<p>Very helpful thread…</p>
<p>Another question: Why would someone who plans to live in the property have an advantage over someone who is an investor? if the seller is an individual? how about if it is a bank?</p>
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Can you explain what you mean?</p>
<p>Houses have always been for living in- a decent investment compared to renting, but never as a potential money maker except for the value when old and cashing in on the house in WI. A lot easier to buy/sell a house elsewhere. Around our area there has always been land to build on close in so competition from new housing with the latest and greatest features- slowdown in spec homes and custom built recently, though.</p>
<p>Termites? My education about them so far has been TV ads. No rules concerning them and house selling in Wisconsin. Never an inspection for those. Other cold weather states may be similar. With climate changes, the bugs moving northward it may some day become an issue.</p>
<p>There are many other regional differences. Basements versus slab construction or crawl space. Water heaters et al in garages. Washers and dryers outside, or in the garage??? Termites or frozen pipe possibilities- pick your potential problem. Around here you consider the ease of snow removal more than the look of some fancy sidewalk or driveway surfaces.</p>
<p>It was an education when House Hunters first began and all of its shows were based in So Cal. Garages are for cars- not storage for closet items we would put in the basement (or attic). I guess rain and snow aren’t an issue and the concept of garages came from other places.</p>
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<p>It is preceived that an owner occupied house will be care for more than those bought as investment. As a result, the lender will charge higher interest or down payment, the seller will look an investment buyer more riskier than an owner/user to get the loan approved, therefore, if everthing being equal, the seller will lean more towards give the contrct to an owner/user. It does not matter whether the seller is a bank or not.</p>
<p>artloversplus yes, Mountain View. Nothing available now and it’s unlikely that the right house will come on the market after we sell ours so we’ll rent until something pops up. We’re looking for a fixer-upper in a very limited square block area and are willing to wait. We might even resort to the flyer idea from the perspective of the buyer side, since our seller flyer has been somewhat successful as a marketing tool.</p>
<p>Sorry to say that you did not catch the last new developement off Castro by my client. Its too late now as it was sold out in a flash in the 2008 down market.</p>
<p>The way you send out buyer flyer may not work as the homeowner will ask the moon and success is not guaranteed.</p>
<p>vball,</p>
<p>Have you looked into other downtowns? my mom lives in San Mateo Downtown for 15 years now, she likes it. Too far for you?</p>
<p>We’re looking for a single family home, not a new development (if that’s what you’re referring to?)</p>
<p>We’ve looked everywhere up to San Carlos & Redwood City, down to Los Gatos, Willow Glen and Campbell, plus all cities in between. San Mateo’s too far north. Mountain View has everything we want, and apparently a lot of other people share that opinion ;)</p>
<p>you may have more choices if you would consider townhomes, not single family. In downtown areas you are looking, even you can find single family, the land the home is on will be so small that it mind as well be townhomes. at our age, the upkeep of a single family home could be texting especially a fix-uper.</p>
<p>We have a dog & a cat, so are looking for at least 6000 square foot lot size. Up to 9000 square feet would be ideal, but very difficult to find. Plus we want to build a studio or convert the garage to a studio. There are 6-8 streets where this would be possible. We have very specific requirements 
We’ve seen most of the townhouse developments in downtown MV and don’t want to live in any of them.</p>
<p>there are many 2M-5M homes on/off University Ave. downtown Palo Alto… :)</p>
<p>Haha I forgot to mention one other key requirement: must be under $1 million. Downtown Palo Alto is out of the picture completely for that reason among others.</p>
<p>Anyway, have to sell the current house first, which is in progress. We have 1 remaining family who’s seen the house who hasn’t yet come back with a yes/no, and one new family coming through to see it. We’ve interviewed 4 prospective listing agents and have selected one, will sign the listing agreement next week. Target date on the market is mid-Sept.</p>
<p>The Silicon Valley area is a hot real estate market, unlike most of the country.</p>
<p>All of this talk of inspections reminds me of the “inspections” done on our house in CT as part of the corporate move process when we moved here. The deal was that if we didn’t succeed in selling our house ourselves within a certain timeframe, they would buy us out. So they had all these inspections done, which resulted in a list of “defects” that they would agree to reduce the value of the house by, should a buyer demand it. </p>
<p>When I got the list, I hit the roof. Our house was a remarkably pristine post & beam colonial built in 1790. It had some tastefully-done additions, but the main part had all of the original floors, walls, fireplaces, staircases, doors, and even windows. The “inspectors” wanted us to install a handrail in the precipitous, narrow, wholly original front stairs. Not only were they impassable to any handicapped person, rail or not, but there was a fully functional stair with handrail at the back of the house. One of the idiots suggested that we might want to rip up the original floorboards, which were not only up to 2 or 3 feet wide, but bowed, with cracks between them and so forth, and replace them with a new floor. The staircase bozo also said that there was evidence of insect activity because some bugs had gnawed on the bark of the half trees cut to form the floor joists over 200 years ago. (Yes, the bark was still on the joists. The structural members visible in the attic had Roman numerals incised on them, so that one could hypothetically take the house apart and reconstruct it elsewhere. It was SO cool. )</p>
<p>I told them that not only would I not make these “repairs,” but I would refuse to sell the house to anyone who wanted to make them.</p>
<p>The other ludicrous thing was the radon test. They installed an electronic monitor, and demanded that I close all of the windows for a number of days. It was July. This house was as leaky as a sieve, and there was absolutely no danger of radon build-up. I kept the windows open.</p>
<p>Consolation…it is ridiculous…you have a house that has been around for a couple of hundred years and now it is unsafe?</p>
<p>Nonsense…</p>
<p>Sold our house in the NW suburbs of Chicago two weeks after listing.<br>
($600,00 - $700,000) price range. We close on 8/26. The bigger problem- all the houses on the market by us were already under contract, severely limiting our choices. Found a house that fits our needs, but the lot is not what we wanted. Found a different house with a great lot, but too small. and needed a lot of work. None of which would make it big enough.</p>
<p>Ended up going with the great house on the not so great lot. I decided that I’m going to spend a lot more time in the house, than in the yard, so I might as well get the house that works better and doesn’t need any work.</p>
<p>vball,</p>
<p>I am NOT trying to change your mind, but if you are willing to drive 2.5 mile to ANY store and for few more dollars, you can have this:
[Custom</a> Hilltop Estate (771226)](<a href=“Oops!”>Oops!)</p>
<p>Please note the bridge in the picture is San Mateo Bridge</p>
<p>Nice That house in LAH would be twice that price, even with the dated kitchen & baths.</p>
<p>Anyway, I work in the South Bay, don’t want to deal with traffic, and definitely don’t want a 5000+ square foot house. I’m trying to simplify my life ;)</p>
<p>kmkord, congratulations!</p>
<p>consolation - I’m so glad you reacted to the inspection the way you did. Those people did not understand that the soul of a house is more important that a few little cracks between dignified old floorboards. Good for you.</p>
<p>Just got off a meeting today, in Detroit, you can buy 150 empty HOUSES for around $5,000 each. I don’t get it, some of the Americans in one of my European local tour are from Detroit!</p>