My son's lease ends in October so I have been poking around at houses in his area. I found this place 1/3 of a mile from where his girlfriend works (or will when they rebuild after the fire). She doesn't drive so walking distance would be cool. Anyway, to give an example of the extreme difference in RE prices, this little 2/2 house would be so cute for them listed at $139,000. [link] Clearly easier to find something for him than for me!
This must be what going mad feels like.
Simon ,'Jaynestown'
Natter 77: I miss my friends. I miss my enemies. I miss the people I talked to every day.
Off-topic discussion. Wanna talk about corsets, duct tape, butt kicking, or physics? This is the place. Detailed discussion of any current-season TV must be whitefonted.
Laura - Aug 04, 2022 6:25:17 am PDT #16663 of 30000
Our wings are not tired.
Steph L. - Aug 04, 2022 6:59:55 am PDT #16664 of 30000
the hardest to learn / was the least complicated
Tim and his brothers are going through the process of selling their dad's house, and the first option was a private sale to a neighbor's relative. (They're still using a realtor, who's a friend of a friend and really knows his shit. We got super lucky there.) Anyway, the buyer's bid lowballed the asking price by $120K (that zero is not a typo). That's crazy.
Tim and his brothers probably would have accepted a bid that was $12K under asking, just to have the sale over and done with. But this guy's massive underbid means the next step is to give a letter to all the neighbors offering them the opportunity to buy it, and if that doesn't pan out, then they list it.
I feel bad even complaining about it, because the house is part of the estate and therefore its sale directly affects me, through Tim. I do get that. Still, stuff can be 2 things -- it can be a financial opportunity that makes our retirement more secure *and* a giant pain in the ass to get cleaned out and sold.
Laura - Aug 04, 2022 7:01:36 am PDT #16665 of 30000
Our wings are not tired.
Selling a house is a giant pain in the ass, as is buying one!
Matt the Bruins fan - Aug 04, 2022 7:39:55 am PDT #16666 of 30000
"I remember when they eventually introduced that drug kingpin who murdered people and smuggled drugs inside snakes and I was like 'Finally. A normal person.'” —RahvinDragand
Wow Steph, that reminds me of a FSBO house I saw a few weeks ago that hiked its price UP $100k (when the original asking price was somewhat optimistic for the mediocre property being offered). Some people's approach to the real estate game bears no resemblance to reality.
In other divorced from reality news, I present the latest from the Alex Jones Sandy Hook trial: [link]
Steph L. - Aug 04, 2022 7:51:07 am PDT #16667 of 30000
the hardest to learn / was the least complicated
Wow Steph, that reminds me of a FSBO house I saw a few weeks ago that hiked its price UP $100k (when the original asking price was somewhat optimistic for the mediocre property being offered). Some people's approach to the real estate game bears no resemblance to reality.
Their asking price is in line with the appraisal (and the realtor is pretty sure they could get a decent amount over the asking price if they list it); even so, we expected the first bid to be under the asking price, but not by $120k. Yeesh.
JenP - Aug 04, 2022 7:58:35 am PDT #16668 of 30000
That's... wow.
Laura - Aug 04, 2022 7:59:45 am PDT #16669 of 30000
Our wings are not tired.
Seeing the judge scolding Alex Jones, and the amazing text story, just a highlight of the day. He is so despicable. What he did to those grieving parents is just horrifying.
In other delightful news, my ridiculously adorable nephew is 2 today and if you are in the friend group on FB you can see the adorableness here - [link]
Dana - Aug 04, 2022 8:29:44 am PDT #16670 of 30000
"I'm useless alone." // "We're all useless alone. It's a good thing you're not alone."
Their asking price is in line with the appraisal (and the realtor is pretty sure they could get a decent amount over the asking price if they list it); even so, we expected the first bid to be under the asking price, but not by $120k.
I feel like someone did the same thing to my mom and uncle when they were selling my grandparents' house. Probably a neighbor. I wonder if it's a tactic people are getting from somewhere.
JenP - Aug 04, 2022 9:19:56 am PDT #16671 of 30000
What a couple of cuties, Laura!
DavidS - Aug 04, 2022 9:22:18 am PDT #16672 of 30000
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."
When we made our bid in February it didn't feel like we were getting a particular deal. The building had been put on the market and didn't sell. Then came back at a lower price, but we knew there was a lot of interest so we overbid it back up to its original selling price. And then we were overbid, but our awesome real estate agent pushed our deal through to commitment before that bid came in.
We knew that this neighborhood was starting to heat up, and we heard from other brokers in the area that both UCSF and big tech companies were buying up Victorians to provide housing for workers who couldn't get places elsewhere. It made sense since the houses just keep climbing in value to go ahead and buy.
So here we are a few months after purchase and according to Redfin our place has already appreciated in value $82K. Also, when we got our mortgage our financial advisor apologetically said, "Can you believe it? Interest rates just went up last week!" But that was the first uptick on the prime rate for years and it was still very low in comparison to where it's trending now.
It didn't look like a deal in February but it's turned out to be a great deal in August.
It's interesting looking at the Redfin listing after we closed because then they showed the pictures of its previous sale back in 2003, and we could see how they had laid out the rooms and what the price was back then. It doubled in value in 20 years.
Scroll down to the bottom if you're curious about that stuff: [link]