Has it ever crossed your mind TO RENT?????????

I know Renting is so low class today. but think of the possibilities.

You could buy a house in an area you will hate in 6 months, you could get a job offer far away, in a year or two.

Gas prices might be $5 or more unless we have a major recession and unemployment goes to 9%....then you wont have a job to pay the mortgage.

So logically to only real options is for you pay CASH for the house and then who cares about my rant. Even if taxes are $10,000 a year thats $800 a month, plus Utilities you could still pay the bills with $10hr jobs at walmart

----Nothing seems to be moving so do I put in a bid on home 5-10% under aksing price?--------

No you found your DUMB buyer for your house, now don't you turn into a dumb buyer , offer 20% less The original idea was for a home to cost about the same as renting. Don't get suckered in by recent renovations, they probably doubled the price of the actual cost.

The renovation i would want which Dumb owners never do is to zone the heating AC so you can save MONEY each month. I have a friend who has a 3500 sq ft McMansion with 5 zones even one for the basement to get the moisture out in summer and to add some heat in winter..... or just to circulate the stuffy air.....PS: its in Rowayton, CT

The market your in and the one I've always been in (Midwest) are pretty different. Where I am now Ive never heard anyone mention Comps, maybe because I'm not a sellor or haven't put in an offer. One FSBO I was pretty serious about told me what their appraisal said.
What I've been told by numerous realtors is that the market here as always been stable, averaging (over how many years I don't know) 2-3% appreciation. That seems to be their big thing.
As an experiment I started looking at the last sold prices of houses on the assessors website that were also for sale now, doing all the math for 2-3% appreciation - and VOILA! I had the listing price. Coincidence? The way the market works?
I don't know, its worked out that way or pretty dang close on probably 20 houses I've done that for.
You could experiment similarly. If you go to your regional Board of Realtor website they usually have the past 20+ years appreciation listed. Smooth out some of the highs and lows, apply some common sense and figure out an "average" appreciation rate - then run the numbers and see how how some listings compare. If you find a house you like, if your number is 10% below listing and your gut is telling you its 10% overpriced - then go with that.

Comps are sometimes difficult to find but that's what I'd do -- be diligent in getting good recent comps. Some homes are way over priced and to pay even 85% of list is overpaying, some homes are priced very close to or even less then comps so an offer of 85% of list may be lowballing it. So do your homework, know what the home is worth to you in your market and make your offer accordingly. Don't get hung up on a certain percentage of list, because that will be different depending on how well the seller has determined the list price for their home.

Every buyer who buys at the height of the market experiences the home not being worth as much as they paid for it when the market tanks. If you're holding onto the home for the long term, I'd keep that in mind, but not obsess over it. It's the risk of home ownership that sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.

There are two issues, as I see it, raised by your post

1) what are YOU will to pay? If you are happy w/ the price you paid for the house, and are willing not to force the seller to change his price over the period it takes to close, then you can ignore any changes that happen to the market in between times. And just base your bid on the comps you can find, and your own judgment, at the time you bid.

2) will your BANK approve your mortgage based on their assessment of whether the property would get them their money back should you default (appraisal). *You* aren't obligated to be bound by the bank's appraisal, *unless* you are borrowing their money, and even then, you only need to worry about whether you're borrowing close to full equity.

You're buying in a down-trending market; surely the cash you have now will for further when you eventually place a bid; you'll have a higher equity. That will hopefully push the bank further outside the decision zone; maybe you can borrow only 75% of the price, or even less, and then it doesn't matter if the home is worth the agreed-upon sale price, it only has to be worth what the bank is loaning you.

Once the bank is out of the equation, then it's just you, and the house, and of course the sellers. If houses are sitting for months w/ no offers, then I would sure START w/ a lower discount on my first offer.

webe,

Hi, I'm in CT also. Mystic.

Yep, the market (to use a boating term) is in the dol drums for sure. Here, prices have been drifting for the better part of 18 months & started declining 3-5 months ago. We're potential buyers but are under no time pressures so we're just waiting & watching.

Our trigger will be when we see prices start to rise again consistently over about a six month period. We won't catch the bottom with that approach but we're also unlikely to experience the bottom falling out from under our purchase price either. It'll also be better to sell our existing house when we reach that point since a rising tide floats all boats. Again though, we're under no time restraints. We have the luxury of waiting this market out and that could be 2-3 years.

CT has about 24,000 subprime loans. Not enough to move prices, IMO. Our market is drifting along with the national markets. Even though nothing much negative is happening here people watch, read, & hear about other states & it affects mindset. The SW corner of the state 'may' experience some downturn due to Wall Street job reductions but I think it's hard to really judge whether that will occur, or not. Our unemployment rate did jump between 4Q '07 & 1Q '08...5% up to 5.5%. Again, I think that's reflecting Wall Street job loses.

I understand what you mean about comps being tough to get a hold of now. There's been nothing comparable to our place that's sold in over a year within the historic district. So, we'd have to make some large +/- adjustments in looking at comps.

If I were going to buy today...I'd start looking at making offers around -20% from July '05 prices. Some CT towns have sales data available online. Sometimes, your gut feel will tell you the right price if you're in tune to local market conditions.

It also depends on the price bracket. Under $500K is still chugging along in our area because of the Groton sub base (transfers), Pfizer, & Electric Boat. Between $500-$900K is slow as a snail, & over $900K is just plain dead in the water.

Congratulations on your sale! BTW, renting is not a bad suggestion.

/tricia

Thanks for the replies. I do realize there are different variables but thought I'd throw my question out there. We do plan to be in the house for the next 30 years -which is a plus. The other plus is that we did sell at Feb. 2008 prices and have $$ in the bank with no home to sell as a contingency when buying a new one. We also are at a temp. home (in-laws) so the need to 'rush' is not there.

From what I can see (I've been watching the market in my area) things under 300K seem to be moving faster than say 300-500K. We are finanicallly in a good position and will put $20% down and will buy within our means.

There are a few homes that have been on the market for extended periods of time that we like but have no price drops and I feel are overpriced. Meanwhile, other homes have come on the market in the same areas that seem to be more 'reasonable'. BUT I must take into account what reasonable means. Reasonable compared to what the house prices were at the peak of the market or reasonable as in I would pay that price.

I'm hoping to find a good home with good schools in a nice town to raise my family in and also get a good price on it to boot! We've narrowed down the towns and are familiar with them. Now it's just trying to find "the House". Fingers crossed.

A house is only worth what someone will pay,period..Also, all the homes listed,imho, don't necessarily have to be sold..Many are listed to see what the market bears(or doesn't), these "sellers" may want to trade up, given the market declines, but don't want to "give their homes away", in their view..Find a home you like, in a school district you desire, and make an offer..Don't concern yourself with the daily chatter about what it may/or may not be worth in the short term...

I don't think there's a one size fits all answer since each house and its seller is different. Some of those houses that have been on the market without a reduction might have been priced at their seller's bottom to begin with. Other sellers may be just fishing, as qdognj suggested. It's good to look at the most recent comparable sales, but only you will know what adjustments are appropriate for the house you like. There are always intangibles that are worth more or less to each potential buyer.

For me it's been important to not get attached to a house before it's mine. When I decide what a house is worth to me, I won't pay more but will move on to the next possibility. OTOH, once I've decided on a house and a price, and am successful in buying it, I fight the urge to look at the market again until I'm ready to move. It's a home and not a short term investment, so I don't track its rising or falling value.

Good luck on your search. I hope you find a new home soon.

We thought it would be a good time (been looking for 3 years - not in any hurry to downsize).

But, we have found that most of the houses on the market in our area (Bergen/Passaic Co - NJ) are over priced and people are just seeing if they can still make a killing.

Most of the houses that were on the market a year ago, have been taken off and there really are only a handful of reasonably prices homes (home that are actually worth the asking price - in MHO).

We knew we would take a beating on our house, but figured we could also get a decent deal on the purchase. But, not yet....:-(

dssxxxx - I hate the waiting but hope it will be worth it. There doesn't appear to be a ton going on the market here in CT and today's headlines nationally show that prices are declining rapidly. Good for me as a buyer as I sit and wait. I do have a couple houses I'm interested in but waiting to make an offer.

News today says existing home sales dropped one percent in April and prices dropped eight percent. There's a huge backlog of homes on the market, new and existing. Some have said the market needs to deflate considerably more to erase the bubble effect that peaked in 2005-06. Now, those are national figures; maybe your market is different: "All real estate is local."

Only you know what your family needs -- maybe you have children and need stability starting NOW. Could you bank the house sale money and rent for a year or two until this market looks like it's picking up? If I didn't *have* to buy a house now I'd hate to buy one knowing it will probably be worth 10-15% less next year.

Since Dh and I are selling right now in the PNW we would welcome some offers of any kind!! We did have one when our house first went on the market but the people couldn't qualify for financing. We have had lots of people looking and we are willing to bargain; but so far nothing! After being on the market for 60 days we are trying to be patient but it is hard! I think most people in this market are willing to negotiate.

I'm afraid that people are NOT willing to negotiate...yet.

In the Business section of today's Chicago Tribune is an article saying existing home sales in the nine-county Chicago area are down 30% year over year while median price is down only 3.2%. In the city sales are down 27% and prices are down 6.3% year over year.

Nationally there is a 10.7 month supply of unsold houses and prices have only come down 8%. The last time there were that many unsold listings was June 1985. There are more foreclosures adding to that inventory every week.

This article cites yet another economic analyst who says he sees home sales dropping another 10% before any recovery begins...maybe next year. It's not *just* RE, it's also oil, jobs, credit, 'depressed overall economic growth' (AKA Recession).

If you are in one of these declining markets and want/need to sell now, you are probably better off to lower your price a LOT right NOW. It's better than following the market down to that lower price -- all the while absorbing the costs of maintaining the house.