<p>
The next appraiser could easily come in at $7K higher. It’s a crap-shoot.</p>
<p>As long as they have more than 20% equity, the bank won’t care that the appraisal is a little low.</p>
<p>DW has done deals where they have paid for a second appraisal because the person who did the first one had no clue, and the bank was ok with that.</p>
<p>“DW has done deals where they have paid for a second appraisal because the person who did the first one had no clue, and the bank was ok with that.”</p>
<p>I always find it funny that people assume the ‘low’ appraisal is the one that is incorrect. :)</p>
<p>I appreciate all the input!</p>
<p>S heard from the lender today, and the appraisal is not a problem. Closing is set for right after New Years…!</p>
<p>Now for the baby to come all safe and healthy, and my DIL to land in the job that she wants…</p>
<p>congrats grandpa.</p>
<p>We had a funny thing happen when we were waiting to close on our house… We offered at 10k above asking, based on comps and because we knew that most houses, which were not as nice as this one, were getting multiple offers several thousand dollars above asking and selling highest-and-best within hours of hitting the market. Most houses here were selling at anywhere from 5-15k over asking. Apparently their agent had no idea what the market was doing around here and if he had the house probably would have originally been priced at what we paid and sold for even more, but that’s another issue. We were just about to give up shopping in this price range and start looking at 20-30k less assuming it would sell at our target price in the end anyway.</p>
<p>When they accepted our offer, they wanted us to agree up front that if the house didn’t appraise we would pay whatever the appraisal price was plus 10k. We told them we weren’t going to agree to that up front and that we’d cross that bridge if/when we came to it-- we didn’t want to kill the deal but we didn’t have 10k. They ended up going to the other offers, which were (surprisingly) substantially less than ours, but none of them would agree to the deal either. So they took our offer, but we all knew that if it didn’t appraise and they stuck to their guns on that 10k we’d be screwed. In this market, they could get ten more buyers in a day or two if they wanted and SOMEBODY would agree.</p>
<p>In the end, it appraised at our offer price and it was a non-issue… but we held our breath for weeks, it seems like.</p>
<p>I accepted a cash offer for the house I own， after into the escrow they came back and wanted an extension of 7 days. I accepted that but I want them to put 50% of the transaction into escrow and they agreed.</p>
<p>That is Bay Area real estate.</p>
<p>Here in Central Ohio, I went to contract about 7.5 months after listing. We just agreed on inspection remedy and now it appears to be smooth sailing to closing in 2 weeks and move-out in 4.</p>
<p>Heading to look at a rental a few blocks away this evening.</p>
<p>Whee, what a ride…</p>
<p>(PS: sale price is 92% of final asking, 85% of where i started)</p>
<p>That is a looong ride.</p>
<p>Congrats.</p>
<p>UPDATE
I just wanted to thank everyone here for being so generous with their knowledge.</p>
<p>S and DIL are set to close on their house next Tuesday! Even though the bank said the appraisal for $7000 less than the agreed upon price would not be a problem, son and DIL somehow were able to negotiate the purchase price down another $3,750…splitting the difference with the sellers.</p>
<p>They are very happy…that’s $3,750 less out of their savings.</p>
<p>Just hoping nothing else comes up between now and Tuesday.</p>
<p>The house was shown 52 times. I hope I never have to do this again. My last house sold in 3 weeks. I had small children at the time and really thought i would never do it again THEN. This time I had two teenagers who were actually more helpful than not with showings, but 7.5 months is a really long time.</p>
<p>I spoke to friends the other night who sold their house in New Mexico to move here…that house took 2+ YEARS to sell!</p>
<p>Boysx3, congrats to your s and dil.</p>
<p>OHMomof2, 2 years? I would go nuts.</p>
<p>Congrats boysx3, sounds like it’s working wonderfully…</p>
<p>i wanted to put this in a separate post.</p>
<p>Something S and DIL noticed is that a lot of the houses they looked at over the past 16 or so months ARE STILL ON THE MARKET.</p>
<p>The way the market in their area seems to work, anything decent seems to go immediately; several times they lost the chance to buy a house they liked because they did not make an offer immediately, but waited a day or two in order to think things over.Any house that does not go immediately seems to sit forever.</p>
<p>Such a clear dichotomy in the market in the area they were looking (the Newton/Brookline/Brighton area of Boston).</p>
<p>Such very low real inventory on the market. They were looking for a three or four bedroom house with two baths…you would think there would be a good amount of inventory available because they had a fairly liberal budget (although not overly so by Boston standards, as they discovered).They looked at both detached homes and condominiums.</p>
<p>So little for them to have chosen from. They are very lucky their broker got them in to the home they are buying the day before it hit the market and was scheduled to have an open house. </p>
<p>Having learned their lesson, and feeling some pressure because they did not want to bring their baby-to-come back to a 4.5 story walkup with no parking, they put in their offer at full price before even leaving the house! They absolutely loved this house and did not want to take any chance of not getting it.</p>
<p>Their closing price is about $15,500 less because of the appraisal and because of credits being given by the seller for some defects that need to be fixed.</p>
<p>OHMom,</p>
<p>I would NOT be able to keep my house in tip-top showing shape for two full years! You are a saint.</p>
<p>Mucho congrats to you!</p>
<p>Boysx3, your post is interesting.</p>
<p>To clarify, MY house sold in 7 months; it’s friends of mine who had the 2 years…and they moved out here before it sold.</p>
<p>Our California house is now SOLD. It didn’t take long to get an offer, but it took a really long time to close. Was hoping for a close before Christmas, then before New Year’s, but finally, it happened. Hoorah!</p>
<p>Boysx3 – congrats to the kids on their new home! I’m sure that is a relief.</p>
<p>Our story: </p>
<p>After calling several realtors about listing our house in a highly sought after neighborhood who didn’t even bother to call us back, we found a great realtor and put our house on the market in October. We put our house on the market at $135,000 over appraisal (don’t ask). It sold in 37 days at $75,000 over appraisal to a buyer with 3rd party financing who wanted a very quick close (7 days) and no time or inclination to order an appraisal. The reason we got such a good price is that we had an unbelievable back yard designed by an award winning landscape architect. It had a “wow” factor that can’t really be fully quantified on paper and was apples to oranges when compared to other houses of the same size/age. Most houses in our neighborhood are sitting for 6 months to 1 year or more; we came on the market at the perfect time (fair amount of buyers with low inventory and were a tad smaller [and thus less expensive] than many of the other homes which were for sale).</p>
<p>We proceeded to buy a beautiful home of equal quality and size on half the property (very happy to be done with yard maintenance) for $200K under asking because the seller had bought at the top of the market, has been in another house for several months, and because my DH is an amazing negotiator. </p>
<p>Worked out beautifully for us. We now have a wonderful home and put a nice little profit in the bank on top of it. Hope to stay put for a while.</p>
<p>Congrats mstee, and Nrdsb4.</p>
<p>Congrats to everyone that is successful in buying and selling.</p>
<p>I am forever into the buying and selling. Made a few good penny on one and moved on another one month after. Now I am in renovation of this old house on half an acre of land.</p>