We looked at what was selling vs what was just sitting. We priced it above recent selling price in the neighborhood, but not as high as new construction or what appeared to be more spiffed up houses. Probably recouped at least 90% (but my husband, having provided free labor) is a little afraid to figure it out more precisely. If the first deal falls through and we take our back-up offer, we’ll clearly exceed the cost of what we put in.
“If the first deal falls through and we take our back-up offer, we’ll clearly exceed the cost of what we put in.”
Why didn’t your realtor set up an offer review date? That’s malpractice. You would have picked the cream off the milk.
Well… maybe. We chose to make a commitment to the first bidders; their offer was reasonable. We could have cancelled the contract while under attorney review (no explanation needed). The initial offer is, of course, just the beginning of any negotiation. I guess under our current circumstances (and a proposed closing date that fit our needs perfectly), we opted for a bird in the hand. And, it would have felt really crummy to back out of the deal once we had committed…
Well, the closing terms do make a difference. Who knows: the higher offers could come with unwelcome contingencies, such as selling their current house.
It is nice to know that there are honorable people out there. :x
Here, offer review date (in highly desirable locations) means just that: all offers are to be submitted by X date. Then the sellers open all offers and take the all cash, no contingencies offer. No further negotiations. Attorney review contingency is unheard of in residential RE transactions; that is the realm of commercial RE. Of course, in other states, this might vary. Here, it is earnest money (5% of the purchase price) in escrow seals the deal.
No one does that “offers must be submitted by X date” here. It’s also required that both buyer and seller have an attorney in NYS.
Wow, it stinks to buy a house in NYS if one needs a lawyer. Sounds like an undue restriction on freedom to contract. 
Offer review date is quite common here and in CA as well. Of course, if there are no offers, the review date means nothing, so folks who sell in desirable locations (where the houses sell in a day) set it up. Where I live, it will probably take a few weeks to get an offer, so we are not doing this. Oh, and “backup offers” are not allowed here, as far as I understand.
I seem to recall that closing costs in NY are really high. Including mandatory “tips” for various people. At least back when my friends were buying there.
In both CT and ME, where we’ve bought houses, everyone has a lawyer.
In states where it is common to have lawyers involved in transactions, do they replace the ‘escrow company’ ??? Here in California, contracts go into an escrow company who manages everything as a 3rd party.
Yes, in my experiences in 3 different states on the east coast, attorneys handle closings and no escrow company is involved.
I’ve done closings in 2 states (one in New England) - no attorneys, just escrow agents.
List of states that require an attorney:
"States Where an Attorney is Required for a Real Estate Closing:
Several states have laws on the books mandating the physical presence of an attorney or other types of involvement at real estate closings, including: Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Vermont, Virginia and West Virginia."
NYer here. The mandatory tips really irked me. Especially the first time around when we had very little left in our bank account at the end of the afternoon.
There are at least a few states listed in post 331 where a title company serves the role an attorney can,
Mandatory tips?! Holy guacamole.
Escrow handles transactions; title co reviews the title, so those are 2 bigger fees we pay here in WA. Plus, if there is a mortgage co involved, title insurance for the mortgage company. The biggest closing cost for the sellers is the excise tax… on the sale price, does not matter how much in the money you are. Yikes. That bites.
When we last bought a place, we had an attorney help the 1031 exchange go smoothly and draft and record party wall agreements as the fences/hedges on all 3 sides of the property were on and over neighboring property lines. There were NO tips–complimentary or mandatory.
Who gets tipped and in what state? I have never heard of this.
I believe it was the title company person who got a tip. Maybe others. NY
Tips??? Who gets tips??? The guy who ‘messengers’ documents around??? How do you hand these people a tip? Do you ‘slip them a 20’ under the table? It all sounds ridiculous.
And, paying attorneys to handle basic real estate transactions is ridiculous also. For a $500,000 transaction, the seller and buyer split the cost 50/50 for escrow and it’s about $2000. Maybe the attorney cost is about the same $1,000 to each attorney.
Title Insurance for that same transaction is paid by Seller and would be $1,500 (which pays for the title work also)
^^That’s about right for WA, too. Title insurance depends on the size of the mortgage, but that number is in the ballpark.