than where I am now... So far as I can tell it is safe to say I'm not considered for the job so I've decided to stop looking in that area. I was looking at possibly renting a studio apartment for the space.

Now that I'm going back to work at the same job I quit to focus on my education while I look for an IT job, I'm going to focus on getting my financials back in order, rebuild my savings to prepare for when I need to move for my IT job...

I bought a house and closed earlier this month. $325k. 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom, living and family room, full basement that's custom height one extra block (I'm 6'8" and I don't hit my head), gas fireplace, all hardwood floors, deck, New appliances, New furnace, New roof, dry basement.

I was the only person who put an offer on it. My realtor used that to pressure the sellers to spend $20k to fix things before closing. That included steel basement wall stabilizing brackets (common in this area), chimney repairs and new hood, radon mitigation (also common to area), and some stone decorative replacement on the outside.

Lots of people toured the house but whined over dumb stuff. Things like Lot wasn't big enough (it's 0.75 acres wooded), garage wasn't big enough (it's 2.5 car), it's too close to the road (my backyard borders a busy 4 lane road. It's only busy from 10 am till 5pm and there's plenty of yard buffer), there's no shed, the cement drive needs mudjacking (two small spots outside my garage), it's too close to the school (I'm two houses away from a high school which is fancy as hell and super quiet). I have one neighbor bordering me that's super nice. Across the busy road my backyard borders is a golf course. Everyone on my block works 3rd shift so it's dark at night and pin drop quiet.

I plan on mudjacking the drive in spring, planting lots more trees, fencing in the backyard, finishing the basement, installing vinyl siding when prices drop.

If anyone wants to buy my house in northwest Milwaukee, mention this thread and get $2k off asking price.

Chad wrote:

The crime in a lot of these places is really bad and that's keeping a lot of investors out. Go there the wrong part of the day, get mugged, shot or carjacked. There's just some places you can't really easily go in STL and many other places.

sinnie wrote:
Before I bought my house I visited during the weekend especially Friday and Saturday night to see how the area was.. Of course this was in 2012 before this market.. We've had so many houses change hands the last 2 years it's crazy. One house in particular has been bought and sold 4x.. One house went pending in 8 hours and the other in 9. The guy who bought the house on the corner waived inspection and the house has foundation, roofing and drainage problems. Now he knows why they took his offer even though they had 2 higher offers.

Over here most realtors are being butt-holes. Either they ignore texts/calls or leave you hanging after an "appointment" to look at a house. Hoping the market gets better this year

kevolones wrote:

Fire your realtors. I went through five before I found a keeper.

I've had good experiences with realtors. The best was this couple that did it together. The wife was a super nice/helpful person. The husband (never actually met him) was the one who negotiated the price once we got an offer. I was shocked at how much more he got the buyer to pay. I almost felt bad for the buyer.

More recently, when my parents died, I had to sell their homes (out of state). The realtor helped me with all kinds of details (e.g. I had to clean the places out and do some minimal fix-ups). He even would meet people while I stayed remote in some cases too.

Indeed -- there are great realtors and horrible ones. It's a bit too easy to get a license here (and maybe everywhere). I see way too many people picking it up as a "side gig" who have no idea what they are doing.

The city I'm moving to, almost 20 percent of residents have real estate agent licenses. It's crazy.

ryanflucas wrote:

They are not really my realtors. Theyre just the people showing the houses on the market. I need to find a real realtor and stop dealing with these people.

My first realtor was awesome for me. He gave me tons of tips and was brutally honest with certain houses. Nothing we were seriously interested in, but he flat out told us on certain properties he would not be our agent if we tried tried to buy them. He wanted nothing to do with having to sell them later. Props for that honesty.

Due to moving out of state, I've had 4 other realtors. I dumped 2 of them quickly as it was all about their commission. The other 2 were decent, gave me some breaks.

Be weary of a realtor who struggles to find negatives about a property, especially if they consistently spin your concerns to non-issues. Also as soon as you know or suspect it won't work, cut ties.

I don't have nice things to say about the realtors I've dealt with. Some have been "ok" but at no point has anyone ever met the value of their commission. $20k+ for just fielding calls from other realtors is pretty insane.

I've sold 2 houses and both times the realtor said they could get $X and when the appraisal inspection came around everybody was nervous. And both times the appraisal was below the expectation, but at that point you're tied to the realtor to some degree even with their false promises.

For one of the houses we actually talked directly with the buyer to work some stuff out (without our reps ever knowing), as the song-and-dance BS through the realtors was so dumb. And they still got paid.

I went through realtors fast because I didn't buy a house fast enough. I had a few really good ones but they spent more time helping people that bought the first house they saw for quick money.

My sister in law is a realtor and she's really great at her job. Yet in the grand scheme, I find that realtors aren't needed. Feels like a a car salesman. A role that used to have a lot more value, but has proven to be far less needed and valuable as technology has taken over. The insane amount of money they can make for doing so little, is baffling. Sadly, still a bit of a necessary evil until things further change. We'll sell for sale by owner and buy a new house through her.

Indeed. Realtors have a large lobby group that basically makes it difficult for anyone to get access to MLS. If people had easier access to it, then they would be less and less needed.

Sure, this varies by house and location, of course. But, in general, in many areas and with average/normal homes, buying direct access to MLS to list your own house might make the most sense.

I thought my realtor was amazing selling my place. If I sold when stuff was hot I would have done Redfin. But when everything is going to crap? She was very good. Did like 15 open houses, helped arrange a whole lot of stuff.

Buying though, I think I might just use an attorney next time. Buying is no way worth 3% in most markets.

Generally 2% buyers fee and that's usually baked into the seller's realtor.

Well, that ... was a giant kick in the balls.

We finally found something that we liked, and was in our range (ish).

We were the first to bid. Found out there was a cash offer after us; however, the sellers gave us a follow up shot to match the new offer. This is because our realtor (sister in law), knows the selling realtor (just at a professional level). They relayed to the buyer that we have a 3rd kid on the way, and trying to move closer to family (our realtor, 5 mins away).

Anyway, to match the offer was pushing our limits on affordability (still managable). I asked "would it be ok - if it doesn't scare them away - can we simply see the house a second time - tonight or tomorrow morning before we finalize the committment?".

What was ultimately relayed by the selling realtor, to the sellers ... unknown, but it resulted in the sellers denying us and going with the other offer because we were "wishy-washy".

Absolutely bullcrap. Granted, it's my fault, but c'mon. This market is batcrap. There's no room for hesitation or second guessing.

Really sucks, it was a big home, in a great area, that checked many boxes. Reality is, we probably shouldn't have even had the chance to go against a cash offer, that's not normal ... and shoulda been the sign for me not to be a giant idiot, and just to say YES, right then and there.

Needless to say, my wife is not to happy with me .

I hate this f'ing market.

Dang, sorry to hear that. I was just wondering the other day if the market had calmed down at all, doesn't sound like it.

You could have matched it and said yes and they STILL may have taken the cash offer. It's just more "safe" from their point of view. So, if it helps any, it STILL could have gone this way in the end even if you just matched and said Yes.

You'll find another.

That sucks @MrBean. The right home will come.

I've been seeing 3bed2bath type houses in crapty neighborhoods going for at least $150k... sure they've been fixed up and looking new, but still... CRAPTY NEIGHBORHOODS....

I've also seen a lot of scams getting posted as well...

@MrBean Sorry to hear that man. Don’t lose heart.

It is not your fault. Second showing is customary. It indicates strong interest, and usually results in an adjusted bid in favor of the seller. I suspect they went with the all cash offer and said whatever.

Qpalzm wrote:

Sadly, not in this modern market. Houses sell within 24 hours. Many site unseen. You don't have time to think... Just act. Sucks, but is the reality.

Don’t be afraid to pull the trigger. That’s what contingencies are for. Unless the cash buyer is waving all contingencies and your on the fence ( in first place) then probably smart to move on.

I had a similar situation back in 2020, every house we made an offer on was swooped up before even a counter offer. Then when we saw another one we really liked, we got lucky. The owners liked us and also the fact that I did not have a realtor. 😂 Their realtor asked us to match the highest offer. And we did. 100% commission for the realtor and we got the house.

Unless you are in desperate need of a house, I'd still suggest waiting it out. I've literally seen houses that were 85k before this increase sell for 160k plus. Just seems like something has to give and these prices are going to come down. I get that it might be a long time though so if you are in desperate need of a house, makes sense to be looking.,,,otherwise I think I would sit this out. It would just suck to drop say 500k on a house and then the value plummets to 350k.

Family bought the house 2 doors down from me.. The house had went pending in 9 hours and they were surprised because 2 people went higher than them... They waived all inspections and wanted the house as is.. The house is a tragedy and the people knew it.. New roof is going to cost 35k, they ripped out the driveway and walkway and had it repoured for 5k to fix the flooding problem but it didn't fix it.. When it rains the water runs and sits under the house so they had to dig trenches to lay pipe to run the water away from the house but it's temporary.. The back side where an extension was added previously basically pours inside when it rains.. To try to get the water away from the house they need to get the land leveled and they were quoted 8k for that.. When that dump 2 streets away went for a quarter million I knew people lost their minds..

Don't forget the highly inflated house prices also drive up your insurance, property tax, etc, and when bubble bursts it can be a pain to get them reduced

brian9824 wrote:

I've got a bad feeling that this presumed "bubble" actually isn't in most (not all) geographical US markets and that prices, while hopefully not continuing to rise as steeply as they have, will go flat instead of crashing down: the "new norm," so to speak.

Housing market has actually cooled a bit, the high interest rate is kinda awful for home buyers with the need for mortgages(fudge these cash buyers, wtf).

Lunar wrote:

Exactly! Because there is a greater demand for single-family housing than there is a supply of them, I just don't believe we're in a bubble. This, sadly, is the market reacting to a housing shortage by increasing prices. The Fed's rate hikes have shot up interest rates which has made mortgages more expensive. Yet, still people are buying houses because the need is still there. Maybe it's not at as crazy a pace as when rates were two and three percent; but, the need is definitely still there.

For us, Cleveland, the market is just wrecked.

We were for years considered undervalued. ~$200-$300k homes here just 5-10 years ago, were worth double/triple in other markets. Now that same ~$200-$300k is a good $500-$700k here.

The crazy part is, people are still buying like lunatics. They're selling in ~24-48 hours on anything from ~$200k to $700k. Most are cash offers too! We've lost out on several now because we stood no chance on cash + over asking offers. Where the fudge is this money coming from? I am just a dumb crap, but I'm assuming due to more and more remote workforce, we're getting people from Chicago, New York, etc. that flocked to a cheaper market and have now totally fudgeed it up for us.

I mean christ, just a month ago, we looked at listing from my sister in law. She gave us priority at it, we passed, and she sold it within 6 hours SITE UNSEEN, for $60k above asking to one of her clients on the west coast. She sent them an 8 minute walk through video, and they overbid by $60k - JFC.

It's just nuts.

Part of the problem is companies are popping up that are buying properties to rent out which makes it harder for them to be gotten by people who want them for themselves.

A lot of these "cash buyers" are investment firms like private equity looking to capitalize on rising home values. They often want to rent homes out and probably flip later. Rich foreign private citizens also look at US real estate as a good place to stash their cash.

I have been actively looking for just over a month now. 0 for 4 on accepted offers thus far. My realtor is drafting up a fifth as I type; fingers crossed this one takes. Probably the best house I've seen thus far.