Real estate General topic

[2manyrocks]

Those would be easier for most people.

 

[paulsharvey]

Still working through appraisal issues. Appraisal ID'd the attachment issue, as well as came in $13k short.

I did drive by and look from the road, and they had already removed the travel trailer, and had some of the 3 point impliments loaded on the equipment trailer.

Mortage folks said that's not too bad, they have seen way worse. Got my agent speaking with theirs to see how far they are willing to move to make up that $13k. It was mentioned that that appraisal would 'follow the property for 90 days' so, if this was to fall though, they would have real trouble getting another buyer fianaced as well, unless they had a lot of cash.

 

[tradosaurus]

Still working through appraisal issues. Appraisal ID'd the attachment issue, as well as came in $13k short.

I did drive by and look from the road, and they had already removed the travel trailer, and had some of the 3 point impliments loaded on the equipment trailer.

Mortage folks said that's not too bad, they have seen way worse. Got my agent speaking with theirs to see how far they are willing to move to make up that $13k. It was mentioned that that appraisal would 'follow the property for 90 days' so, if this was to fall though, they would have real trouble getting another buyer fianaced as well, unless they had a lot of cash.

Maybe I missed it but what was the agreed upon price for the house/property you are buying?

 

[2manyrocks]

Peak sales season is already behind us for this year and there's more economic uncertainty after the recent jobs report didn't look so great. Unless the seller is prepared to ride this out, they might need to make some price adjustment to get this closed.

 

[paulsharvey]

Maybe I missed it but what was the agreed upon price for the house/property you are buying?

$420k. Their original ask was $470k; then they ran ad at $450, bring all offers. That's when we toured, and offered $415. They countered with $440, and we walked; then they contacted us after like 2 or 3 weeks.

It sucks to get this far down the process to know it could fall through, Both for buyer and seller. I know they are literally moving, and all that, no idea if they purchased, rented or inherited, or what. For us, we dont have to be out or moved by a date, but we want to get current place ready to list as soon as possible.

 

[ultrarunner]

$420k. Their original ask was $470k; then they ran ad at $450, bring all offers. That's when we toured, and offered $415. They countered with $440, and we walked; then they contacted us after like 2 or 3 weeks.

It sucks to get this far down the process to know it could fall through, Both for buyer and seller. I know they are literally moving, and all that, no idea if they purchased, rented or inherited, or what. For us, we dont have to be out or moved by a date, but we want to get current place ready to list as soon as possible.

Offering to split the difference has worked for me especially if appraisal is a condition.

Another is bringing all to the table if brokerage involved…

This late I have seen realtors on both sides reduce commission to save a deal…they want to get paid too.

In part it’s about presentation… and coming across as fair as in meeting halfway makes no one the bad guy.

Remember rule number 1… don’t put yourself in the position to have buyers remorse or regret losing the deal if it works for you.

 

[WinterDeere]

It sucks to get this far down the process to know it could fall through, Both for buyer and seller. I know they are literally moving, and all that, no idea if they purchased, rented or inherited, or what. For us, we dont have to be out or moved by a date, but we want to get current place ready to list as soon as possible.

Our appraisal came in for exactly our negotiated price, to the dollar. I remember commenting to my mortgage broker buddy, that I guess we negotiated a fair price, when he explained to me that all appraisals come in at exactly the negotiated price.

Essentially, appraisers had been taking too much crap for causing deals to either fall thru or end up back at the negotiating table, and some had even suffered civil suits over it. So, at least for our mortgage type, in our state, at that time... it became standard practice to just rubber stamp the appraisal with the negotiated value of the home, in all cases excepting those where there was some huge disparity too large to fall under any margin of error.

That was 2011, and despite it being a higher value home, our buddy was setting it up as a conforming Fanny Mae mortgage. So, I'm not sure if things have changed, or if that was just a peculiarity of setting up conforming mortgages... but my buddy had been in the business 40 years at that point, and owned a rather large brokerage firm, so I think he was operating on good information at the time.

I know that my prior home purchase, in the 1990's, did show a discrepancy between negotiated price and appraised value. The appraised value was higher, and the seller suggested renegotiating based upon that, but I threatened to walk. They were under pressure to relocate to another state, so they thankfully dropped that issue.

 

[ultrarunner]

The pendulum swings depending on what's going on in the industry.

Can't make a lot of loans if appraisals are consistently low and thereby excluding marginable buyers lacking the cash to push it through...

Then the floodgates open because the American Dream isn't obtainable for all and anyone with a heartbeat can get a loan including those with questionable residency status...

Then the bubble burst and every block in my city had at least one foreclosure with the relatively recent buyers with little skin in the game walking.

Lots of games in the industry because of the amount of money in play...

Friend was buying a home his wife wanted... It was a nice high end and they committed.

He had recently sold one of his businesses catering to the aircraft industry so plenty of cash in reserve...

At the closing he notice several discrepancies all costing him money...

He said will not sign and was told there is not enough time to redraw and he would risk losing the home as he would be out of contract...

He said he was not going to loose the home his wife wanted and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

He pulled out his phone, called his broker saying he would be by within the hour to pick up a cashier's check for the full amount...

The lender and escrow huddled with the sellers broker and miracle of miracles... the loan docs were able to be redrawn that same day at the agreed upon rate and fee schedule...

Being able to self fund or willing to walk is the ultimate power play...

 

[tradosaurus]

$420k. Their original ask was $470k; then they ran ad at $450, bring all offers. That's when we toured, and offered $415. They countered with $440, and we walked; then they contacted us after like 2 or 3 weeks.

It sucks to get this far down the process to know it could fall through, Both for buyer and seller. I know they are literally moving, and all that, no idea if they purchased, rented or inherited, or what. For us, we dont have to be out or moved by a date, but we want to get current place ready to list as soon as possible.

I hope to never have to buy a house again and age 60 probably won't. The risk of the deal falling through is always the nail biter in the buying process (or selling).

Engineer at work was selling his house (after 3 years of trying) about 3 yrs ago. The buyer was trying to sell their house but didn't find a buyer. So the engineer bought their house just so the people could finalize the deal on his house. He finally sold the other house a year later. He was desperate to get out.

We bought our house and property back in 2017 and were in the process of selling our house while in the process of buying our house. Fortunately all worked out but in hindsight selling our house for $89k helped a lot.

 

[2manyrocks]

2011 was a different market than 2024. In 2011, houses wouldn't sell for what they appraised for. 2020-2023 or so, houses were selling for above asking price and above the appraised value because there was so much liquidity and demand for houses. The Fed raised rates and took much of the hot air out of the real estate market, but the jobs report reflects a slowing economy. Between the still high real estate prices and today's mortgage interest rates, that has dampened sales for houses in the $400k price range because people in that price range are having trouble affording these prices/rates.

Like anything, YMMV, but if this property is falling short on the appraisal by $13k, my thought is I'd be willing to pay what it is worth/fair, but the days of overpaying to buy a property are over for the foreseeable future.

It's not just that inflation drove up housing prices and interest rates went up. Property taxes, insurance, and the general costs of living have also risen while most wages have not kept pace.