I had no idea buying a home was so intense

[stone616]

Saturday I saw a home I was interested in pop up on Zillow. it was 2:30PM at 3:00PM I texted my real estate agent and told her I wanted to view it. She got me the soonest appointment she could Monday @ 10AM. I pull up to the house and get out and she says there are multiple offers on the home. I view it like it and put in my offer for 2 thousand over asking and said she could stay 30 days past closing rent free and still lost out on the home. This is basically 1.5 days after the home went up it's already pending. This is in a ho hum suburb in south east Michigan with no major industries here.

I'm seriously wondering if the other people that put in offers even went to view the home before they submitted them. I can't compete with this. I at least wanna be able to view a home and sleep on it. All the good homes are usually gone inside of 2-3 days from the day they go up. I went to look at my backup home I was gonna set up a viewing for and it went up a day before this one and is in pending status too.

I thought a home was supposed to be one of the biggest purchases a person makes in their lives. People are buying these things like they're impulse grabbing a candy bar at the checkout line of a grocery store.

 

[xxracerxx]

It's ruthless out there depending on your market. We lost out on 4 homes to over bids and cash offers (I am glad we did though since we finally got our amazing house and all the others pale in comparison now).

I at least wanna be able to view a home and sleep on it

Click to shrink...

Good luck on that one.

 

[TheAggroCraig]

It's a sellers market right now in the Spring, if you want a more lax experience with lower prices/less activity you'll want to check back in the Fall/Winter.

 

[fallingedge]

Yup. If you like a house, you gotta put a bid on it and just run with it. Can't waste any time.

 

[Gatti-man]

Build your own then. My wife and I kept looking in the Austin area. Our budget was 350-600k and nothing we saw really fit what we wanted and we built our own for 550k that in my mind is better than anything I've seen for us and am very happy with it. The only problem is it takes 6-8months. But atleast everything is the way you want.

The most expensive thing about owning a home is selling it so it's best to get what you want and keep it for a while.

 

[Jedi2016]

Competing offers always make it more stressful. Luckily, I was on the other end and won the "bid" for my house.

 

[Corsick]

The most anxiety inducing part by far is how hard you're pushed to make a decision almost immediately when you're spending hundreds of thousands on something that could be life changing if it backfires badly enough. I live in a very hot market and everything is overpriced and getting bought up very quickly. Not a great feeling when you know you'll almost never get a good deal due to the market. Houses that need lots of work are so expensive that you have no money to put the work in after the down payment. I feel for you, it's really tough. I'm very fortunate to be able to afford a house right now, but I'll still be on a tight budget if I want to be within 30 minutes of work which is a mandatory requirement for me personally.

 

[Shoes]

Yeah, I'm going through the same thing right now. A purchase like this should not have to be this split-second decision. I actually had my very first offer accepted but since it was a townhouse, I was able to use my "10 days to review all HoA documents" period to eventually retract my offer without losing my earnest money. But no luck since.

 

[nitewulf]

Depends on where I guess.

 

[Pwnz]

Building your own is also a 6 to 12 month project.

 

[Lunchbox-]

depends on location and the type of property

same shit ones are still here from last year, but the good ones in key locations are gone within days (Connecticut suburbs)
and NYC is just a mad house

 

[Darth Karja]

Competing offers always make it more stressful. Luckily, I was on the other end and won the "bid" for my house.

Click to shrink...

Same here. Had to counter offer and got it for only a couple thousand more then asking price. Ours happened the same way, went up on the weekend, by Monday when we looked there was already another offer. After they accepted the offer, our agent was somehow able to get the price back down though.

 

[vanmardigan]

I'm looking at 3 markets, and 2 of them (Chicago and US Virgin Islands) are intensely competitive. I just sold my house for asking price, so I shouldn't complain too much.

 

[ElectricBlanketFire]

Yeah, it's a major pain in the ass.

 

[Curler]

I thought a home was supposed to be one of the biggest purchases a person makes in their lives. People are buying these things like they're impulse grabbing a candy bar at the checkout line of a grocery store.

Click to shrink...

For some people, they have a ton of money and buy and flip these things, or rent them off (and then retire off managing off a ton of properties). Some people are coming in with foreign money too, as a way to not keep it in banks (I hear a lot about things not looking good in the Chinese economy, so a bunch of people buy a home as a means to invest in something big here and not there).

I feel like it's actually a small percentage of people actually looking and buying homes to LIVE in it. The investment game is still big, though, so it's like a business.

 

[Bjones]

yeah its a horrible time to be a buyer. people are paying cash and homes are going around here for 20k above asking

 

[BringBackSonics]

Houses last a day or two around here with multiple offers and always above asking price. It's insane

 

[Cation]

Sign of an impending recession?

 

[sgtnosboss]

Saturday I saw a home I was interested in pop up on Zillow. it was 2:30PM at 3:00PM I texted my real estate agent and told her I wanted to view it. She got me the soonest appointment she could Monday @ 10AM. I pull up to the house and get out and she says there are multiple offers on the home. I view it like it and put in my offer for 2 thousand over asking and said she could stay 30 days past closing rent free and still lost out on the home. This is basically 1.5 days after the home went up it's already pending. This is in a ho hum suburb in south east Michigan with no major industries here.

I'm seriously wondering if the other people that put in offers even went to view the home before they submitted them. I can't compete with this. I at least wanna be able to view a home and sleep on it. All the good homes are usually gone inside of 2-3 days from the day they go up. I went to look at my backup home I was gonna set up a viewing for and it went up a day before this one and is in pending status too.

I thought a home was supposed to be one of the biggest purchases a person makes in their lives. People are buying these things like they're impulse grabbing a candy bar at the checkout line of a grocery store.

Click to shrink...

Come here, there is over 300 up for sale in my area, and they sit.

 

[PantherLotus]

If you know what wand where you want, it's really *not* an impulse decision. Once you know a layout, a neighborhood, etc etc, you're really just down to "do I like the color and are the appliances new enough?" and will it pass inspection. That's what all the people making offers that quickly are doing.

 

[Stuggernaut]

You gotta be fast AND lucky if you ask me.

When I bought my house, my wife was driving by as they were putting up a sign. We were viewing it 4-5 hours later and had an offer in probably two hours after that. We were the 3rd offer lol... and there were TONS more after us.

First two offers bailed/did not qualify for whatever reason and they accepted ours.

Bonus info... we had people overbid us by as much as $30k and even after we signed some paperwork people were still putting crazy bids on it. The owner actually tried to back out of it at one point but our realtor stuck it for us. The owner started to refuse to do some of the stuff they originally agreed on, each time followed with them being ok if we backed out...heh.

Anyway, landed the house... been here ever since.

Final note... I paid $165k for this house, and 2 months later it was valued over $300k in our local market. The guy did not grasp the value I guess.

 

[stone616]

You gotta be fast AND lucky if you ask me.

When I bought my house, my wife was driving by as they were putting up a sign. We were viewing it 4-5 hours later and had an offer in probably two hours after that. We were the 3rd offer lol... and there were TONS more after us.

First two offers bailed/did not qualify for whatever reason and they accepted ours.

Bonus info... we had people overbid us by as much as $30k and even after we signed some paperwork people were still putting crazy bids on it. The owner actually tried to back out of it at one point but our realtor stuck it for us. The owner started to refuse to do some of the stuff they originally agreed on, each time followed with them being ok if we backed out...heh.

Anyway, landed the house... been here ever since.

Final note... I paid $165k for this house, and 2 months later it was valued over $300k in our local market. The guy did not grasp the value I guess.

Click to shrink...

I thought the signed paperwork was binding anyway. Once they accepted your offer weren't they forced to go through with it unless they could do something to get you to back out?

 

[Darknight]

It took us years before we were able to win a house and I think the only reason we won is because the selling agent screwed up.

Come live in a market where not only are offers accepted right after the weekend of the open house, but you're competing with all cash buyers with no contingencies who will win over you if you're getting a mortgage. That's even worse.

 

[Deleted member 2802]

This is in a ho hum suburb in south east Michigan with no major industries here.

Click to shrink...

Now imagine what it's like in a hot market.

 

[Zoe]

If you're waiting for it to hit Zillow, it's probably too late.

 

[Gwarm]

Sign of an impending recession?

Click to shrink...

It certainly feels like the peak. You hear anecdotal stories like this about housing all the time. Meanwhile, the trade war has been rocking the markets all year and manufacturing is slowing down. Hopefully people don't over-leverage themselves.

 

[TheFuzz]

Saturday I saw a home I was interested in pop up on Zillow. it was 2:30PM at 3:00PM I texted my real estate agent and told her I wanted to view it. She got me the soonest appointment she could Monday @ 10AM. I pull up to the house and get out and she says there are multiple offers on the home. I view it like it and put in my offer for 2 thousand over asking and said she could stay 30 days past closing rent free and still lost out on the home. This is basically 1.5 days after the home went up it's already pending. This is in a ho hum suburb in south east Michigan with no major industries here.

I'm seriously wondering if the other people that put in offers even went to view the home before they submitted them. I can't compete with this. I at least wanna be able to view a home and sleep on it. All the good homes are usually gone inside of 2-3 days from the day they go up. I went to look at my backup home I was gonna set up a viewing for and it went up a day before this one and is in pending status too.

I thought a home was supposed to be one of the biggest purchases a person makes in their lives. People are buying these things like they're impulse grabbing a candy bar at the checkout line of a grocery store.

Click to shrink...

I sold my home in two hours with a cash offer and had to put an offer on a home that wasn't built yet. Worked out in the end, but buckle up, OP.

 

[TheFuzz]

If you know what wand where you want, it's really *not* an impulse decision. Once you know a layout, a neighborhood, etc etc, you're really just down to "do I like the color and are the appliances new enough?" and will it pass inspection. That's what all the people making offers that quickly are doing.

Click to shrink...

No one is making offers based on appliances, lol. You serious?

 

[Chrno]

if it makes you feel any better OP, everyone who buys a home always say the first 5-10 they looked at (and couldn't get) aren't as good as the one they ended up with.

 

[mhayes86]

My friend and his wife are running into this now. They've been looking for a new house for a few months now, and are constantly getting outbid. They can easily afford it, but are determined to get one at a price within a reasonable amount from asking. It's a seller's market right now, and if it continues much longer, they may wait until winter when it slows down.

My wife and I are considering speaking to our realtor over the summer about selling our townhouse within the next year or two. I hope it sells as fast as homes are now.

 

[Deleted member 24079]

Saturday I saw a home I was interested in pop up on Zillow. it was 2:30PM at 3:00PM I texted my real estate agent and told her I wanted to view it. She got me the soonest appointment she could Monday @ 10AM. I pull up to the house and get out and she says there are multiple offers on the home. I view it like it and put in my offer for 2 thousand over asking and said she could stay 30 days past closing rent free and still lost out on the home. This is basically 1.5 days after the home went up it's already pending. This is in a ho hum suburb in south east Michigan with no major industries here.

I'm seriously wondering if the other people that put in offers even went to view the home before they submitted them. I can't compete with this. I at least wanna be able to view a home and sleep on it. All the good homes are usually gone inside of 2-3 days from the day they go up. I went to look at my backup home I was gonna set up a viewing for and it went up a day before this one and is in pending status too.

I thought a home was supposed to be one of the biggest purchases a person makes in their lives. People are buying these things like they're impulse grabbing a candy bar at the checkout line of a grocery store.

Click to shrink...

It's a seller's market right now. Just tried to find rental in metro Detroit. I gave up after two months and resigned.

 

[Deleted member 8741]

I just put my home on the market last Thursday. Had 40 showings requested throughout the weekend and had 8 offers by Sunday at noon for $25,000 over asking.

It's wild.

We bought our home (starter) in 2012 for $225,000. 7 years later it sold for $325,000

 

[SoH]

My neighbor just sold her house. We are friendly enough she was fine sharing details. I thought she was going a bit high on asking but wished her the best. It was on the market for a day and sold. $100k over what I considered the safest estimate without going through inspection/appraisal and all that. We have identical layouts.

 

[Dalek]

As a home owner in the Bay Area I quite enjoyed your post, OP.

 

[Human Resources]

started saving seriously for a down payment this year, but i've been working on the road a lot so i'm happy to just collect my chips and wait for the right opportunity. i have thought about building though -- i'm just such a maniac that i'll end up trying to do too much myself to save money, caught myself ernestly watching drywall installation videos at work the other day

 

[Stabi]

Yeah. Like houses in Bay area can easily go 500k over asking price and in a week or two top.

 

[Stuggernaut]

I thought the signed paperwork was binding anyway. Once they accepted your offer weren't they forced to go through with it unless they could do something to get you to back out?

Click to shrink...

Technically you CAN... but you gotta have a good reason or you risk a law suit.

 

[gutter_trash]

oh, it's one of the most stressful experiences next to selling a home

 

[Hydrus]

This thread is scaring the hell out of me. I lucked out and got the perfect starter home for below market value, two years ago. I was gonna sell it this year and try to buy something closer to work. Now im starting to think its a bad idea.

 

[whatsinaname]

Saturday I saw a home I was interested in pop up on Zillow. it was 2:30PM at 3:00PM I texted my real estate agent and told her I wanted to view it. She got me the soonest appointment she could Monday @ 10AM. I pull up to the house and get out and she says there are multiple offers on the home. I view it like it and put in my offer for 2 thousand over asking and said she could stay 30 days past closing rent free and still lost out on the home. This is basically 1.5 days after the home went up it's already pending. This is in a ho hum suburb in south east Michigan with no major industries here.

I'm seriously wondering if the other people that put in offers even went to view the home before they submitted them. I can't compete with this. I at least wanna be able to view a home and sleep on it. All the good homes are usually gone inside of 2-3 days from the day they go up. I went to look at my backup home I was gonna set up a viewing for and it went up a day before this one and is in pending status too.

I thought a home was supposed to be one of the biggest purchases a person makes in their lives. People are buying these things like they're impulse grabbing a candy bar at the checkout line of a grocery store.

Click to shrink...

Hey fellow SE Michigan home buyer. The market is definitely crazy in some pockets.

I looked for months (though admittedly I started lookin in fall so that I can get a deal). Finally found one I liked pop up on Zillow at 10am Friday. My agent got me into a viewing at 2pm same day. There was someone looking when I got there. And then another family showed up as I left. Put in an offer at 7 pm to find out they had three already. Submitted another with an escalation clause by midnight, got offer accepted on Sunday.

It was crazy rushed.

If you're waiting for it to hit Zillow, it's probably too late.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, it is based on luck there. If the listing goes up on mls close to when Zillow and Redfin refresh data, it might work out.

 

[stone616]

I just checked my Credit Union's mortgage rates and they're at 3.750% Last week it was at 4% and two weeks ago it was 4.125% I feel kinda bad I can't lock up and secure a home but the rates keep falling on the positive side.

This thread is scaring the hell out of me. I lucked out and got the perfect starter home for below market value, two years ago. I was gonna sell it this year and try to buy something closer to work. Now im starting to think its a bad idea.

Click to shrink...

Why? People are getting everything they ask for when they sell and then some. Mortgage rates are low and getting lower. It's a great time to sell. I'm gonna keep looking but I'm thinking I'll wait till the winter then I can more easily get a home. Even earlier this year there was no rush. Once the summer hit I saw homes that had been sitting for 60 days swooped up quick.

 

[leder]

edited out personal info: yeah it sucks

 

[battousai]

when we bought our house, we viewed it the day it went up and made an offer a few hours later. We were buying in a great school system and houses stay on the market for an average of three days. It was affordable for the area and fortunately the seller didn't want to keep showing it over the weekend, so they accepted our offer.

 

[Sykdom]

Shits crazy bruh look at everything before you purchase

 

[FinalFanXtreme]

Saturday I saw a home I was interested in pop up on Zillow. it was 2:30PM at 3:00PM I texted my real estate agent and told her I wanted to view it. She got me the soonest appointment she could Monday @ 10AM. I pull up to the house and get out and she says there are multiple offers on the home. I view it like it and put in my offer for 2 thousand over asking and said she could stay 30 days past closing rent free and still lost out on the home. This is basically 1.5 days after the home went up it's already pending. This is in a ho hum suburb in south east Michigan with no major industries here.

I'm seriously wondering if the other people that put in offers even went to view the home before they submitted them. I can't compete with this. I at least wanna be able to view a home and sleep on it. All the good homes are usually gone inside of 2-3 days from the day they go up. I went to look at my backup home I was gonna set up a viewing for and it went up a day before this one and is in pending status too.

I thought a home was supposed to be one of the biggest purchases a person makes in their lives. People are buying these things like they're impulse grabbing a candy bar at the checkout line of a grocery store.

Click to shrink...

Put my house on the market had two offers over listing same day.

 

[MJForum Poster]

It is a crazy time, but always look at a house before you put an offer on it, and never give up your right to an inspection.

Taking a little longer to find a house is better than being stuck with one with huge issues that will cost you tons of money.

 

[MazeHaze]

Bro you aint seen nothin. I'm in North East Ohio, started looking at houses in January. Just got an offer accepted last week. This is the 7th offer I made, all of the others were 5-10k above asking price, and each house sold within 2 days of being on the market. A couple of them had 10+ offers, and I had multiple showings get cancelled because an offer was accepted as I was on my way to see the house. I once had a house listed 185, I offered 195. The person who got their offer accepted offered 195 too, but in CASH.

It's crazy out there, you gotta go see a house the day it goes on the market, and be prepared to make your best offer within an hour after seeing it.

 

[jon bones]

NYC is a shit show, I have no idea how I'll ever own a home around here.

My goal is to own one when I'm 40, but who knows what the market will look like then. It will probably be even more crazy.

 

[hipsterbodega]

In the process of buying a house myself; we close a in few weeks. We experienced very mild competition for our home but we got it in the end paying only asking. Even after your offer is accepted, it's endless paperwork and document requests. Thankfully our biggest challenge now is getting our apartment complex to let us out of our lease 3 months early, but unfortunately it does not seem they are very interested in doing that

 

[whatsinaname]

It is a crazy time, but always look at a house before you put an offer on it, and never give up your right to an inspection.

Taking a little longer to find a house is better than being stuck with one with huge issues that will cost you tons of money.

Click to shrink...

Sometimes it is just not possible. I know of people in the Bay Area who had to drop the inspection and financing contingencies. They just took the inspector along on their first viewing or to the open house to point out any glaring faults.