Can't believe this is happening to me.

[SevenBizzos]

Originally Posted by quint

The real estate market is 100% insane right now. Houses selling an hour or two after being listed, and selling for more than asking price. We have been caught in more than one bidding war (we immediately back out), and had several snatched up from underneath us as we are on our way to tour them. Nothing better than setting up a time to look at a house, leaving work early, getting halfway there to look at it, only to have our realtor call us and then tell us forget it, go back to work, the house just sold. What?? This has happened like four times in just the last couple weeks.


This is true in a lot of the country. I know three people that have had to purchase their homes unseen in SE WI. Your realtor tells you the house is being listed at 9:00am and you basically have an hour to look at the pictures and decide if you're putting in an offer. The market is that crazy. One of my friends just moved to Indy and the market was similar.

[This is not a political statement] The housing market in my county in IL is the opposite. (Maybe caused by the craziness to the north, maybe not). We have multiple houses in our area on the market for months with multiple price reductions. We're talking < 15 year old construction with good schools. I'm not going to offer up why I think that is, but merely state the facts of the market.

So it depends on what market the OP is in. Everyone knows employment stability is usually a requirement for financing. Selling a buying a house can be incredibly frustrating. I'm glad I haven't had to do that in awhile.

 

[SeaJay]

The deal is not complete until all the t's and crossed and the i's dotted. Going into contract means that these things still need to be done and after they are then the deal can be closed.

 

[billt460]

We are going to see another housing crash. You can bet on it. The exact same thing happened the same way in 2008. History will soon repeat itself.

 

[quint]

Originally Posted by SevenBizzos
Originally Posted by quint

The real estate market is 100% insane right now. Houses selling an hour or two after being listed, and selling for more than asking price. We have been caught in more than one bidding war (we immediately back out), and had several snatched up from underneath us as we are on our way to tour them. Nothing better than setting up a time to look at a house, leaving work early, getting halfway there to look at it, only to have our realtor call us and then tell us forget it, go back to work, the house just sold. What?? This has happened like four times in just the last couple weeks.


This is true in a lot of the country. I know three people that have had to purchase their homes unseen in SE WI. Your realtor tells you the house is being listed at 9:00am and you basically have an hour to look at the pictures and decide if you're putting in an offer. The market is that crazy. One of my friends just moved to Indy and the market was similar.

[This is not a political statement] The housing market in my county in IL is the opposite. (Maybe caused by the craziness to the north, maybe not). We have multiple houses in our area on the market for months with multiple price reductions. We're talking < 15 year old construction with good schools. .


I'm seeing both of these scenarios around here as well. I was just talking to someone the other day who bought their house sight unseen, only using the pictures on realtor.com or zillow. Luckily their's was as good in person as it was in the pictures. I can tell you from looking at as many houses as we have lately, most of these gems do NOT look like in person, how they look in pictures.

We recently looked at a late 1800's farmhouse that was simply stunning in the pictures. Huge front hard, way off the street, pristine outbuildings, huge pasture out back, etc. Got there, the pictures had been stretched because the house was barely 20 feet of the road, the basement floor was 3 inches under water, joists sagging and rotten, not a single window actually fit, there were dead animals in the walk-up attic area, complete with unidentifiable fur and bones.... knob and tube wiring spliced with modern wiring, completely exposed copper junctions almost none of it in a junction box or even wire capped (!!??!!), bare uncapped wires sticking out of walls, lead pipes joined to PVC joined to flexible tubes, etc. If I had bought that house based on the pictures, I'd seriously be contemplating taking my own life by now. I can only hope whoever bought this fire hazard hepatitis factory of a mess, bought it for the 25 acres and not for the house, which really should just be burnt down and plowed over.

On the flip side, we've been through some really nice newer homes on 4-5 acres that have only one flaw... they are 30%-40% overpriced, and thats why they have been sitting empty for 2-3 months. And now they are toxic and nobody is looking at them.

I agree a correction is probably well on the way. And we will sit patiently in our apartment (as long as we can stand it), the proceeds from our house sale resting quietly in the bank, until that happens.

 

[billt460]

Originally Posted by SevenBizzos
The housing market in my county in IL is the opposite. (Maybe caused by the craziness to the north, maybe not). We have multiple houses in our area on the market for months with multiple price reductions. We're talking < 15 year old construction with good schools. I'm not going to offer up why I think that is, but merely state the facts of the market.


The housing market in and around the Chicago area is being killed off by insanely high property taxes. They have been spiraling out of control for years. Who can afford 5 digit a year property taxes on an already heavily mortgaged home? Very few. Add to that the jobs there are slowly drying up in a lot of the trades, and you have a recipe for a housing disaster. It has been predicted that Chicago will eventually become the next Detroit.

 

[Mr Nice]

My sister was looking at houses and didn't buy a house from original realtor. Must have shown her 7 houses and my sister didn't like any of the houses.... she gave him $1000 for his time and trouble. I thought that was fair on her part.

Yes, lots of realtors are knocking on doors wanting people to sell their home after looking at the county tax office records. Kind of annoying but these folks work on commission.

 

[Wolf359]

Originally Posted by Mr Nice
My sister was looking at houses and didn't buy a house from original realtor. Must have shown her 7 houses and my sister didn't like any of the houses.... she gave him $1000 for his time and trouble. I thought that was fair on her part.

Yes, lots of realtors are knocking on doors wanting people to sell their home after looking at the county tax office records. Kind of annoying but these folks work on commission.


That was really nice. Never really had anyone do that. Closing rate for me is something like 1 in 3 or 5. Usually you show them at least 10-20 houses til they buy one. Only had one guy ever buy the first house I showed him although I did sell a friend a condo that neither of us saw, he already owned a condo in the same building so he didn't care. The worst clients are the ones where you show them 50-100 houses and then they never end up buying. Then of course the guy that only sees a few houses and buys thinks you're making a killing.

 

[AZjeff]

Originally Posted by Wolf359
Then of course the guy that only sees a few houses and buys thinks you're making a killing.


From his point of view for the time you spent with him and what you receive you get paid well. You look at it as an average amount per house sold or per house shown or hours worked per month or whatever but it doesn't really matter to the guy you show 3 houses to and he buys one. Different perspective.

 

[Mr Nice]

Originally Posted by billt460
Originally Posted by SevenBizzos
The housing market in my county in IL is the opposite. (Maybe caused by the craziness to the north, maybe not). We have multiple houses in our area on the market for months with multiple price reductions. We're talking < 15 year old construction with good schools. I'm not going to offer up why I think that is, but merely state the facts of the market.


The housing market in and around the Chicago area is being killed off by insanely high property taxes. They have been spiraling out of control for years. Who can afford 5 digit a year property taxes on an already heavily mortgaged home? Very few. Add to that the jobs there are slowly drying up in a lot of the trades, and you have a recipe for a housing disaster. It has been predicted that Chicago will eventually become the next Detroit.



Educated folks with good paying jobs can pay high property taxes. That goes for any nice area in the USA.

I agree (and hopefully so) Chicago becomes the next Detroit.

 

[supton]

Good luck man. I at 18 days listed, and had two showings in the first week or two. Not sure when but at some point I'll have to do a price drop--no showings for the last week, and it's Labor Day weekend (my realtor said she had showings lined up for the whole weekend--other houses of course).

In the meantime I'm enjoying my vastly-decluttered house. Doesn't make me want to stay, but it sure is much nicer!

Online photos only do so much. We looked at a house on Friday and... wowzer. No mention of the roof that needed replacing (like before winter). The ad listed both "level" and "sloping" in the description; hilly was probably better. I could see why they didn't bother listing room sizes: all were small (ever see a three bedroom house that didn't have a master bedroom? this was one). IMO house shopping is a bit like car shopping, no way I'd buy sight unseen.

 

[supton]

Hey, am reminded of a question that came up as I shop for my next house: property taxes. I'm guessing it varies from town to town... Right now most properties will sell for above assessed value (the value used for taxes). If sold above assessed value, does assessed value then become that value? Meaning, if the house was assessed by the town at 150k, and it then sells for 200k, will it then be taxed at 200k going forward?

[I know assessments go up, year to year, just wondering if one should expect a big jump if they buy at well above assessed value. I don't remember back that far when I bought mine, and IIRC the two numbers were pretty close anyhow. Did email the town clerk the question.]

 

[opus1]

Originally Posted by supton
Hey, am reminded of a question that came up as I shop for my next house: property taxes. I'm guessing it varies from town to town... Right now most properties will sell for above assessed value (the value used for taxes). If sold above assessed value, does assessed value then become that value? Meaning, if the house was assessed by the town at 150k, and it then sells for 200k, will it then be taxed at 200k going forward?

[I know assessments go up, year to year, just wondering if one should expect a big jump if they buy at well above assessed value. I don't remember back that far when I bought mine, and IIRC the two numbers were pretty close anyhow. Did email the town clerk the question.]


If your tax assessor work like mine does, the assessed value is only half of the equation. The other half are the actual tax rates.

Case in point, my subdivision gets revalued every 3 years and we had a reassessment done right before the market crash. For 3 years people were complaining that our taxes were based on a value that was no longer realistic. Next cycle our assessed values dropped and people were happy...that is until they realized that our taxes actually went up because all of the taxing bodies increased their rates. Gubmint gots to get its money even if your house value drops...

 

[SevenBizzos]

Originally Posted by supton
Hey, am reminded of a question that came up as I shop for my next house: property taxes. I'm guessing it varies from town to town... Right now most properties will sell for above assessed value (the value used for taxes). If sold above assessed value, does assessed value then become that value? Meaning, if the house was assessed by the town at 150k, and it then sells for 200k, will it then be taxed at 200k going forward?

[I know assessments go up, year to year, just wondering if one should expect a big jump if they buy at well above assessed value. I don't remember back that far when I bought mine, and IIRC the two numbers were pretty close anyhow. Did email the town clerk the question.]


(Locally speaking) Yes. It will also increase neighboring properties. It's not immediate because they use rolling three year windows of home sales to calculate value, but it will increase.

This also works the other way. If some homes in your subdivision were sold at lower prices than yours it creates inequity and would be grounds for an appeal. This is key where I live so you have to keep an eye on local sales. When your annual taxes are over 4% of your homes value, fighting for reduced assessment is valuable (and in some places regular and necessary).

 

[supton]

Originally Posted by opus1
If your tax assessor work like mine does, the assessed value is only half of the equation. The other half are the actual tax rates.

Case in point, my subdivision gets revalued every 3 years and we had a reassessment done right before the market crash. For 3 years people were complaining that our taxes were based on a value that was no longer realistic. Next cycle our assessed values dropped and people were happy...that is until they realized that our taxes actually went up because all of the taxing bodies increased their rates. Gubmint gots to get its money even if your house value drops...


Oh I get that--lower value but raise rate, same amount. No shock really, the cost to run a town doesn't change, well it goes up as wages go up. I just want to make sure my budget takes into account any potential large tax jump.

 

[Wolf359]

Originally Posted by supton
Originally Posted by opus1
If your tax assessor work like mine does, the assessed value is only half of the equation. The other half are the actual tax rates.

Case in point, my subdivision gets revalued every 3 years and we had a reassessment done right before the market crash. For 3 years people were complaining that our taxes were based on a value that was no longer realistic. Next cycle our assessed values dropped and people were happy...that is until they realized that our taxes actually went up because all of the taxing bodies increased their rates. Gubmint gots to get its money even if your house value drops...


Oh I get that--lower value but raise rate, same amount. No shock really, the cost to run a town doesn't change, well it goes up as wages go up. I just want to make sure my budget takes into account any potential large tax jump.


I'm not sure what they do in NH, but in MA, what they do is figure out the tax base for the town and then figure out the town budget. So if the assessed value goes down, the tax rate per thousand ends up going up so they can maintain the same budget. With prop 2 and a half, the town budget can only go up 2.5%, but that doesn't mean your assessment is limited to 2.5%, yours may shoot up higher and someone else who has a run down property may be lower. Usually for assessments, the earliest that kicks in is in about two years when the new tax year starts. For instance if the tax year starts in June 2018, they use the assessments for houses sold in calendar year 2016. So you may have a couple years before the new assessment kicks in.

 

[supton]

Good to know, thanks. Hopefully my town clerk gets back to me before long so I can get the full answer for my town.

 

[CKN]

Originally Posted by Vibe_2007
Originally Posted by bdcardinal
Best of luck. It is a really strong market, especially here. People are getting cash offers more than asking price hours after houses are listed. We have even had offers on the house and we aren't selling.


Where I live in Sioux Falls it is hot. 5000 people move here yearly. Our house was appraised at 155 in 2015 to 194 in 2018.

Our town is now 180,000 and to hit 250K in 10 years per the city.

The biggest problem is after you sell, it is hard to find something affordable. For us that is in that 215,000 max home price.

We qualify for more, but I'll be darned if I am going to be house poor.


$215,000.00 will get you a two bedroom Condo in Salt Lake City. Most houses here sell in a matter of days-over asking price. Your situation happens all the time. If it sold fast-it will sell agin.

You worry too much.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Originally Posted by Mr Nice
My sister was looking at houses and didn't buy a house from original realtor. Must have shown her 7 houses and my sister didn't like any of the houses.... she gave him $1000 for his time and trouble. I thought that was fair on her part.

Yes, lots of realtors are knocking on doors wanting people to sell their home after looking at the county tax office records. Kind of annoying but these folks work on commission.


If that happened to me, I would gladly sell asap!

 

[Patman]

We almost got screwed ourselves a few weeks ago. We bought a new pre construction home in March 2016 and we sold our townhouse the end of June, and agreed upon an August 10th closing, which was also the day we were supposed to close on our new home. The morning of August 10th we were all excited, the moving truck arrived bright and early just before 8am and the guys were fantastic, loading it up before lunch time. Just as they finished loading the truck, we get a call from our lawyer saying that the buyer of our old home had changed lawyers and lenders at the very last minute and he didn't think they would have our money that day. A few hours later he confirmed it, and that they wanted an extension until Monday August 13th. So we now had no furniture in our old house and only the clothes on our backs! Our whole life was on that moving truck! We did have a place to stay thankfully, my wife's parents were in England, so their house was empty. Monday rolls around and our lawyer gives us more bad news, the funds still haven't come through and they want another extension until Wednesday! At this point we're freaking out, we don't know if they are just stalling and have no intention of going through with the deal. We couldn't afford to lose our new home, because we bought it so far in advance we paid way less than it's market value, and it's going to climb even more in value when the market recovers here. It's our retirement! Wednesday comes and every time we phone our lawyer he says he hasn't heard from the other people, their lawyer is not returning his calls. Finally at 4:30 that day, he says the funds have gone through and we can go pick up our keys to our new house. We arrive at the builder's office 5 minutes after 5 (they are supposed to close at 5) and luckily they stayed open late to wait for us. Crisis averted! Our early retirement plan for 2022 is still on track! But we had a lot of sleepless nights wondering if this deal was going to go south.

 

[Vibe_2007]

GREAT NEWS!

We put our home back up for sale and it is already under contract from someone new. The sellers we were dealing with are willing to wait up to 40 days for us to close, so we still get the house we wanted!

Awesome!

Thanks for all the great advice and great stories from everyone!