House hunting is exhausting and way too stressful. After a week of pouring over listings, we narrowed down the hunt to about a dozen houses before we met with our realtor yesterday. She then eliminated about half of those listings because they’re short sales. She said short sales are a waste of a buyer’s time since they can take several months to sort out. So a buyer could put in an offer on a house in short sale, but the seller/bank won’t even touch your paperwork until the short sale is completed. The buyers wait and may lose out on a better house they could have found in the meantime.

That left us with about 6 or 7 houses to look at yesterday. But we only actually looked at 3 because the listing realtors weren’t answering their phones and we couldn’t get the codes to get in to look. That’s a shame, because a couple of them we were really interested in.

Of the three we walked through, there was one that was in excellent condition and ready for immediate move in. However, this is one that is nearing the end of the short sale process, so it could still take some time to complete. And it doesn’t meet all of our requirements in space needs. But it is lovely and definitely moved into the top slot for the day.

The second one is vacant and in pretty good shape, but the kitchen is in need of remodeling and there was an inspection notice by the front door that showed two inspection ratings in the past several months of “poor.” We’re curious what that means. And it’s in a location that would add at least 30 minutes to my already long commute.

The third one I didn’t like at all.

The really disappointing thing is that all of the houses with realty signs in our neighborhood that are in our price range already have contracts on them, including the house next door. Oh, we did look at that one and it’s a disaster. It’s actually in worse shape than the super cheap house we looked at the other night (which has a contact pending already). Beau is very bummed that we lost out on the super cheap house.

On the cute single family house I wanted to look at - we got some intel from a long time resident of our town that that neighborhood isn’t the best. So we didn’t even go look at it or any other houses in that area.

Our realtor has sent a bunch of new listings to look at and I have taken a deeper look at the ones that I ruled out because of their location (mostly because of they would lengthen my commute, not because I didn’t like the house/neighborhood). We’ll see about taking a look at them later this week.

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1. Sorry to hear your house hunting didn’t go as well as you had hoped.

   A good rule to live by is buy the least expensive house in the most expensive neighborhood you can afford.

   You can always make improvements to a house, but it’s very tough to relocate the building. Location, location, location.

   How long were those homes in your neighborhood on the market before they had a contract on them. Find out from your realtor what the average days on market (DOM) is for the homes in the price range you are looking for in the neighborhoods you are looking in. This will give you a good indication of how long you have before you have to pounce on something.

   If the average DOMs is 12 and a house has been on the market for 30 days, there is probably a good reason that house has not been snatched up yet. Probably best to avoid looking at those homes altogether.

   Although there is something to be said for educating yourselves and seeing what your mom buys you in that market.

   If you can’t find what you both want, don’t buy it. You’ll have buyer’s remorse and regret your decision for some time.

   I always told my clients to look at the purchase as an investment, even though you were going to live in the house for years to come. Purchase wisely.

   If it concerns you, go to the website and look up sexual predators in the neighborhoods you are looking in so you can avoid those homes. Your realtor is probably not under any obligation to point out where these people are living.

   Posted by  on  05/12/08  at  12:00 PM

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