God why is this the hardest shit to do, even in a "buyers market"? Its like they purposely make it difficult to keep the stupid people from ever owning (stupid people in this scenerio is me:eek: )

Or maybe its just my realtor. Allow me to share my story:

First, DC is a pretty big town. Its like 10 miles accross, and the suburbs are massive. Traffic can be brutal and in my line of work I always need to be able to get to the White House, Capitol, etc. in 30 minutes or less for "breaking news". So I told my realtor this, and the first list of homes he brings back are $20,000 higher than my ceiling and a 45 minute commute. Weeks later he doesn't find anything better than that, so I start the search on my own and found a few places in my price range ($330k and down). In this area, the best in that category were full of illegal immigrants who trashed the place and their landlord was tired of dealing with it so they're selling it - as is. The worst, lets not discuss it :) Finally my realtor finds a home that was foreclosed on not 5 minutes from where I currently live now, and apparently it was on the market for a good 180 days before he found it - not sure why.

So I visit it twice, have my parents walk through it, and make an offer. For a house that was 4BR, 3.5 Bath originally listed at $399k and then when I saw it was listed at $347k I ask to offer $307k because I'm poor. My realtor goes on and on about how he's gonna get laughed out of the business, swears they will probably counter for $346.5k, but finally does it anyway. Three days later (today) they countered with $330k - my original ceiling. But it needs work and I don't want to have to eat ramen noodles my first year so I ask him his advice. "Take it, they won't go any lower" Takes me a half hour to convince him that I need to offer $317 and for him to do it.

And now, the point of all this, why does the buyers agent get paid a commision based on how expensive the buyer pays? My agent will get $9,900 if I buy it at $330k and only $9,510 if I get it for $317k. Where is their incentive to work for me here? Why is it that to buy a house you can't even talk to the person selling the house, you need to talk to the person who will talk to the person who will talk to the person selling the house? For all the "Man its a great buyers market" comments why does this process have to be so damn hard? Maybe if it made a little more sense and there wasn't so much red tape people wouldn't be so afraid to buy and we wouldn't be in the middle of a recession.

Rant off, but anyone have any advice with the whole thing?

Why did you have your parents walk through it?

I think Real Estate agents are great if you are selling. That being said I have always used one to buy also.

If you think it is bad buying a home, take a look at commercial real estate. 10% for them easily.

I have always found that you really have to put on an act for "your" real estate and convince him. Then he will give the bottom line to "their" real estate agent.

In Louisiana the standard fee is 6%. Once I talked one down to 4% because he knew my house would sell fast.

If any of you have done this FSBO please chime in because I have not had the balls to do that yet (and probably never will).

It was my first place, wanted them to take a peek and see if there was anything I'm missing. Plus my dad is awfully handy and wanted advice fixing the few things wrong with it.

I am glad you stood your ground and offered what *you* wanted to offer. The Real estate guy is playing with your money, not his.

Also, don't you just love that they get you to sign a freaking 90 day contract with them? I think that is also rediculous !!! It is easy to get them down to 30 days though.

i'm getting a little fired up just thinking back.

Even though your father is "handy"... GET AN INSPECTION. Costs a few hundred but well worth avoiding the mildew or termite infestation under the floor you can't easily see yourself.

Secondly, it may not be a buyers maket in DC afterall. Your realtor sounds more like a salesman. Ditch his ass and find someone you can trust.

My wife and I lucked out and got a retired teacher. He was very well known in the community, KNEW the community, and he had 15+ years selling homes. When he gave advice I trusted him.

Lastly, if you're not happy with the price or home, keep looking. If it really is a buyers market, you won't have to wait much longer.

Good luck.

This will probably be one of, if not the, biggest investment of your life. Take your time and be careful.

Don't sign a contract that extends beyond a specific house in question, or houses shown to you by that agent. Find another agent if one insists

Remember that the agent works for the seller, not you.

Don't set specific prices. "I want to spend 300k" ect. Make offers on a specific house based on what you are willing to pay for that particular house. Period. If they don't accept, walk away.

Be reasonable as to what you can do and what you cannot do. Land is the first and foremost consideration. Where is it? How much property? Schools, Mill Rates, ect. Construction is getting easier and simpler all the time. A increasingly common thing is to totally tear down a house and build new, especially after you've lived there a few years and built good equity.

My advice is to buy the worst house in the best possible neighborhood. Buying the best house in the worst neighborhood is financial suicide.
Check out your Neighbors. Are they building/have built additions? Are their yards kept? Look for family neighborhoods.

Don't be afraid to go off on your own. Check out the paper and internet, go to open houses. Don't let the agent control your options.

Lastly if making offers on houses, cash is king. Being ready to come to the closing with large amounts of cash is usually a great way to save money and insure that offers are accepted right off the bat as a person who may have had a closing fall through will take less money for a sure thing than invest time in a all credit fiasco that could fall apart at the altar.

We tried to sell our last house on our own, and I don't think we'll do it again. Real estate agents are some of the biggest liars I've come across in any industry, and I had more people try to screw me in those two months than you'd believe. Every single one assumed that because we were selling on our own, we didn't know what we were talking about, so they ALL tried to lie to me. I tried to sell over the summer, and when school started (I teach) it just wasn't worth the headache any more.

After that experience, there are entire companies I will NOT deal with ever again (Hi Keller-Williams, you're at the top of the list). Somehow we found our current agent, a great guy who I've been recommending to everyone I know. Lousy social skills, but friendly and willing to listen to the client.

The payment for agents is bizaare. One guy told me that since I wasn't using an agent to sell, I was supposed to give him two commissions. Go to hell, buddy! Another screamed at my wife on the phone and called me a liar, told her he wouldn't speak to me, after which she said fine, he wasn't worth her time then. One showed up while I was showing people around the house and stole them right in front of me. Another placed their company sign on my for sale sign to gain advertising.

Oddly, one of the most irritating was the agent who called me and said he had someone interested. We made an appointment, and when I showed up it was just him (gee, another Keller-Williams goon). I figured out pretty quickly that he was lying to me and only wanted me to sign with them - I took the day off work for that stunt.

My two tips - have the home inspected by an independent inspector, NOT one an agent recommends. Also, visit the neighborhood and actually talk to the neighbors. Drive through at night on a Saturday evening. Get a feel for what it's like outside of visiting hours.

Next time we move we'll probably just get an agent, a bottle of KY, and grin and bear it. And yes, if it makes you feel any better, the entire process is far more complicated than it needs to be.

Tell the Realestate agent to cut his commision if he doesnt like your offer or tell him that you are looking for a house in a specific price range and go find you one or you'll find another realtor that will.


Realestate agents are the laziest pieces of shit in this world.

Believe me these people are scratching to make sales right now. It might be a buyers market but the buyers don't have alot of credit to draw on now.

Definitely definitely definitely get a full house inspection. I did before I bought mine and I'm glad I did. I had some bargaining chips to use with the sellers.

Don't rush in, and don't let some schmuck agent talk you into anything. You get what you want and you pay what you want to pay. Wait till the day you have to close, jesus I hope you don't get writer's cramp. I hate house closings and all the damn papers you have to sign.

Good luck!

How's the market in D.C.? I'd be carefull spending 300+K on a house right now. What was the fair market value of the house 4-5 years ago? So many houses over the last 10 years went up in price way to fast. If the market is good then no worries but they are asking 347 and your offering 307? Thats a large chunk of money, if the markey declines more and you get in for 320, house drops below 300...you might as well of rented and saved yourself a terrible loss. Owning has always been the American dream, I own and in fact it wil be paid off in under 5 years, sure love that 15 year 4.125% mortage I landed.

First off patience!! lots of it! the people who are telling you it's a "buyers market" are the same shady assholes trying to make a percentage off of you.
If your in this for an extreme long term investment and can afford to lose the money and ride it out for years then ya might be alright. the bubble is not just re-adjusting itself it's outrght collapsing and the boom time is over. couple that with the less than stellar outlook of the overall american economy(every day seems to bring some bad news/trend, i'm getting worried) buying just to buy might not be that wise.
Not trying to be to much of a doomsayer here but it's an angle you should factor in to your decision.
People are only starting to feel desperate and begining to sweat. wait till they panic and start bleeding out thier pores. saving a bit longer cant hurt you a bit. bigger downpayments and more polish to your rating for our Chinese credit overlords may help ya some.

Inspect till the house seems transparent is my first advice. Anything you find or suspect have checked twice and then have the seller either agree to fix it or lower his price per cost to repair.

Second, and this is going to sound evil I know....but the housing market has yet to really reach it's true value. By this I mean it's still WAY overpriced and you might be better served to wait 2 ish years imho. Xapp, a monkey from RiP, knows his business when it comes to this and can be reached at www.guildrip.org/forum (http://www.guildrip.org/forum) I think is our addy.

I wish you luck Kel, this will be the biggest purchase of your life, and if I hadn't built a brand new home for my now exwife and her current live in beau I might not be so cynical about it ;P

How's the market in D.C.? I'd be carefull spending 300+K on a house right now. What was the fair market value of the house 4-5 years ago? So many houses over the last 10 years went up in price way to fast. If the market is good then no worries but they are asking 347 and your offering 307? Thats a large chunk of money, if the markey declines more and you get in for 320, house drops below 300...you might as well of rented and saved yourself a terrible loss. Owning has always been the American dream, I own and in fact it wil be paid off in under 5 years, sure love that 15 year 4.125% mortage I landed.

Every 4 or 8 years the market goes insane, as you can obviously imagine. Lots of people slowly trickle away during a term, especially now that Bush is in the home stretch and a lot of people have been leaving jobs with him and his administration, but whomever wins will have tons of people moving to DC as appointees and all the Congressional turnover. The window here to buy while the prices are down will only extend until November, and I figured a 5.5% interest rate was pretty sweet. Rent here is normally $1000 - $1200 per room and my mortgage payment is only gonna be $2200 so even if I get one renter into the place I break even (with the obvious exception that renting you get $0 back and buying you own it for whatever its worth). The other places in the neighborhood were selling in the $500k range even just a year ago, but this one needs a lil work and was foreclosed on and sat for half a year.

Now that you put that into perspective, buying seems better suited for you. I was thinking wow 300+k for a single guy of your age (meaning no double income)is going to be a hard to make ends meet, but rent is high and if you do have a renter it could wok out. Looks like your set on buying, go with everyones else advice especially L2...look at the location hard before the house itself, you can always build another house, you cant make more land.

I figured a 5.5% interest rate was pretty sweet. Just don't get an ARM. :) That's a pretty good rate.

If the Fed is good to me, they'll drop it half a percent the day before settlement too :)

Interesting point on how the elections affect the market in DC. If the deal your currently working on falls through, one question?
Is DC like many other urban areas in the U.S. undergoing a regentrification of the inner city hoods?

If the Fed is good to me, they'll drop it half a percent the day before settlement too :)

Make sure this is ok with your bank/lender. Depends on the lender but they may not let you lock your rate in up to the day before closing. They may want a week before closing. :mad: :( :mad: :eek:

Then find a new bank.

No doubt I've never had an issue locking in a rate for a couple of months. Once you're committed and both parties agree on closing date there should be no issue with the bank locking in your rate. And like Akipt said if they don't, find a new bank b/c it's horseshit if they don't.

Oh, and it's too bad you live in Va/DC. I have someone whom I use exclusively for mortagage brokering. She's an awesome lady and I've recommended her to many friends with much the same results as me. :(

My lender kicks ass. Its the agent who worries me. My lender actually is willing to lock the rate in on settlement day's eve if the fed does drop on the 30th as expected (settlement is the 31st).

They accepted $317k but its "as is" so even if the inspection does find anything they won't do anything about it. I can buy it, fix the stuff up, or walk away, but not much in between.

Good luck!

"As is" is a massive red flag.

They are hoping you don't find something and are using the as is to get out of full disclosure.

Me? Id walk the fuck away.

Its a foreclosure, the bank never lived there and doesn't know anything about the people they booted. Visually its great, and I'll still get an inspection, but its really hard to turn a house down worth $450+ for $317 just because they don't know whats wrong with it (if anything).

But it sure is stressful! I'm probably gonna only put 10% down to keep the other 10% in the bank for repairs instead of the 20% I was gonna do originally.

Yeah most foreclosures are like that. They do, however, probably want to sell it asap before they have to do maintenance... for example, busted water pipes because no one is there making sure a facet is left dripping, or this spring when it'll need lawn care, etc...

ahh.

Didnt know that about foreclosures. I guess America is getting a pretty good education on them right about now though.

But it sure is stressful! I'm probably gonna only put 10% down to keep the other 10% in the bank for repairs instead of the 20% I was gonna do originally.

That is a wise move, if you are going to go ahead with the purchase. If the assessed value is 450k and you are getting at almost 1/3 lower cost, the repairs you may end up having to do should not be so bad as to equal that difference; but, it is still good to keep that extra money aside to pay for fixes.

Just keep in mind that your monthly payment is going to go up accordingly with how much your down payment is reduced.

The Ben Bernanke did the right thing this morning by slashing the Fed funds target rate by 75 basis points to 3.5 percent.Hope you waited Kel.

My dad called me this morning to tell me the same thing. I'm gonna wait until Jan 30th to lock the rate in.

.75% is a shit ton of money too.

330k is considered a good price for a first home?

LOL. Kelraz you certainly are not poor. It used to be a "starter" home was in the 80k-120k range, and this is not something you take the wheels off of before showing it off to your friends and family. Even so, do you REALLY need a 4 bedroom house? if its just you, you still have to heat and maintain all that space. If you are single that is not a smart way to go unless you are going to have roommates to turn that empty space into income. If you are going to have an investment like a house tie you down while single, have it make you money or at least not plunder your paycheck. Wife, kids and all that other crap will do that soon enough unless you got married and reproduced already. I am out of the country more than in it, so there is always alot of things missed.

You might be better off, if you buy the place, fixing it up enough to rent out...get yourself something more modest for your actual home, such as a townhouse or condo or whatever closer to your job, and then flip the house later or kick the tenants out and live in the sucker when the wifey and kids hit the scene.

Ha much has changed since that screw up bard applicant was asking for help with his physics homework in guild chat eh Lummus?
Believe it or not 300k is pretty standard for a 1 or 2 bedroom condo here. Most of my friends pay around 1200 a month for rent, 2200 a month for a 3 br 3.5 bath is pretty good ... but it needs about 10k in work.

Gonna rent a room to a buddy and get on that marriage / procreation ASAP.

With your buddy? ewww kel i knew you were always a lil strange!

Just keep in mind that there's a serious reason why that rate dropped 3/4 a point.

Probably going to drop another half by next week...

Gonna rent a room to a buddy and get on that marriage / procreation ASAP.

Remember, renting a room now makes you a landlord.

Getting married with a renter living in your house can create relationship issues with your wife, add a baby to that mix and you have mucho pressure on everyone involved.

Tenants have more rights than landlords and a friendship can dissolve real fast when it becomes a tenant/landlord thing or when money is involved.

Be really careful with the moves you make and remember live below your means and you'll be ahead of the game more often than not.

And as Sanchek said...There is a reason for that interest rate cut...

Yeah he's not even getting a lease so I'm not too concerned by any of that. And seriously I'm not gonna have any kids for a long time. No need to hurry!

DC is ridiculous. My 2 Bedroom/Bathroom apartment costs me and my roommate just under 3 grand a month, and that's not including utilities. They didn't even give us a washer/dryer :( (I have figured out that this is pretty much the worst thing in the world).

Gentrification has been happening in DC for a long time now. They've successfully pushed most of the ghetto to the SE portion of the city. They are building the new Nationals Park right by the river, which will push the crime even further away. There are new condo buildings and apartment buildings going up everywhere. Any property in Northwest, especially hotspots like Georgetown or Tenleytown, is going to cost you millions.

Remember, renting a room now makes you a landlord.

Tenants have more rights than landlords and a friendship can dissolve real fast when it becomes a tenant/landlord thing or when money is involved.

Too true... I had my buddy from Elementary school rent a room from me in my townhouse about two years ago. The guy is like a brother to me. However, I could throttle him now. I didn't even consider ourselves friends for the longest time due to the stress of living in the same house. Rent, cleanliness, even decoratiing and furnishing the house became huge issues. Now that I am getting ready to sell and we are fixing the place up, our friendship has returned to what it was. But man did I want to kill him at times over the last few years hah. If anyone would have said that would happen prior to him moving in, I would have said they were crazy.

Yeah he's not even getting a lease

That can be REALLY dangerous as you would have one hell of a time getting someone to leave, it would be a your word against his. I'm sure he is a great guy and all that but dude, cover your ass, especially when it comes to things involving you being a landlord. When money is involved, especially in weekly/monthly payments etc... get the deal in writing.

Check on whether you need a certificate of occupancy in order to charge rent, otherwise if things go south and you don't have one any rent collected could lead to you returning it to him.

I have my brother as a roomie atm so not THAT bad in my case. Not much for privacy tho...lol.
Of course i was lucky as i got my house in late 2001 before the prices skyrocketed which i thank my lucky stars for everyday. (Offered 85k on a 3BR/2Bath, owe 65k atm)
I was real lucky to get a realtor that actually cared about helping people and didn't care how big her comission was. She got a decent one i'm sure but she helped me through the whole process as it was my first house.
If you can do it, paying more on the principal every month or putting a decent amount down really helps in the long run. Cut nearly 8 years off the loan already in my case.