I just wanted to add that Zillow gave the house a 'zestimate' of about 168,000, even though it was incorrectly described as having 2.5 baths instead of 1! I think they are way off on this, but why so low?

Looks like a VERY nice home. I have to wonder if others are really comparable? I'd think your $190K is a good starting point, anyway......

Way too high an offer, if you are not embarrassed by your offer it is too high. I would offer 20% less than asking. However it really depends on why it has not sold, what is going on in your market, how long they have owned, how much they paid (others may disagree with me but I think it is a factor) what have comparable houses sold for (ask for a comp analysis from your agent). If the local tax authority has a web site that has this information it is an amazing tool. Probably most of all if anyone else is looking at this house or has made an offer and when, any failed offers?

If it is empty they cannot afford to be insulted by any offer so worst case you can up your offer

To me the campus thing would be an incurable defect but I have a thing about being near public buildings

Offer contingent on inspection and mortgage financing

artamnesia ask your agent to pull comps of homes in the same area with similar sq footage/age/condition to see what they have sold for. (Preferably the last 6 months sales).

If you already think the house is priced too high, the asking price should have nothing to do with your offer.

I think the house is very nice and well kept:) if you are willing to start at 190 and be flexible to go up, just in case the seller counter offer, I think you should start there.

Good Luck-
maria

Pull the comps. Whether or not it is empty has no bearing on anything (many people sell empty homes because they can afford to not deal with the pain of selling while in-house). The price drop shows they are adjusting to the market. It may also show they want to dump it (if you are lucky).

I will say that while real estate is a business, many people react with emotion. They cannot separate "home" from "house". I truly went about selling as a business. However, if someone offered me 20% less than list, I would have laughed and countered with above full list price. 10% below list in a buyer's market is a good starting point. If it is your maximum bid, you may want to express to your realtor that your bid is firm.

I would like to offer a different perspective as someone that lives in a college town. Rather than being an incurable defect, those campus houses are gold here. Can the house be used as a rental? In the college town I live in, a house of that size and condition next to the campus would probably sell for more if it could be used as a rental. Even if it could not, houses within walking distance of campus sell for a premium price when they come on the market.

It's a cute house, but I wonder if there is a reason you want that particular location? Can you find something similar a bit farther from campus? If DeKalb is like my town the prices are a bit lower away from campus. From a financial standpoint it sounds as if spending less than the range you're currently looking in might be a better option. (FYI--I took a couple of summer classes in DeKalb--used to live about 30-40 minutes east)

Don't rely on Zillow.com -- it is not the most accurate site. Zillow has the square footage of my home as well as the value of my home WAY undervalued for comps in the area. They rely on property assessments to glean their values and property assessments are rarely the same as actual value.

Look at sold comps for the area that you should be able to get from a realtor and start your offer slightly below comps (5-10%). Asking price is just a number they hope to get, reality is that they're going to get close to what other comparable homes have sold for in the area so that's what you need to look at.

Houses near the college are Gold here too!

Don't buy a house with a boyfriend. You are treading in deep waters. Sorry, MHO.

I wouldn't buy a house with a BF. A family memeber did, and, boy, was she sorry. But, your call.

It is a cute house, but I think the single bath is a big problem for maost buyers and will affect resale, particularly in a two story floorplan. Can another bath be added with relative ease? If not, think long and hard about this issue and the price.

This house seems best for people who WANT to be near campus, not for people who "don't mind." Are homes in the area student rentals or could they become rentals? If so do you want to live there?

I agree that comps are the best way to decide your bid. As long as the home has been on the market, $190K should not be an insult, though you never know about seller's emotions.

I've got just one question.

What if the one and only toilet breaks down and you really, really, really gotta go?
I would suggest keep looking for something with 2 BA. For that kind of money you should get 2 bathrooms no matter how much charm it has.

At least 2!!!

Thanks for all the good feedback. I'll definitely ask our agent about the comparative market analysis. I also appreciate the comments about the location, single bathroom and finances. I'll give more thought to all those things.

Sorry, I guess I should have referred to my 'life partner' rather than calling him a boyfriend. Still, I understand that in the eyes of the law, a married couple is a single financial entity. The mortgage and title will most likely be in my name alone.

"Is $190k plus an inspection contingency a fair offer?"

That seems like a good starting point to me. Especially since its been on the market so long. I like this house. It has a nice back yard, enclosed front porch and plenty of windows. It looks like the owners have kept it in good shape.

Have you had a chance to talk to the neighbors? They could probably give you a few clues why it hasn't sold or at least tell you more about the owners so you could structure your offer with them in mind. Since its on a college campus, I'd want to check with the police department/campus police and see what types of problems they have responded to in this area.

One more thing. I noticed a train track to the South and an airport to the East. Do you mind living in a flight path or hearing train horns at night?

We just heard back from our agent and she was able to give us some listings of comparable closed houses. The selling price ranged from 173.5 - 225k. So I guess we're in the ballpark with the offer, except that all of these houses had at least 1.1 baths. The highest priced was a victorian with a wood-panelled library and the lowest was an arts and craftsy kind of bungalow with no garage. Our agent thinks we should offer 192 but based on this info I'm actually more inclined to go even lower - like 185k!

I have some pictures online that incude some showing the proximity of the campus buildings. Some of the interior shots have odd lighting because the wide angle lens was blocking the flash. There are no actual dark blobs in the middle of any rooms!

DreamG, I don't think that the slow sale is related to the issues you bring up. The airport you see is actually for private planes only and the city isn't on any flight paths. The train track is actually on the other side of campus. This house wouldn't hear much as far as horns. Also the area, tho close to campus, isn't near student housing at all. The closest building is actually a religious center. The houses on the other side are nice and are probably faculty-staff owned. The area is quiet and sort of woodsy.

I really think that this owner is just in a position to be able to sit on this house and so far has been holding out for a high offer. Hopefully, the recent market changes will make them willing to negotiate. Wish us luck!

Here is a link that might be useful: More photos

Wow - our realtor tells us that this house has never had a written offer. They had a couple verbal (how do you even do that?) and turned them down.

Wow - our realtor tells us that this house has never had a written offer. They had a couple verbal (how do you even do that?) and turned them down.

Well then good luck with offering $185K. Looks like these people have either the money or the tenacity to wait.

A 1 1/2 bath home is not a comp, IMHO. I'd ask for one bath comps. There may not be many closed one bath sales, because most people want more than one bath. Really, I cant overemphasize that the single bath will be a huge issue at resale, if not before.

I'm not sure I would call it a verbal offer, but I once asked my agent to float a number by the listing agent on a house I felt was overpriced. There seemed little point putting it in writing as we were miles apart. That may be similiar to the "verbal offers" on the home you are considering.

Quip:
Its difficult to find exactly the same home that has sold in the same area within a certain period of time. Its pretty common to use a 1.5 bath home and comp it to a one bath home. The realtor simply makes an adjustment in price.(same thing an appraiser would do.) Yes, one bath homes are more difficult to sell, but usually it is reflected in the price which Im sure is the case here. Not everyone can afford to buy whatever they want and there will be someone starting over or a first time buyer in the market when its time for them to sell too.

When were the offers? That is the key. If the last offer was in January I would lowball, you can always go up. Definitely at least drive by each and every comp and if you can get a sense of the amenities or see the listing from before they sold, review them.

Also if a seller got a bunch of low offers, that tells them something, they may suddenly decide enough is enough. It also depends on what is convention. In my area most houses SELL in a decent market (sort of neutral) for 9% under asking. My house was originally listed at 425, I paid 300 after the price dropped to 375. This was a long time ago

I would find out more about the history of who lived there. It looks like a young couple given the baby gate (dog?), if that is the case I doubt they can afford to just hang on to it

When we offered on our house 12 years ago it was verbal until we agreed on a price. That is how it is done here but I am not in Illinois

As for the poster who said they would counter a low ball with raising their price, sure if you want to drive off what may be your only buyer, why not. I think it would also depend on who made the offer, if it was a speculator, they may either refuse or decide that at least it is a guaranteed sale. However, if they have resources they may like the fact that a nice young couple made an offer, even if it is low

One bathroom in a story house would require an addition for me. I have had my downstairs bath clog and it is a PITA to go upstairs

Thanks for all the thoughtful comments.

One good thing about the comp is that we've got the listings in front of us so we can compare and adjust accordingly. We actually had looked into two of the houses on the list before they sold. This house is really most similar to the one that sold for 173.5. If we subtract one toilet from that, add a garage and .25 acres of land, a slightly better hood, updated electrical, and new windows on porch....188?

As for the bathroom issue, I'm thinking that we would want to at least add a family room and bath to the basement in the future, but there is plenty of room for a first floor addition if we could ever swing it financially.

I like the idea of buying something with potential to improve, which this seems to have. There is another house currently listed for the same price with 4 bedrooms and 3.5 baths. It's a very nice house but the thing is...where do you go from there? Every possible renovation has been done to the house and all according to someone else's taste (white wall-to-wall carpeting!) and it's on a small lot.

Saphire, we'll meet with agent tomorrow and try to find out what and when the verbal offers were made. I'm not sure the seller's agent was very forthcoming with the details.

Ugh - homebuying/selling is hell.

How handy are you really? I was sort of in your position many years ago and I bought the house that needed work and had room to expand. The truth is we never did. We really should have bought the one that was fixed up and just enjoyed it. Home ownership is not always about improving it. 4 bedrooms and 3 baths sounds really nice to me. As for the small lot depends how small, no lot, no way. The truth is we bought the big lot and we spend way more time in the house than out on the lot and that includes kids. I have often thought I should have bought the bigger house ont he smaller lot

When you get more money you can rip out the carpeting and just redecorate. It also depends on your plans. I always asked why the homeowners were moving. I never wanted to hear because they had 2 kids and found the house too small. Since if it was too small for them it would be for me too. It does look like a nice clean house but if you can get something bigger in the same shape for the same money, do it unless you do not love it

Saphire, all good food for thought.

The other house that has the same asking price doesn't really seem to be any bigger, but actually has just been divided up a little differently. Most of the rooms are smaller. They've also finished much of the basement. I'll see if I can post a working link to a listing for it.

If we got it together and made the renovations, it would be great to have the living space and the lot but, like they say, the best laid plans...

Here is a link that might be useful: the other house

I would take a victorian at that price range if there was room to add a toilet and a workshop/garage. (I'd have a contractor look at it before signing) I'm a sucker for victorians. Didn't see any in your pics.

Oooh - I think I wasn't very clear here:

'This house is really most similar to the one that sold for 173.5. If we subtract one toilet from that, add a garage and .25 acres of land, a slightly better hood, updated electrical, and new windows on porch....188?'

I meant that the house that sold for 173.5 (the arts and crafts bungalow) did NOT have the garage/workshop, half acre, updated electrical and new porch windows that garden street has. What it DID have was one more toilet, so I was trying to figure in those things when calculating what to offer on garden road house.

The house that sold for 225k is a victorian. I'll paste link below...

Here is a link that might be useful: Victorian house

artamnesia, A few things come to mind. First, if there is a 4 bedroom, 3 bath with a 4th bathroom potential in the basement for the same price as the house you're looking at, the house you are looking at is either very overpriced or the other one is a steal. 2nd, I would ask your agent to check to see how long houses on that street generally stay on the market and if they sell for less than something similar on another street because the college is right across the street. Here, houses near the college do sell for a premium if they can be used as a rental property, but generally those are not the ones that "view" the college. The market for your house might be limited should you ever want to sell.

UPDATE: After meeting with our realtor and looking at comps together in depth, she agreed that their asking price is high. We actually ended up offering 182k. We knew this was low and that they would counter and they did with 206k. Since this is still way above what any comparable houses have sold for, we countered with a firm offer of 188k. We'll see what happens, but I think they will probably refuse, which is OK. It's a cute house but there's just no sense in buying it at an inflated price.

Thanks, all for your feedback. The comps advice was priceless!

What is the "land only" value of the larger lot? Someone has gone to a lot of trouble to improve an old farmhouse that doesn't warrant its nice lot. Perhaps the owners thought the college would buy it up and build on it one day? You are looking at more maintenance on the older home, and its big lot, and more taxes on the lot, too. Unless you plan a teardown and new, larger build, I'd pass on this property.

I'd take the newer 3 bath house over this one. Or, perhaps you just haven't found the "right" house yet.

Actually, I'd wait to buy *anything* in this market, with so many homeowners hurting due to shaky loans. It's going to take a while to whittle down the ton of housing inventory in most areas.