<p>We had such a problem with blight in New Orleans before the storm, and it’s only gotten worse. How I wish properties would be demolished. Many are owned by OOS investors who bought them as rental property, and they have been difficult still to track down. Even six years later, many are still fighting with insurance companies to pay for storm related damages, and will not demolish properties as they don’t want to destroy evidence for their lawsuits. Yet, minutes away, are the stately mansions near Tulane, untouched by the storm, both physically and emotionally, so I’m sure there are wealthy areas of Detroit and its suburbs that are totally oblivious to the financial ruin of their neighbors.</p>
<p>We have decided to accept the bottom feeder’s lowball offer. They won’t budge. I don’t plan to give anything on the inspection for, as far as I am concerned, its already covered in the low price (though there should be a better way of wording that-- and am open to suggestions). We have been advised NOT to say “as is” but to let them do the inspection, spend the $$ for it, see what they say, and then politely say “no”. </p>
<p>In this economy, I should be excited, but I am not. I feel like I should be rolling over, having a cigarette and going to sleep, if you get my drift. I feel like we are getting scr**ed.</p>
<p>I’ve been waiting to read your next post! I feel your pain, jym. If you want to feel better, though, here are a couple of considerations:
1 - Have you gotten huge traffic since you received this offer, and does anyone sound like they’re on the verge of making an offer? If not, the bird in hand is better than 2 that aren’t even in the bush, but are in fact flying around those folks who live in Silicon Valley, and seem to be rolling in offers. We have to deal with the markets we have, not those wine-drenched valley dstark et al have.
2 - If you had a better offer, you could have taken it, but neither you nor I got better offers. Plus, it’s August, which is incredibly slow. So even if you got an offer in mid Sept, you’d still be talking about a close no earlier than end of October. That’s a lot of time. And the more they offer, the more they want you to fix in the inspection phase.
3 - If you wait for a better offer, you are incurring more carrying costs. Worrying endlessly about a house you don’t even live in can be exhausting.
4 - I like the approach of reading their inspection report, then just saying no to everything. Except for our abandoned oil tank, the phrase we used was “observable conditions are reflected in the price of the property.”</p>
<p>Good luck, jym. It may be a lowball offer, but it will get a huge weight off your shoulders.</p>
<p>jym - I know what you mean, but it will be okay! I told you that when we sold, we caved on the post-inspection demands. But when we bought, the sellers politely said no to our requests, and we went ahead with the purchase. You just need to think through how you will feel if the buyer walks. It seems virtually impossible to predict if a buyer will walk - we usually don’t have that much info about how much the buyer wants a given house. If you can live with the possibility of a failed sale, just say no!</p>
<p>You can put in a very high number in the inspection contingency, like $10,000. Or something like “no inspection contingencies”, which is a fancier way of saying “as is”. I would never accept these as a buyer though, too much risk, even with a low-ball offer. So the advice you got is probably the best.</p>
<p>
I don’t recall any numbers, so it is hard to say how badly you are being abused. If you truly think you are getting a bad deal, or if it is causing a lot of friction with other family members, walk away.</p>
<p>There are many predictions that RE could drop another 10% or 20% in the next year in many areas, so who knows if in a year you could do any better. Plus you have the carrying costs, and the headaches. The first deal is often the best.</p>
<p>My W had a deal blow up over curtains of all things. The seller never got another offer. Do you think a year later they wished they’d made the deal? I bet…</p>
<p>These are exactly the issues that have been circling my brain, hayden. Thanks for spelling them out clearly.</p>
<p>The house doesn’t come off the market until the contract is written, which doesnt happen til after the inspection. Its an old house. It may need stuff. But IMO the low cost is in consideration of that. In the meantime, it will still be shown. Maybe we’ll get another offer. that would be wonderful. there has been activity, even in the slow month of August. Just no other offers.</p>
<p>We have an oil tank in the front yard, but fortunately there is an insurance policy on it and the policy is transferrable to the new owners.</p>
<p>fauxNom-
I hope they won’t walk, but I think we are being reasonable and they are digging their heels in. I think we can do that, depending on what comes up in the inspection. We have been told they love the house, adn I realize, since its the house I grew up in, that its hard for me to be “all business” about this. Plus, my dad’s birthday would have been next week. He would have been 90.</p>
<p>In my experience in a down market take what you get today and move on. Highly unlikley you will do better in the near term. That insulting offer starts to look pretty good 6 mos later with no offers. There is NO certainty things will improve in the US in the next year. Many bad things can happen to an empty house.</p>
<p>I never heard of tank insurance, does it cover environmental cleanup costs?</p>
<p>Not to be a downer, but in my state the cleanup costs for a leaking underground tank can literally bankrupt you. The process is beyond ridiculous.</p>
<p>I would not buy a property with an underground tank. I would require the owner to remove it first, insurance or not. Good for you that you found a buyer willing to have it.</p>
<p>Yes the house is oil heated, still uses the tank. Not unusual in that area. The insurance covers environmental cleanup, should it be necessary, up to I believe 100K.</p>
<p>I don’t think you can judge anything by price-to-last ask, or price-to-original listing, other than how much too high was the original listing price.</p>
<p>Realtors, I believe still have a tendency to be aggressive with their original listing price recommendations because if they are more “realistic”, they don’t get the listing. They get accused of attempting to give the house away and not wanting to work for their commissions.</p>
<p>Take a look at recent sales and compare them to the assessor’s value. It’s somewhat imperfect, but if you have a cross section, you’ll see at about what levels prices have been as a percentage of what the assessor believed the house was worth. You can also look at recent sales for a similar price and ask yourself if you would have bought that house, or the one you are selling. Its a lot more objective than most other methods of ascertaining comparable value.</p>
<p>I generally agree with the sentiments of taking the offer and moving on. If it’s your only offer, there are not many alternatives open. Its a difficult market, and in fact, I believe, a new era in real estate. The past 40 years are history.</p>
<p>Another factor is whether the house is in value range and location that means that the buyer is likely to already own a home, and to have to sell it before he can close. If you have someone who has enough capital to close without selling another house, that is a valuable buyer compared to someone who need to make a sale to be able to close on yours.</p>
<p>jym, I think if you take this offer you’re going to feel very relieved. You’re not going to be managing the upkeep of the house long distance, you’re not going to have to try and sell it long distance, and you’re not going to continue to have the carrying costs. Your worry quotient will go down considerably. And that is priceless!</p>
<p>jym, in my experience, people who pay for inspections are serious about buying. At this point, be firm and say no to anything they ask for. Chances of them walking out are slim, unless, of course, the inspection reveals some major structural defect that no one was aware of.</p>
<p>I just worry that they think I’ll put a new roof o for them. Its an old house. I dont know how old the roof it (I LOVED the slate roof it used to have!) But I can bet they’ll comein with a laundry list of crap.</p>
<p>Barring weather issues, teh inspection is set for Sunday (weird day)</p>
<p>Keeping my fingers crossed for you, jym. I have always regretted how high we priced my mom’s house when we first put it up for sale. But I had siblings who wanted to get their money back. It wound up costing us more in insurance and upkeep on an empty house that eventually got “stolen” from us. The fact that we had a cash buyer made us very willing to give even more of a discount after the inspection, just to have that bird in the hand. I think you’re right about a laundry list coming back after the inspection. People that give a lowball offer tend to continue trying to get discounts, just to see how low you’ll go. And it is a buyers’ market out there, so it’s not like they’re a scarcity of houses for them to choose from.</p>
<p>Oh, sorry, I was supposed to make you feel better. Feel better when the paper is signed and the deal is done. Don’t look back and go on with your life. No regrets!</p>
<p>One thing to remember is people usually have an emotional investment in the house by the time they get to the inspection. You can always make it look like you are being flexible by agreeing to pay for some smaller repairs. In the grand scheme of things, $500 or $1,000 isn’t going to break your bank. To me, waiting on the inspection is always stressful because you don’t know what they might find, especially in an older house. You can always say no to their requests though I agree with the others, unless they are insisting on a lot of expensive repairs, it’s probably wise to take the money and run. The housing market is not going to be snapping back any time soon, if ever, in our lifetime.</p>
