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Dik Hz posted:My personal experience is that ~10% of home buyers are just "looking" in order to take messy shits in newly renovated bathrooms for giggles. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ji4dBBTvBqk
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Oct 8, 2020 00:32
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Cyrano4747 posted:depends a lot on the market. Some areas are just that hot that sellers will get people wanting to look before the photos are up. When we were looking ~4.5 years ago, we tried to arrange a viewing on a house we saw pop up one evening. Our realtor tried to get in around 11am the next day. Turns out the realtor wasn't taking viewings until 1pm. But that wasn't the issue. By the time our realtor had tried to arrange a viewing, and before any one had seen it in person, the seller accepted an out of town offer from a couple who were desperate after all their previous offers for other houses had been beaten. Hell, the house we're in right now had been on the market for 3 days before we saw it and sent an offer, which was practically an eternity. We were the first offer, so we thought there was something wrong with the place that we had missed. Some markets are absolutely insane.
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Oct 8, 2020 00:47
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So how worried should I be of the HOA going up? Like how common is it to go up and can it ever go down? I'm thinking of getting a condo and I can currently afford it but am worried if the HOA goes from $281 to like $600 one day.
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Oct 8, 2020 01:09
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punk rebel ecks posted:So how worried should I be of the HOA going up? Like how common is it to go up and can it ever go down? It's always a concern. It'll almost never go back down (but it can). The best way to gauge the odds is (1) assume the worst, and (2) find out about any pending litigation involving construction defects, etc etc. Assume that if any of those lawsuits fail, your costs are going up. Also, check how well funded the HOA is in their financial statements. Then throw all that poo poo out the window and assume they'll double on you anyway. 
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Oct 8, 2020 01:28
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punk rebel ecks posted:So how worried should I be of the HOA going up? Like how common is it to go up and can it ever go down? I mean, the HOA pays for maintenance of a bunch of stuff, so over time it will go up, and rarely go down. The issue here is one that we've discussed before: take a look at the HOA financials, see if they are able to put money away at a reserve fund, and if the reserve fund covers a significant portion of what the reserve study says they should have saved up. Since increases in fees generally have to be voted on by the HOA, it is rare that it would go up dramatically for no reason. The real danger is the opposite: HOA stays too low for too long, there is no reserve, and suddenly they need to replace the roof and have no money saved up, so they have to do a special assessment, which is a one time special payment.
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Oct 8, 2020 01:29
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GoGoGadgetChris posted:Who cares what the buyer plans for the house? The money spends the same & all those handwritten letters about raising your 3 kids and a dog are probably lies anyway I really don’t care who buys the house, but it’s out in the middle of nowhere so I don’t see it being a flipper or a landlord. Maybe I’m wrong, but it doesn’t matter to me. I just heard about the handwritten letters thing and I am confused. Do people think that a letter to the seller will convince them to sell the house to them at a lower price just for the gently caress of it? Highest verified offer gets it, and if that falls through then the second highest offer gets it, see where this is going? I don’t even want to read a letter from a prospective buyer. Maybe I’m just old and grumpy. GoGoGadgetChris posted:Tried to buy a beach house today and the cable box literally burst into flames during the walkthrough That’s awesome! Does that affect your decision at all? I hope nothing catches fire during our now 2 showings for tomorrow.
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Oct 8, 2020 01:43
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Modus Man posted:
The letter thing is weird as hell to me too. My parents were recently in the process of selling their house when they got a letter describing which rooms their kids would live in, what their careers were, and how hard they worked to save up for the exact price they were offering, etc. My mom had no clue that it was supposed to be influencing her so she thought you were just supposed to tell the other side a bit about yourself. She wrote a letter back and said the asking price will allow her to retire & listed all the various hobbies she plans to engage in! They were probably pretty confused.
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Oct 8, 2020 01:47
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GoGoGadgetChris posted:Tried to buy a beach house today and the cable box literally burst into flames during the walkthrough Chris, unless you want a beach house for the boardwalk and outlet mall experience you picked the least good town on the Oregon coast.
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Oct 8, 2020 02:08
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Sundae posted:It's always a concern. It'll almost never go back down (but it can). The best way to gauge the odds is (1) assume the worst, and (2) find out about any pending litigation involving construction defects, etc etc. Assume that if any of those lawsuits fail, your costs are going up. Also, check how well funded the HOA is in their financial statements. joepinetree posted:I mean, the HOA pays for maintenance of a bunch of stuff, so over time it will go up, and rarely go down. I see. For reference this is the property I'm referring to: https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/5488-SW-Alger-Ave-Apt-1_Beaverton_OR_97005_M13498-73644
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Oct 8, 2020 02:19
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therobit posted:Chris, unless you want a beach house for the boardwalk and outlet mall experience you picked the least good town on the Oregon coast. I'm just looking for a decent enough building on or near the sand, and seaside seems so cheap compared to Astoria and Cannon Beach!
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Oct 8, 2020 02:22
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punk rebel ecks posted:I see. What the property is is irrelevant, you can't judge it by how it looks. Have your realtor request the minutes of the last HOA meeting and the financials.
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Oct 8, 2020 02:54
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GoGoGadgetChris posted:I'm just looking for a decent enough building on or near the sand, and seaside seems so cheap compared to Astoria and Cannon Beach! Did it ever occur to you that there is a reason for this?
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Oct 8, 2020 04:31
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cackling at anyone that wants property anywhere near the ocean
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Oct 8, 2020 04:47
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GoGoGadgetChris posted:She wrote a letter back and said the asking price will allow her to retire & listed all the various hobbies she plans to engage in! They were probably pretty confused. This is adorable. As far as I can tell, the letter writing thing is just something buyers should probably do on the off-chance the seller is sentimental, because it shouldn't take that long and at worst it just won't matter. Some realtors even have form letter type things they customize a little and send off with offers as a matter of course.
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Oct 8, 2020 05:30
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marjorie posted:This is adorable. Anecdotal, but on the previous advice of this thread we included a short letter with our offer and I think it made a difference in terms of getting it accepted over another, probably slightly higher offer. It definitely helped afterwards: in the letter we'd revealed that I was pregnant and so the sellers were happy to compromise on the closing date and offered, unprompted, to get all the random things in the builder's report fixed up. I'd love to get a return letter from them  We close tomorrow! So excited, especially since I don't have to do any of the heavy lifting during the move lol.
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Oct 8, 2020 07:13
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GoGoGadgetChris posted:The letter thing is weird as hell to me too. My parents were recently in the process of selling their house when they got a letter describing which rooms their kids would live in, what their careers were, and how hard they worked to save up for the exact price they were offering, etc. My mom had no clue that it was supposed to be influencing her so she thought you were just supposed to tell the other side a bit about yourself. Lmao imagine getting that letter back and thinking this lady is just being petty as hell. I love it.
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Oct 8, 2020 15:18
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The letter is super relevant. I mentioned before, but when I sold my house there were 16 offers and nearly all of them were within a $5K range. There were several nearly identical offers at the top. It was a case where if someone really wanted the house they could have overbid, but since nobody did it came down to really trivial things like guessing how stable their employment might be... or a letter.
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Oct 8, 2020 16:28
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GoGoGadgetChris posted:I'm just looking for a decent enough building on or near the sand, and seaside seems so cheap compared to Astoria and Cannon Beach! Study the tsunami maps before you buy anything on the oregon or washington coast. I'm serious. The entire coast is 150 years overdue for a massive earthquake and tsunami that will destroy every living thing it touches and if you don't have a good escape route - and many places absolutely do not - you'll die, but even if you do escape, you know, your house will be wiped off the map. Maybe also your actual land. https://www.oregongeology.org/pubs/tsubrochures/SeasideGearhartEvacBrochure-6-3-13_onscreen.pdf
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Oct 8, 2020 16:53
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Andy Dufresne posted:The letter is super relevant. I mentioned before, but when I sold my house there were 16 offers and nearly all of them were within a $5K range. There were several nearly identical offers at the top. It was a case where if someone really wanted the house they could have overbid, but since nobody did it came down to really trivial things like guessing how stable their employment might be... or a letter. And like I said the last time, it's not nearly as relevant as you think it is. First of all, people like me don't read them. Ever. Secondly I don't care if your employment is stable. That's the bank's job.
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Oct 8, 2020 16:53
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Motronic posted:And like I said the last time, it's not nearly as relevant as you think it is. It's a long-shot but it can pay out. My grandmother took a lower bid on her house in large part because of a letter. It won't work on most people, but it also doesn't cost anything.
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Oct 8, 2020 16:56
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Motronic, many of us are like that but the country is also full of people who are sentimental about their property. There have been multiple reports in this thread of people who won a bidding war with a slightly lower offer in part because of their letter. Do not underestimate the degree to which idiots undermine their own financial best interests via sentimental crap. Or politics, or racism, those too.
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Oct 8, 2020 16:57
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They're like cover letters for a job application. You spend 20 minutes crafting one a single time, and then can reuse it for every subsequent offer after you swap out the address and a single detail unique to the property. Barely any effort and if it gives you the edge over a nearly identical offer that doesn't have a letter? #winning I've heard enough anecdotal stories about them working that in certain markets it seems dumb not to write one.
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Oct 8, 2020 16:58
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Leperflesh posted:Motronic, many of us are like that but the country is also full of people who are sentimental about their property. There have been multiple reports in this thread of people who won a bidding war with a slightly lower offer in part because of their letter. I'm not saying they never work. The contention is calling them something along the lines of "super relevant". Something that might work sometimes in the right circumstance maybe is not as important as it's being made out to be. If you enjoy creative writing exercises by all means go ahead and write a letter.
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Oct 8, 2020 16:59
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I would say if a half hour of effort has a 5% chance of winning you a house you'd otherwise lose, that's the best payout for time spent you could hope for in your entire life.
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Oct 8, 2020 17:04
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Leperflesh posted:I would say if a half hour of effort has a 5% chance of winning you a house you'd otherwise lose, that's the best payout for time spent you could hope for in your entire life. I don't know, the outcome is owning a house.
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Oct 8, 2020 17:07
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Leperflesh posted:Study the tsunami maps before you buy anything on the oregon or washington coast. Yep, I will know the evac route if I plan to stay overnight there. I won't be in the house more than 14 days of the year, I imagine, so odds are in my favor that The Big One will hit while I'm 60 miles inland. Every single part of the country that I would be willing to own property is at risk of or overdue from some natural disaster. Maybe I'll be at the coast during a tsunami, maybe I'll be in SF when the big one hits, who knows. I do my best to be reasonably prepared but I just don't have the doomsday mindset to avoid all risk at all costs
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Oct 8, 2020 17:14
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Anecdotally, a nice short letter would help me decide between offers of equivalent value, but a gushy “this is our dream house, the front bedroom is just perfect for our little Sally and we can’t wait to host themed dinner parties on the patio in the backyard” would considerably hurt their offer. FWIW, I got my house sans-letter because we had a rock solid offer and waived some fees.
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Oct 8, 2020 17:20
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GoGoGadgetChris posted:Yep, I will know the evac route if I plan to stay overnight there. I won't be in the house more than 14 days of the year, I imagine, so odds are in my favor that The Big One will hit while I'm 60 miles inland. You plan on using it as a rental property? Investment? Buying a beach house to spend less than 2 weeks a year there doesn't make sense to me, but I favor renting stuff like that. I'll never buy a beach house/condo, or a boat, or an RV, but have no issue renting them for the short period of time I'd like to use them. Just curious
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Oct 8, 2020 17:42
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Re letter chat. I've see some articles saying that some realtors are advising not to read or accept them on the basis that they could be used in a fair housing act violation. Ie same offer ones a letter of a pregnant couple and ones a single dude.
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Oct 8, 2020 17:51
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skipdogg posted:You plan on using it as a rental property? Investment? Buying a beach house to spend less than 2 weeks a year there doesn't make sense to me, but I favor renting stuff like that. I'll never buy a beach house/condo, or a boat, or an RV, but have no issue renting them for the short period of time I'd like to use them. A short term vacation rental, yeah. I'd aim to use it for a long weekend whenever there is a lull in demand so that I can enjoy it & also make sure things aren't getting messed up too badly. With current interest rates, it pencils out exceptionally well. Inclusive of management and cleaning fees, it'll pay off a 15-year mortgage in 8 years, or 11 years if I want to pay myself back the down payment in the first year and collect some income in years 2-11. The plan would be to sell after it's paid off. Obviously I get progressively more hosed the earlier in the 11 years I get hit by a tsunami, but this would not be all my eggs in one basket.
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Oct 8, 2020 17:59
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Motronic posted:I'm not saying they never work. The contention is calling them something along the lines of "super relevant". Something that might work sometimes in the right circumstance maybe is not as important as it's being made out to be. It costs you nothing and improves your odds. It is super relevant. You're just being argumentative for the sake of it my man.
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Oct 8, 2020 18:04
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I also find it incredible that this thread pretends like the best thing to do in every transaction is act like a robot. Like foregoing $100 to sell your house to a young family instead of a landlord makes you a complete loving idiot. I've spent more than $100 on things that were less important to me.
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Oct 8, 2020 18:08
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If for $100 I could place a permanent deed restriction on a home that it would never be used for rental purposes while also not affecting the sale price, I would do that, but that's a highly curated hypothetical. In practice you get a much higher spread selling to a conventional buyer than someone who thinks their use of the property should influence the price. And I mentioned before, the letters aren't worth the paper they're printed on. The sweet little old lady who bought my condo uses it as an investment property. Doesn't seem to be playing with her grandchildren on the patio as promised It is highly consistent and on brand for BFC to advise against emotional influences in financial decision making.
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Oct 8, 2020 18:13
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I don't mind giving the advice to sellers, but frankly if people want to give favorable treatment to an offer of their choosing it's their money to spend. From the buyer's perspective is where I get annoyed.
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Oct 8, 2020 18:17
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Andy Dufresne posted:I don't mind giving the advice to sellers, but frankly if people want to give favorable treatment to an offer of their choosing it's their money to spend. I don't think that's unreasonable, but I think survivorship bias matters a lot when discussing buyer offer letters. We hear about the times an offer sealed the deal. We don't hear about the times it was ineffective, or the times it gets a letter tossed in the recycle bin. As a prolific seller of homes, my experience has been that Letter Writers are less pleasant to work with and cause more problems. I would absolutely caution against writing a letter because in my experience it is more harmful than helpful. But I totally recognize that it might be effective on other sellers. I don't mean to seem combative at all, but I do want to be out there as saying letters are not universally a "no harm in trying" habit. As always, best practice is know your market, and have a trustworthy realtor. They will be able to give guidance on whether a letter is going to help or hinder. GoGoGadgetChris fucked around with this message at 18:27 on Oct 8, 2020 |
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Oct 8, 2020 18:23
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Everyone writes a cover letter in Boston. I've never heard of anyone doing anything else. Sellers are free to ignore them if they wish, but it did in fact help us, and the sellers' agent commented on the strength of our letter. It can't hurt, unless I guess you're buying from the one goon in this thread that said emotional attachment is a red flag.
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Oct 8, 2020 18:45
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BRAKE FOR MOOSE posted:Everyone writes a cover letter in Boston. I've never heard of anyone doing anything else. Sellers are free to ignore them if they wish, but it did in fact help us, and the sellers' agent commented on the strength of our letter. It can't hurt, unless I guess you're buying from the one goon in this thread that said emotional attachment is a red flag. Like I said, knowing your market is key  It probably also matters if you're dealing with starter homes (vacating family wants to see it replaced by someone Just Like Them, with all the socioeconomic and racist energy that implies) vs higher value assets (I don't want a million dollar deal blown up because an inexperienced buyer blew their repair budget on Lisa's braces!!)And emotional attachment is irrelevant. Emotional influence on financial decision making, is bad. See the stock picking thread for examples
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Oct 8, 2020 18:52
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GoGoGadgetChris posted:And emotional attachment is irrelevant. Emotional influence on financial decision making, is bad. See the stock picking thread for examples Sure, but tooooooons of people make bad financial decisions based on tummy and heart feels. I can't count the number of people I've talked to who refuse to invest in stocks that they consider immoral, be it tobacco or guns or oil or VW or whatnot. I'm not saying they're right or they're wrong. It's their money to do with as they please. But they exist and maybe I just know a lot of bleeding hearts or maybe they're just a lot more vocal, but from my anecdotal experience they don't seem to be all that uncommon. It's a letter. Anyone here could bang out a couple paragraphs about how much they love the neighborhood and they want to grow old and die there and see their kids got to <copy/paste name of nearest elementary school>. Does the realtor put it in the trash for liability reasons? Maybe. Do the buyers laugh at it and say gimme more money? Probably. But then again maybe you get lucky it helps you edge out another offer. At the end of the day I don't think it's going to be important beyond edging out an equal offer. Most people are going to take the offer that has more money or the financing is more secure or they're waiving more poo poo or whatever else, but that's not what I'm seeing people talking about.
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Oct 8, 2020 18:59
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GoGoGadgetChris posted:And emotional attachment is irrelevant. Emotional influence on financial decision making, is bad. See the stock picking thread for examples I totally agree and I am personally in the "I don't give a gently caress about your playroom plans" camp and would ignore the letter in favor of the financial picture, it's just that a lot of people don't, and you can take advantage of that as a buyer.
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Oct 8, 2020 19:05
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BRAKE FOR MOOSE posted:I totally agree and I am personally in the "I don't give a gently caress about your playroom plans" camp and would ignore the letter in favor of the financial picture, it's just that a lot of people don't, and you can take advantage of that as a buyer. I agree here as well, and again I really am not saying "writing a letter is bad". A claim was made that writing a letter is always the right choice and can do no harm, which is what I would contest. I am encouraging people to know their market and know their seller, is all.
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Oct 8, 2020 19:08
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