First time home buyer in need of help

7 years ago

Hello so I am looking at buying a home in Southern IL and may have found an ideal house and some questions regarding a fair offer. They are asking 185k for it and originally paid 131,871k 17 years ago. It's a 3 beadroom 3 bath with a finished basement and fenced in back yard as well as a 3 car garage. Although there seems to be some additions like a bar in the basement the kitchen doesn't appear to be redone. I am planning on offering 150k for it and hoping to settle on 160-170k. Is this a fair offer?? Should i start at 160k? Also this will be the house I will be living in so it's not a flipper so to speak.

Featured Answer

ncrealestateguy

7 years ago

Find out the actual market value of the home, and then make a fair offer based on that.

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Comments (9)

littlebug zone 5 Missouri
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
What they paid 17 years ago has no bearing on today's prices. What are similar homes selling for in the area? Not listing prices - selling prices. And what would a lending officer judge its worth? That's whose opinion really matters, if you are obtaining a loan.

Edited to add: I have read that buyers sometimes use 10% off the asking price as a rule of thumb at which to begin negotiations. That's assuming, though, that the asking price is reasonable for the property. I think that's the real key - determining what is reasonable for the property first, and then going from there.
maddielee
7 years ago
How long has it been on the market? If it is a new listing, chances are they will come back with a high counter offer.
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OttawaGardener
7 years ago
I don't know real estate in that area, but to assume such a low increase might be a mistake. In our area, prices have doubled in less than 17 years.

Do you have a buyer's agent who could help you?
elpaso1
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
You can have your realtor pull sold comps for the area, so you will kniw how the house is priced compared to others in the neighborhood, and what you should offer.

If you are not preapproved for a mortgage , do so before you go any further so you don't look at houses you can't qualify for, and when you make an offer, you will be taken seriously.
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Austin Air Companie
7 years ago
Do you really want the house? If not listen to your gut and walk away from it. No matter what price you pay for an 'existing' home you will always think you could have gotten a better price after the fact.

You are buying the house because you want to live in it right? If another buyer comes along you may lose out on the house. Then you live with the remorse of having to start searching all over again to find something you like.

Too low and offer and you may not even get a response from the owner... especially if they are entertaining higher offers.

If you want to buy a house for 150K why not look at homes that are priced in that range? If there are none in that range in your area... the people selling this home probably know that.
Christopher_H
7 years ago
You sound like you don't know what similar homes are selling for in this area. You need that information in order to make an educated offer. This is where you need your realtor's advice. You look at what has sold and how long it took them to sell and you base your offer on that.

For all we know, similar homes might be selling at 200K and the owner just wants a quick sale.
loto1953
7 years ago
I was born and raised in Southern Illinois and left in 1976 but my brothers and sisters still live there. Parts of Southern Illinois economy is severely depressed due to the coal mines and factories closing. A $185,000.00 home can be a VERY nice home in some parts of that area and not many Buyers in that price range. Property taxes in Illinois are very high compared to my area (Missouri).
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Tritos Properties
7 years ago
Jeff,

An effective way to determine the value of a property is to locate the recent homes sales in that zip code and compare sales per sq foot.

We generally prefer to use sales during the past 90 days and ignore the highest and the lowest homes, and use sales in between as a gauge.

First time home buyer in need of help

ncrealestateguy

Comments (9)

littlebug zone 5 Missouri

maddielee

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