How is the house selling season going?

Parent Cafe
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<p>Wisconsin markets different than in some other areas. Taking a house off the market will be known, it doesn’t change things (especially when Zillow will track that)- had asked realtor. You don’t get a fresh start and only lose potential buyers. Many homes on the market a long time here- the average selling time is many months even in good times. Never a large turnover in housing- people tend to stay put. Taking a house off the market means no chance if the right buyer comes along. A contemporary house in a traditional area, but the traditional houses aren’t selling either. Not a huge market, either.</p>

<p>Just wanted to vent. Other empty nesters coming of age at the wrong time for house selling. At least we own the house and taxes are the rent payment… Local real estate agents have never seen a market like this with decades of experience. We never had the high price bubble of a few years ago- no one ever expected to make money on their house. People need jobs to be able to buy houses (and to keep them)- need the economy to improve.</p>

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<p>wis75…have homes ever been a decent investment in your neck of the woods?</p>

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<p>House is built for living, if there is appreciation afterwards, it is a gavy. We Californians treat house as investments and speculate based on value increases, which really defeated the purpose. In MANY parts of the US, especially in large parts of TX, there is no appreciation in homes. Residents expect to live well, but that is all they expect.</p>

<p>Don’t get me wrong, I am still looking at REO’s right now in hope to buy and flip. I am a vulture home buyer.</p>

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<p>“Don’t get me wrong, I am still looking at REO’s right now in hope to buy and flip. I am a vulture home buyer.”</p>

<p>:)</p>

<p>You don’t have to own a place to live. If buying a home is such a poor investment, maybe renting is a better idea. Some of these areas in the country…why buy?</p>

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<p>I think you have already know all the answers, because you have gone through all the scenarios. Should you accept the low offer, you should tell the buyer as such. Bookworm’s story above is what I would do, you can do whatever you want to do and good luck.</p>

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<p>True, you don’t have to buy. But, if rent costs more than buying, buying became better option. Also, if you rent you have no control of the house or the rent, if the landlord wants you move you have to move, if landlord wants to increase the rent, you have to take it or leave it. For the child bearing family, moving some times is not an option.</p>

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<p>jym, my recent experience was that we accepted a price we thought was unreasonably low, and felt the buyers were really getting a bargain. Well, after the inspection, they decided they needed a new roof and skylights (estimates from the various roofers consulted ranged from zero to $12k - i.e. some roofers said it was fine for another 5 years, and others said it needed immediate replacement). They worried about little things the inspector said were broken - like a kitchen faucet sprayer switch that he broke, and I fixed in about 2 minutes. They wanted new electrical. And on and on. We thought these were just issues came with a 50-year old house; but our buyers wanted new construction for a used price. (Do I sound bitter? LOL) At that point, a whole new round of negotiations ensued, and in a buyer’s market, we came out on the short end by making a pretty big concession. That said, I’m so glad I don’t own this house any more. It’s very liberating!</p>

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<p>thanks, fauxnom. Thats really helpful</p>

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<p>Question here, don’t some items in the inspection report need to be fixed because the bank will not give a mortgage when certain problems exist? I thought a bank will not give a mortgage if there are chimney or termite or cracks in the foundation or other types of problems. The seller is pretty much required to re mediate these problems? Does this vary by state?</p>

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<p>dunno. Bur why is it the responsibility if the seller if the buyer buys a house that for all intents and purposes is a fixer upper?
What states have that rule?</p>

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<p>NJ. I am not talking about an all cash or private mortgage deal. I know a HUD certification for termites atleast is needed by mortgage company. Not sure about the other stuff but I’ve heard comments like “no bank will touch this”. Is it just scare tactics?</p>

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<p>Good question. Anyone know?</p>

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<p>I have purchased a number of properties over the last 20 years. In every case I paid for the inspection, and the inspection was seen only by me - it was never seen by the bank.</p>

<p>I’ve refinanced more times than I can count, and the specific condition of things that would be listed in an inspection was never brought up - only the general condition as determined by the appraiser, usually very generic terms like “average condition for age.”</p>

<p>Never did a HUD loan, but none of the other loans ever had any kind of termite cert, but then termites aren’t a huge problem in my state like they in other areas.</p>

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This is highly subject to interpretation.</p>

<p>E.g. inspection says “roof has only 3 years of life left”, well there is no problem here, the roof is not leaking or otherwise failing, it’s just a guess anyway.</p>

<p>“The furnace is old and will likely need replacing soon”, again, there is no problem here.</p>

<p>“House has aluminum wiring and should be re-wired”, well that is the inspector’s opinion. If the wiring meets code there is nothing to be disclosed.</p>

<p>“Steam pipes are covered with asbestos insulation”, again that is an opinion, unless you do a test to find out you don’t know for sure, so there is nothing to be disclosed.</p>

<p>“Signs of old termite infestation, no current activity found” - since there is no active infestation, there is nothing to disclose.</p>

<p>Etc.</p>

<p>Plus, I believe the law in my state is that if a defect can be discovered by reasonable effort by the buyer (such as by doing an inspection), you don’t have to disclose it. The onus is on the buyer to do due diligence.</p>

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<p>^ agreed. No buyer who actually wants a loan should share the inspection report with the bank. No bank that actually wants to protect its interests should or would rely on the report of an inspector who was hired by the buyer.</p>

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<p>Same experience as above ^^ . But VHA loans (and maybe HUD) have more stringent requirements than many banks, I understand. Banks here just do an appraisal, and it’s up to them whether to get involved in pest inspections and the like. Realtors I’ve dealt with are careful to not share info with the lender that they are not asked to share - even to the extent of being careful with the wording of any revisions to the contract that would reveal significant problems that buyer and seller are negotiating over.</p>

<p>In my state, law requires sellers to reveal known defects; all sellers complete a detailed form to this effect.</p>

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<p>We’ve had an inspection on all 5 houses we have bought. Inspections are not required by the bank - only appraisals and we’ve never shared that information with the lender. And there is no requirement to share the information with subsequent potential buyers if the deal falls through. However, in our state. the seller is required to complete a disclosure form that covers certain problems, though, technically if you have corrected the problem, you don’t have to disclose it. Termite letters are always required. I suppose the laws vary from state to state.</p>

<p>IMO, smart sellers always get their own inspection prior to listing the house in order to sniff out potential issues that might come up on the inspection. We’ve done this on 4 of the 5 houses we’ve sold and then proceeded to fix anything that was a potential issue and then listed the house ‘as is’. We never did one more repair after that. Most buyers get inspections these days so it’s not like you’re going to pull the wool over a buyer’s eyes - if there’s a problem they will find out about it. At least if you know there’s a problem and you aren’t willing to fix it, you can say ‘as is’ up front rather than going through the process of having a buyer insist you fix it or walk away. Over the years, we’ve seen many houses where the seller’s said ‘yes, we know that xyz is problem and we’ve already factored that into our price.’</p>

<p>The problem I see with accepting an offer and then the buyer getting an inspection is if you’ve already accepted a low ball offer and now the buyer believes you should fix everything in the inspection report, you either get stuck spending more money to keep the buyer happy or you risk losing the sale. Getting your inspection report puts you in the driver’s seat. In fact, of those 4 houses we sold, only one buyer got their own inspection report, the other 3 relied on ours and bought the house ‘as is.’</p>

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<p>That doesn’t sound like an opinion to me.</p>

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There are types of non-asbestos insulation that look a lot like asbestos.</p>

<p>The only way to tell for sure is to take a sample and send it to a lab for analysis, which an inspector obviously can’t do in a short inspection. Without the lab report, it’s just speculation.</p>

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<p>Thanks for the education everyone.</p>

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<p>vball,

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<p>Let me guess, Mountain View? or Palo Alto? Since you did not mention BART.</p>