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pinkytoe
5-16-21, 9:52pm
We finally found a house in TX that checked most of the boxes though at the top of our price range. Before writing up a contract, the realtor called the listing agent to see if our offer would even fly due to the ridiculous offers being made. Nope. House was on the market 12 hours and had over a dozen offers with half all cash and $50K and up over the listing price. Our realtor said many buyers are cashing out their 401Ks etc just to be able to make cash offers over and above. Never mind - not playing that game. The house we have here in CO is paid for, the taxes are low, and the house is very comfy so I guess we'll stay a while longer.

bae
5-17-21, 12:48am
Right!?!?

I'd sell mine right now, given the insane prices and ease of sale, and my desire to downsize. But, there's no place suitable to "downsize" into even.

Teacher Terry
5-17-21, 12:51am
I had to go 20k over asking to get my condo and ended up in a bidding war. My buyers bid 30k it over although they managed to claw 13 back due to items that the inspector found. I could have said no but didn’t want to lose my condo if they backed out.

Tybee
5-17-21, 5:21am
This is the dilemma we are faced with--we really want to sell the house here in Maine because it is not right for us, but there is literally nothing we can afford that meets our requirements--houses have tripled in price in the 5 years I have been looking out here. Things seem to be up 50, 100k from last year.

I'm scared to put it on the market until I know exactly what we are doing.

Yppej
5-17-21, 5:27am
I have an hour commute each way and would like to be closer to work, but not much is for sale and it is overpriced. So I have thought of making some changes to my house so I am happier in it but building materials are sky high, contractors are hard to book, and I am fearful of what city inspections might mandate. It is turning into a spiritual exercise of learning to sit in discomfort and circumstances I don't care for rather than having my own way.

iris lilies
5-17-21, 8:32am
I feel extremely fortunate to have all of our buying and selling done. Well, the buying anyway. And also, we were on our contractor’s waiting list for a long long time, and he is now actively working on our renovation project.

I could say to bae “why don’t you build a small place” but it is impossible to get builders right now. Beside, I do not know restrictions of the island on building new structures, perhaps there are extreme limitations.

iris lilies
5-17-21, 8:33am
This is the dilemma we are faced with--we really want to sell the house here in Maine because it is not right for us, but there is literally nothing we can afford that meets our requirements--houses have tripled in price in the 5 years I have been looking out here. Things seem to be up 50, 100k from last year.

I'm scared to put it on the market until I know exactly what we are doing.

you are selling again? Whaaaaaat?

did you sell your place in Michigan?

catherine
5-17-21, 8:37am
We have new neighbors who bought one of the un-winterized camps on our street. It hasn't been touched in decades, and I'd guess it's around 600 sq. ft. It sold for $175k. Makes me feel good about the value of our house at this point. We bought it for $164k 3 years ago, and ours is winterized and we've made improvements such as new appliances, including a Rinnai water heater and an outdoor shower with cedar enclosure and rebuilt porch steps. I'm thinking we could get (if we wanted to), over $200k.

As far as our NJ house goes, we locked in a price a while ago with our son who is going to buy it in October, and as we watch the prices climb higher and higher in that neighborhood, my avid salesman/negotiator husband is literally tearing his hair out wondering if we were leaving too much money on the table. I truly believe that's not the case, and there are other factors in favor of selling to DS of course, but we'll never know now how much we could have gotten at the height of the market.

Tybee
5-17-21, 8:46am
you are selling again? Whaaaaaat?

did you sell your place in Michigan?

We did not sell the house in Michigan. My husband wants to move back. It is paid for and a much nicer yard for our purposes. It has two barns, for example, and the dreaded sale of the 30 acres next door with the rumored trailer park turned out to be a sale to a really nice young couple who built a barndo and are planning an organic farm. So we don't lose our beautiful view.

The Maine house is challenging for many reasons, including horrible family dynamics.

razz
5-17-21, 8:54am
Tybee, so sorry that this has unfolded with the family dynamics being such a stressor. You are fortunate in having an alternative in Michigan. The housing prices may well help you sell your Maine property more readily.

iris lilies
5-17-21, 10:16am
Tybee sorry to hear this. I hope you find a place to settle.

pinkytoe
5-17-21, 10:36am
Moving is such a stressor by itself. We are going to focus our attention on a smaller town further away from the big cities. Hopefully, a little less competitive but then again, out of staters are now buying second homes in TX (don't ask me why) and driving up the prices everywhere.

KayLR
5-17-21, 12:07pm
With all the Californians moving up here in droves and paying cash for homes (which are paving every square mile of formerly beautiful rural land) I keep wondering if California is going to become affordable. I know we cannot afford to buy a home here. We're staying in our place holding onto it like grim death.

Teacher Terry
5-17-21, 12:07pm
Tybee, I am so sorry to hear this. If you have a good friend network in Michigan I would probably move back. Kids and grandkids have busy lives so you probably only see them occasionally. A year ago my oldest was talking about all of us moving to Arizona and I said that I am done moving and rebuilding my life. They don’t have kids and I only see them every week or two. Plus I need a variety of people in my life.

Simplemind
5-17-21, 2:03pm
The house next door sold for 40K over and was sold within a couple of days. The house across the street just sold within hours for 50K over asking. I'm thankful that when we want to downsize we are in a position to buy something before we sell. A friend sold her house within one weekend and then couldn't find another for over a year. They kept being outbid and ended up living in their 5th wheel while looking. So sick of it now she'll never go camping again. They ended up much further out than they had planned, like 40 miles further.

pinkytoe
5-17-21, 3:16pm
Even though I think realtors are often complicit in this winning a house game, mine told me that the whole thing is making her sick to her stomach. She said it used to be about finding a home and now it has turned into something ugly.

dado potato
5-17-21, 4:56pm
Tybee,

Have you considered Colon, MI?

Michigan has many smallish towns. I live near the Upper Peninsula, which is unsurpassed for waterfalls. Phil Stagg has written 4 volumes of guidebooks to the waterfalls of the UP. A few smallish towns in the UP have much to offer, such as Marquette, Houghton, and Ishpeming.

In the mitten I am partial to Manistee County... towns such as Manistee and Bear Lake. Sport fishing for Chinook salmon is well established. The record Chinook salmon snagged in the rivers of MI was 46 lbs, in 1978... anything over 20 lbs is considered good sized.

iris lilies
5-17-21, 5:38pm
Tybee,

Have you considered Colon, MI?

Michigan has many smallish towns. I live near the Upper Peninsula, which is unsurpassed for waterfalls. Phil Stagg has written 4 volumes of guidebooks to the waterfalls of the UP. A few smallish towns in the UP have much to offer, such as Marquette, Houghton, and Ishpeming.

In the mitten I am partial to Manistee County... towns such as Manistee and Bear Lake. Sport fishing for Chinook salmon is well established. The record Chinook salmon snagged in the rivers of MI was 46 lbs, in 1978... anything over 20 lbs is considered good sized.
Tybee owns a place in Michigan.

my friends are quite interested in a final retirement p,Ave on a large body of water in upper Michigan.

Tybee
5-17-21, 7:20pm
Dado, we did not sell our house near Traverse City, so we would just move back.

Our dog was born in Manistee!

Jane v2.0
5-17-21, 10:25pm
From a local paper:

"The pandemic-era real estate market has emerged as a windfall for sellers and a headache for buyers. A shortage of for-sale homes continues to boost prices across the nation by double-digits — and is pushing house hunters to go to extremes to win bids.

Take a home near the Microsoft campus outside of Seattle that was listed for about $725,000. The buyers made a bid without seeing the home, offering $400,000 above asking price and waiving all contingencies — meaning no inspection or mortgage-financing contingencies were required, recalled Ryan Dibble, the chief operating officer of Flyhomes (https://www.flyhomes.com/), which represented the seller in the deal.

"Even we were a little bit like, 'Wow, that's aggressive'," Dibble recalled."

I sent this to a friend, who replied: "My realtor friends are losing their minds. There were SIXTY offers on a house in Oregon city that was 375,000. Her clients offered 75,000 over and was not even in the top 10 of offers! This is the third or fourth time in the last month in Oregon City. She’s a NE relator, but for young buyers, that's the place now. Absolutely insane."

ToomuchStuff
5-17-21, 11:36pm
Even though I think realtors are often complicit in this winning a house game, mine told me that the whole thing is making her sick to her stomach. She said it used to be about finding a home and now it has turned into something ugly.


I've been contacted by four different people I know who are realtors, all wanting to sell my house. They have been getting quick commissions when they sell (my understanding is even FSBO is up as well), but they don't have the inventory for dependable income.

Tybee
5-18-21, 2:55am
We are talking to our realtor --gosh, today, I guess. Not looking forward to any of it, frankly, but my husband wants to sell immediately. This is not going to happen, since my kids want to all come out in July and get together at the house. Oh well, maybe he'll prevail, and they will have to make other arrangements.

SteveinMN
5-19-21, 6:04pm
There were SIXTY offers on a house in Oregon city that was 375,000. We have no plans to sell anytime real soon (either house), so I really don't have a dog in this hunt. But I find it hard to believe that a RE agent allowed 60 offers to be made on a private residential property. As a homeowner I have no interest in evaluating 60 offers and I would hope the RE agent had better things to do, too.

I wonder if 375K was market price for that house or if the listing price was lowballed to encourage so much bidding. After all, the buyer's lender (if there is one) has to make sure the house appraises for whatever it was sold for.

Jane v2.0
5-19-21, 6:53pm
I don't know how that works; maybe they were informal indicators of interest. My friend used to work in real estate; she would know.

It's hard to know it it was a lowball price--prices are lower in that area than they are elsewhere.

bae
5-19-21, 6:56pm
After all, the buyer's lender (if there is one) has to make sure the house appraises for whatever it was sold for.

Nobody in my neck of the woods is making offers that are contingent upon financing or appraisal. Usually it's just suitcases full of cash.

iris lilies
5-19-21, 7:27pm
I am seeing the dogs of the decade, the absolute dregs, selling in this market. They did not sell in the 2008 market. A couple of the 6000 -8,000 sq ft properties in my neighborhood sold, and that is good because normally they would sit on the market for 2 years.

The renovated church sold for over a million. The old Victorian funeral home sold (it is huge…it has an attic in the attic!)

Jane v2.0
5-19-21, 8:02pm
We have no plans to sell anytime real soon (either house), so I really don't have a dog in this hunt. But I find it hard to believe that a RE agent allowed 60 offers to be made on a private residential property. As a homeowner I have no interest in evaluating 60 offers and I would hope the RE agent had better things to do, too...

From the sound of it, they quickly winnowed it down to ten offers.

Teacher Terry
5-19-21, 8:04pm
Here most offers are not contingent on appraisal. The condo I bought the seller’s agent said not to bid if you didn’t have the money to make up the difference between appraisal and asking price. He was asking 11k over what he expected it to appraise for. I ended up having to go 20k over asking price to secure. I didn’t even bother with a appraisal. My house appraised at 400 although I ended up getting 386 after repairs.

Gardnr
5-19-21, 8:36pm
We get multiple inquiries a week to "buy your home" and have been for about 4y now. Snail mail, texts and door hangers. It is currently valued 6X what we paid in 1991. And if we added another 400 to that sell price we could replace it in the only other neighborhood we wouldn't mind living in. Nope. We bought it forever and we stay here.

razz
5-19-21, 9:02pm
Unless one is getting completely out of the real estate market or moving to a new market type, it doesn't matter how much you get paid as it will cost you that much and probably more to move. It is crazy but once the interest rates start going up, it may change but who know when that will happen.

iris lilies
5-19-21, 9:58pm
Unless one is getting completely out of the real estate market or moving to a new market type, it doesn't matter how much you get paid as it will cost you that much and probably more to move. It is crazy but once the interest rates start going up, it may change but who know when that will happen.
Well, in our situation whete we have completed our buying, getting a high price fir our city house is good.

in Tybee’s case, getting a high price is good, she doesn’t have to buy another one if she moves back to Michigan.

bae
5-19-21, 9:59pm
I'm starting to get cold calls from boat and auto brokers wanting to know if I want to sell anything. Amazing times we live in.

ToomuchStuff
5-19-21, 11:21pm
We have no plans to sell anytime real soon (either house), so I really don't have a dog in this hunt. But I find it hard to believe that a RE agent allowed 60 offers to be made on a private residential property. As a homeowner I have no interest in evaluating 60 offers and I would hope the RE agent had better things to do, too.

I wonder if 375K was market price for that house or if the listing price was lowballed to encourage so much bidding. After all, the buyer's lender (if there is one) has to make sure the house appraises for whatever it was sold for.

Pretty sure the agent has to accept all legitimate submitted offers (can't write, two dollars on a napkin). What happens after that, is simply, the buyer asks to see the top x or any by anybody they know.
Parents made an offer last year, to a friend who was selling her mom's house. Siblings convinced mom to put an order in for quite a bit more then the house appraised at. When it, they lowered the offer to that and it was accepted.

My situation is a bit different, the new house, while not officially appraised, based on the tax appraisal that just came in (normally lower then actual appraisal), I am getting it for airound $50K below tax appraisal and based on what some have said, offered, or some neighborhood sales, possibly as much as $80K below appraisal.
Now the old house, which needs work (I've been trying to get time off for a few years, but always having to put that on the back burner, due to others medical issues), was purchased for a price that would have been around 1960's price (originally purchased in 1957). Online services show it as much as 5x what I purchased it for.
Friend/former customer, moved back to town. They put in offers on three different houses, for 30K over and none were close. They finally ended up with a house, via another friend/coworker, whose sibling was getting ready to put it on the market.

jp1
5-19-21, 11:29pm
I feel left out. The only absurd cold calls I get are people wanting to know if I want to purchase an extension to the warranty of my 20 year old car.

pinkytoe
5-20-21, 11:04am
I am starting to see listings that say seller needs to lease back for 2-3 months. I presume that is in the hopes they can find another house within that time frame. We are considering that tactic. If it doesn't work, I guess we could buy an RV to live in and have lots of cash to do other things:) One out we would have had would have been to lease MIL's house in San Antonio until we found something but for now, the derelict niece is living there for who knows how long.

JaneV2.0
5-20-21, 1:47pm
I am starting to see listings that say seller needs to lease back for 2-3 months. I presume that is in the hopes they can find another house within that time frame. We are considering that tactic. If it doesn't work, I guess we could buy an RV to live in and have lots of cash to do other things:) One out we would have had would have been to lease MIL's house in San Antonio until we found something but for now, the derelict niece is living there for who knows how long.

When I moved up here I just rented an apartment for six months. That gave me plenty of time to get acquainted with the area.

pinkytoe
5-20-21, 5:06pm
We did the rent thing for six months when we moved here as our house had tenants in it. Major hassle to move twice and quite expensive.