1moremom

FauxNom, I asked an agent about that and she believes buyers are looking at property taxes strictly as an expense they'll need to cover, not as an indicator of what a property is worth.

kmkord

We just listed out house on Monday. We may have been a few weeks too late since 3 houses in our price range have sold in the last month. I wil miss my shower jets and gorgeous professional kitchen, but I will not miss my snobby self-entitled neighbors.

VeryHappy

kmkord, we must live close by. I have the same neighbors.

sryrstress

Would you rather have my white-trash neighbors who never mow and leave all their junk outside? Maybe we could have a 3 way trade where my neighbors end up next to your neighbors? That could be amusing...

Montegut

Bumping up this thread, so see how the home sellers are doing.

My neighbors, who have not returned fully to the house since Katrina, have finally cleared out the house and put it up for sale.

The sign says, Short sale.

Does anyone know what this is and if/how the rules are different for this type of sale over a regular sale?

Most curious about whether inspections will need to be done for the sale to go through. I'm sure that would hold up a sale. Was wondering if a short sale meant those things aren't necessary.

The nice house on the corner is still for sale. She dropped her price from 235 to 223, 5, but has stayed there for over a month. Lots of other houses priced under 200K in the neighborhood, but not nearly in as good kitchen. She doesn't have a fancy kitchen or bathroom, though, so I doubt it will go very fast, despite the good upkeep.

jym626

A short sale is when the seling priceis below the amount left on the mortgage (ie the amount the seller will get falls "short" of the balance due onteh loan. The lender has to be willing to accept this lower price, as they usually forgive the balance left on the loan.

FauxNom

Oops - cross posted with jym....
Short sale should really be called "long sale". It means that the sellers are trying to avoid foreclosure by selling the house for an amount short of what they owe the bank. They can accept an offer, but the sale won't go through until the lender signs off on it and says "go ahead and sell for this price, we take it all, and we won't go after you for the shortfall on your mortgage". Lenders often take a long time to sign off, and most deals are set up so the buyer can back out if they get tired of waiting. The buyer can still ask for an inspection, and the buyer's lender would still have the normal requirements for appraisals and such.

Classof2015

Our neighbors finally sold their house after having it on the market over a year. They put it on too high, waited, waited, waited...dropped the price, changed realtors, then dropped it again. Finally sold at the same price a buyer had offered them 1.5 years ago.

They're very well off (this is one of three homes) so I don't think the cost of waiting affected them, but I think in this market, pricing the house right at the outset is huge. The only time I was involved in selling a house, the houses on either side of us had been on the market for over 6 months.*

I chose to price our house (and they were all 3 BR, 2.5 bath homes with same size yard, etc.) $10K BELOW the list price of our neighbors. And guess what? We got 2 offers the day of the open house -- both at the asking price, one with a financing contingency, one without. I went with the one without the contingency.

*Come to think of it, where we live now, the neighbors on either side of us are moving. You think it's me?

BCEagle91

We got are property reassessment and it's 20% below the peak and what it was before. I still think that it's a little high but at least it is now far more realistic. Unemployment is around 4.8% in our state and it's dropped below 8% in neighboring MA so that's probably slowing the decline of housing prices.

The Fed was non-committal yesterday on further stimulus but acknowledged that things are going as well as expected. I think that prices will decline further in the current fiscal and monetary environment.

lololu

Are you snobby and self-entitled? White trash?

jym626

LOL!!

I emailed the next door neighbor of my dad's house. They said the word is out that the house is on the market. We lowered the price and are trying to get the taxes reassessed. I looked on the web and all the houses in the area that are on the market are lowering prices, and when we lower ours they lower theirs a smidge more... Sigh

dstark

"Come to think of it, where we live now, the neighbors on either side of us are moving. You think it's me?"



A townhouse is coming to the market in the complex where I want to live...

I have been waiting for a year for something to come on the market in that complex.

I think the price may be a little higher than I think it is worth...but people have been known to pay more than I think something is worth.

And then if BCEagle91 is correct...the value of the townhouse could decline more in price...

I would buy it anyway..but..

But the real downside is.....my wife no longer wants to move there. One of her best friends lives there...

And she has decided that she doesn't want to live that close to one of her best friends.

And I have a hard time arguing this. I don't want to live that close to my closest friends either. I think that changes things. People need their space. At least some people need their space.

A friend of mine moved a few doors down from me, and I told him ..."Our situation isn't going to be like the I Love Lucy Show. You're not coming over any time you feel like it."

Still...that close friend of my wife isn't one of my closest friends...so I can suffer and buy the townhouse and live there.

BCEagle91

We all need a place to live and I'd guess that a townhouse has less downside risk than a SFH. We had a big release from the SPR this morning - I'm having a hard time figuring out why. Crude has dropped 20% and gasoline prices are headed south.

Bernanke's comments yesterday were deflationary (gold, silver, natural gas got clobbered today) and the dollar is getting stronger.

First-time unemployment claims were higher (no surprise there) and monetary and fiscal policy options are limited. The Fed says things will get better in the fall and next year.

Do you believe it?

I would certainly like to believe it.

We need good jobs for higher home prices.

How close apart are those townhomes? In some complexes, you could be half a mile away.

dstark

I have no idea if the economy is going to get better in the fall...

I have no idea why oil is being released...

"How close apart are those townhomes? In some complexes, you could be half a mile away."

The townhouses are attached...and in this case..the one we would be buy happens to be attached to my wife's friend's place.

VeryHappy

^^^ Ooooo -- that might be too close for comfort.