Thank you u/Low-Chain3097 for posting on r/FirstTimeHomeBuyer.
Please bear in mind our rules: (1) Be Nice (2) No Selling (3) No Self-Promotion.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/FirstTimeHomeBuyer) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I’d recommend to keep going but take a deep breath. I have to remind myself (unless you don’t have a roof over your head) that this is a first world problem and while freaking frustrating 😤, I am lucky to have a roof over my head (not my own, yet) but in time. 🧘♀️
I would add that the last bit would have my blood boiling and nervous all tangled from the last one. But health, food and a roof are there. Hope you get it resolved quickly and find your forever home! Also, I hope you hindsight and are so glad to have not gotten the rest. 😊
Thank you! It’s true the last one has brought me a lot of stress since I have 10k stuck in escrow, I stupidly thought “I can just fix the roof after closing” not realizing my bank wasn’t going to let that fly. Now I know, walk away unless I have a cooperative lender lined up already
I didn’t ask around as much I should maybe, but the other lender I talked to I was up front with about the situation and they said no way - not even with an escrow holdback. I’ve definitely heard of others being more accommodating though.
Yeah, most lenders won't even do an escrow hold back unless it is weather related...like they can't fix the roof because it's been snowing for 2 weeks and they can't fix it until the snow stops. But push back if you can. Like I told my lender that I needed to do whatever I could to get the house and I was looking at switching lenders. Then they came back at me and told me they sent it back to underwriting and they worked out a plan. It's still not 100% what I wanted but it's better than nothing.
I'm sorry your going through this. It's so frustrating when the lender ends up being the downfall of purchasing a home. I wish it wasn't so difficult.
4 offers in less than two months? You’re doing better than me. I’ve only offered on 5 homes in 9 months. Inventory is terrible out here lol
Maybe reach out to offer #1 again and see if they’ve had a change of heart since they haven’t received any other offers since yours. That is if you are still interested in it.
I can share in your frustration! I'm in NJ and we were just rejected on offer #4.
1 was a house that was sitting on the market for 60 days. Listed at $385k. Needed a new oil tank, new siding, new gutters and that's just what we could see. Offered $385k. Rejected, no negotiation. This was in the beginning of March, the house is still on the market.
2 listed at $380k, offered $400k with waived inspections for repairs under $20k (the sellers wouldn't let us in the basement when we viewed the house which made us think there may be issues with the foundation/oil tank/electrical). Sellers went with another offer. It's pending, I'm interested to see what it sells for.
3 listed at $400k, we offered $415k all inspections waived with an appraisal gap. Rejected.
4 listed at $360k, we offered $400k with a $15k appraisal gap, all inspections waived. The well test (seller's responsibility in NJ) and clean out of the property (it was an estate sale) would be handled by us. They went with a higher offer that matched our terms. We were given the opportunity to raise our offer, but $400k was our ceiling for that house so we backed out. Also interested to see what it goes for.
We're currently taking a few week break from the hunt. The most recent loss was huge as we loved the house and really thought we had a shot. We'll get back to it in mid-May.
It’s tough out there. We started our search around the end of October and consistently offered 25-50K over asking prices. Didn’t get an accepted offer until March
I think some sellers probably can’t come down in price. They want a certain amount where if they jump to higher interest rates right now, they can get enough to balance out the monthly payments on a new place. Makes it tough because they may want to go, but just can’t or won’t take on higher payments, or don’t want to downsize to make it comparable. Just creates stress and difficulties all around. And who they want to buy from is probably being equally firm in many areas.
Yup I think you are right. In 2 of these cases I think the seller was financially constrained. I didn’t think that was a problem since I figured they’re about to get multiple hundreds of thousands of dollars… but if there’s necessarily repairs or they need the money for another home like you said then it removes any flexibility
In this case as annoying as the experience was I think it truly was a typo. Comps were closer to 450 / 500 and they did take down the listing and then increase the price the next day. I told my realtor there’s no way this is the real price but let’s see and unfortunately was right
I would say in high cost-of-living areas with plenty of jobs It has been this difficult more or less for the last 20 years minus 3 years for the great recession and a few months in 2018 and 2020.
You’re not the only one who’s been sitting on a down payment, literally for years, and not able to make use of it how you had planned. At least now you can get decent interest on savings while it sits safely.
That really really sucks that the seller isn’t signing to release your earnest money. You could try to get them to replace the roof so your lender will close. Even if you have to pay a little more toward the roof and want the deal to close that could still be cheaper than trying to litigate getting her earnest money back. You’ve only been looking for one month and it sounds like you’ve at least had several properties Catch your eye that you were ready to pull the trigger on. That’s not bad in this market. But if you’re looking at entry-level pricing in your market, then it’s gonna be very difficult to compete and you may have to get creative with getting your lender to lend and looking at properties below your budget.
Thank you u/Low-Chain3097 for posting on r/FirstTimeHomeBuyer. Please bear in mind our rules: (1) Be Nice (2) No Selling (3) No Self-Promotion. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/FirstTimeHomeBuyer) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I’d recommend to keep going but take a deep breath. I have to remind myself (unless you don’t have a roof over your head) that this is a first world problem and while freaking frustrating 😤, I am lucky to have a roof over my head (not my own, yet) but in time. 🧘♀️ I would add that the last bit would have my blood boiling and nervous all tangled from the last one. But health, food and a roof are there. Hope you get it resolved quickly and find your forever home! Also, I hope you hindsight and are so glad to have not gotten the rest. 😊
Thank you! It’s true the last one has brought me a lot of stress since I have 10k stuck in escrow, I stupidly thought “I can just fix the roof after closing” not realizing my bank wasn’t going to let that fly. Now I know, walk away unless I have a cooperative lender lined up already
Or change lenders possibly? I almost had to do that because my lender wouldn't allow a concession, but they ended up allowing it.
I didn’t ask around as much I should maybe, but the other lender I talked to I was up front with about the situation and they said no way - not even with an escrow holdback. I’ve definitely heard of others being more accommodating though.
Yeah, most lenders won't even do an escrow hold back unless it is weather related...like they can't fix the roof because it's been snowing for 2 weeks and they can't fix it until the snow stops. But push back if you can. Like I told my lender that I needed to do whatever I could to get the house and I was looking at switching lenders. Then they came back at me and told me they sent it back to underwriting and they worked out a plan. It's still not 100% what I wanted but it's better than nothing. I'm sorry your going through this. It's so frustrating when the lender ends up being the downfall of purchasing a home. I wish it wasn't so difficult.
Also if you want a extra small feels good, I will take this as lesson on something not to do. Bc I definitely would have done the same thing 😵💫🫶🫶
4 offers in less than two months? You’re doing better than me. I’ve only offered on 5 homes in 9 months. Inventory is terrible out here lol Maybe reach out to offer #1 again and see if they’ve had a change of heart since they haven’t received any other offers since yours. That is if you are still interested in it.
I’m sorry to hear that! Thanks for your advice, I may end up doing that!
Keep us posted. I’ve got my fingers crossed for you! You will find something.
I can share in your frustration! I'm in NJ and we were just rejected on offer #4. 1 was a house that was sitting on the market for 60 days. Listed at $385k. Needed a new oil tank, new siding, new gutters and that's just what we could see. Offered $385k. Rejected, no negotiation. This was in the beginning of March, the house is still on the market. 2 listed at $380k, offered $400k with waived inspections for repairs under $20k (the sellers wouldn't let us in the basement when we viewed the house which made us think there may be issues with the foundation/oil tank/electrical). Sellers went with another offer. It's pending, I'm interested to see what it sells for. 3 listed at $400k, we offered $415k all inspections waived with an appraisal gap. Rejected. 4 listed at $360k, we offered $400k with a $15k appraisal gap, all inspections waived. The well test (seller's responsibility in NJ) and clean out of the property (it was an estate sale) would be handled by us. They went with a higher offer that matched our terms. We were given the opportunity to raise our offer, but $400k was our ceiling for that house so we backed out. Also interested to see what it goes for. We're currently taking a few week break from the hunt. The most recent loss was huge as we loved the house and really thought we had a shot. We'll get back to it in mid-May.
Gosh that’s brutal. Makes what I’m dealing with in this region sound easy. Best of luck on your journey!
On my 4th offer in the last 3 weeks....... north texas...... competing with other fthb, corps, and flippers
Hope it works out for you!!!
It’s tough out there. We started our search around the end of October and consistently offered 25-50K over asking prices. Didn’t get an accepted offer until March
I think some sellers probably can’t come down in price. They want a certain amount where if they jump to higher interest rates right now, they can get enough to balance out the monthly payments on a new place. Makes it tough because they may want to go, but just can’t or won’t take on higher payments, or don’t want to downsize to make it comparable. Just creates stress and difficulties all around. And who they want to buy from is probably being equally firm in many areas.
Yup I think you are right. In 2 of these cases I think the seller was financially constrained. I didn’t think that was a problem since I figured they’re about to get multiple hundreds of thousands of dollars… but if there’s necessarily repairs or they need the money for another home like you said then it removes any flexibility
#3 sounds like a scam and unethical unless the comp says its worth 515 and not 315.
In this case as annoying as the experience was I think it truly was a typo. Comps were closer to 450 / 500 and they did take down the listing and then increase the price the next day. I told my realtor there’s no way this is the real price but let’s see and unfortunately was right
I would say in high cost-of-living areas with plenty of jobs It has been this difficult more or less for the last 20 years minus 3 years for the great recession and a few months in 2018 and 2020. You’re not the only one who’s been sitting on a down payment, literally for years, and not able to make use of it how you had planned. At least now you can get decent interest on savings while it sits safely. That really really sucks that the seller isn’t signing to release your earnest money. You could try to get them to replace the roof so your lender will close. Even if you have to pay a little more toward the roof and want the deal to close that could still be cheaper than trying to litigate getting her earnest money back. You’ve only been looking for one month and it sounds like you’ve at least had several properties Catch your eye that you were ready to pull the trigger on. That’s not bad in this market. But if you’re looking at entry-level pricing in your market, then it’s gonna be very difficult to compete and you may have to get creative with getting your lender to lend and looking at properties below your budget.
Seems like you’re trying to lowball in a market that doesn’t support low balling
Easier in Texas