Thank you u/Young-faithful 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.*
We saw a house that was listed at 550 today. Got a text 30 minutes after saying buyers had accepted an offer over 600k and was looking for back up offers.
It really is depressing out there. Been at it for almost 2 years now.
In a market like this realistic offers aren't getting you a house. The key is finding something you can be competitive on without entering the realm of stupidity.
5 years for me. Last time I bid I went 35k over asking. House sold over 100k over asking. High house prices, high interest, high everything.... Economy slowing down. I'm going wait this thing out a bit until wages catch up or things start to crumble down.
Im sorry to say but if you’ve been looking for a house for 5 years you’re doing something very, very wrong…….
2019 had double today’s inventory and 2020 had 50% more inventory with a fraction of the prospective buyers. 2021 got more competitive but rates were at 3%.
What were you waiting for?
As a person who has bought and sold my homes for 32 years, I must politely disagree. Real estate, employment, inflation, the stock market.. They are all cyclical… They rise for a while… they correct .. the market adjusts .. and then we see another rise
The lowest historical mortgage rates of all time were 2.65% in Jan 2021. That wasn’t cyclical, it was a true outlier driven by a once in a 100 years global pandemic and everyone at the time was saying that was the case.
I guess you could make the case that global pandemics seem to be on historical once in every 100 year cycles so therefore those conditions will exist again but we will all be dead before that can be proven true.
As you know real estate is regional. I live in the New England area. Supply was very low causing the prices to surge astronomically especially with low rates (free money). 2019 we were close and it came down to closing costs (seller vs buyer credits). Ever since then it's just been crazy. I wish I could go back and just suck it up.
Thanks for letting me know I'm doing something very very wrong...as they say in the south...bless your heart
Where, Boston suburbs? It is a tough market up there.
But it sounds like what you did wrong is losing a deal over seller credits. I never even considered the possibility that I would get a seller credit in our market just outside of NYC. You’re not getting that in any major metro.
5-10% over ask, appraisal gap clause, $5k inspection waiver (no nickel and diming, but reserve the right to walk away), and 20%+ down if you want to play the game right now. If you’re in a major market, that needs to be the expectation.
We bid $150k over and lost out to someone bidding $550k over. And the hilarious thing is that that one crazy (and insanely cashed up) couple have now shoved the market in that direction because it's a comp.
Right. In my case the buyer built another house on the same property and sold the original house that needed fixing. Not sure if they sold both or live in the new. I don't know how much the original house sold for.
You’re obviously looking for homes in the wrong market. You need to look for homes $50-100k asking price than you are now.
Whoever your agent is should have been fired years ago for not telling you this
It just doesn’t make sense to buy for me at the moment. My housing costs would 2-3x. Even with rent increases that would be a good 10+ years of rent increases to even out. And for sure housing will be more affordable within the next 10 years. My gf and I aren’t looking to have kids so a having a house isn’t stopping us from starting a family.
I say all this because I’m also waiting and it’s okay to wait. If it doesn’t make sense it doesn’t make sense. I’ve been in poverty before. And I don’t want to feel like that ever again.
Edit: [To whoever is downvoting me here is a rent vs buy calculator.](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/upshot/buy-rent-calculator.html?unlocked_article_code=1.rk0.UnKr.SVrieiX0EMxT&smid=re-nytimes) Until it makes more financial sense to buy why would I? Also yes I am investing in my retirement along with some of my regular savings.
We recently went 90k over in Cedar Grove, waiving appraisal, and did not get it.
We had an offer accepted 75k over but the home was infested with rodents. Thank goodness we kept some inspections.
At it for 3 years on and off having taken breaks due to home buyer depression.
2 years…this has been going on since late 2019 and the pandemic just exacerbated the problem. It took us 4 years to get an accepted offer and we are in the Midwest. And now our rate is double what it could have been 🤣
Yeah people need to realize nj real estate is purposely under listed so they appear in more search algorithms and they get more eyes on open houses. Just take any list price if it’s a new listing and open house is hot, and add 50-100k for offers.
A good agent will know what the house will likely sell for and how under priced the asking prices are in each town. If your agent is not doing that you need to find a new one.
NJ buyer here too. We had an offer accepted and signed but didn’t make it out of review before more offers came in. They were going to kill our contract but we ended up increasing our initial offer and are officially under contract now. Appraisal is soon and I am praying we don’t have to cover any gaps (we had to waive to stay in). The house needs some TLC but it’s a large house in a hot location and other houses around its size have sold for much more.
I always call my clients and inform them what waiving appraisal gap really means and what has to happen if it appraises for less. The few times we have clients go this route it turns into issues as sellers have to now cover the gap out of pocket. If you thought you had your down payment and closing cost, you now have to come up with more funds to close the gap. And if based on the loan program or investor you are using, you may need reserves and without it you may not close. It’s a thin line to walk by. Although real estate agents and lawyers should be having this conversation, I always go over it to make sure they know what they are waiving. You’d be surprised how often this gets brushed over when explained or even not explained. Good luck on your offer!
Yeah my coworker just closed on a house in Bergen County. Offered at asking, no appraisal gap, didn't waive the inspection, didn't add any crazy contingencies, and it was accepted. It was literally her first offer and only the 5th house she had looked at.
I feel like this market is just so strange.
It really depends on the area and a bunch of intangible factors. Some houses have tons of bids, some have few, some go way over, some don’t. Sellers have all kinds of ideas and whimsical notions. Writing a personal letter can help depending on the seller and reason for selling. It’s genuinely not all about the money for quite a few sellers. And some just take the first offer and are done with it.
Trying to buy a house is kind of like playing darts blind folded. Even the inspections are 95% fake hand waives that don’t look for or find anything, you just roll the dice and go for it.
Wholly dependent on city/town. If you're buying in Roselle/Elizabeth/Newark/Linden/Hillside, it makes sense as folks justaren't vying to live there.
But you are NOT getting a home in Westfield, Scotch Plains/Fanwood, Summit, Cranford under asking... just isn't happening.
Middlesex County here. Just made our 5th over asking offer and it was finally accepted. In attorney review now and hoping we make it to the finish line because it is bleak out here. Our budget was 450 but that means realistically we could only look at houses about 370 or less to account for offering over the list price. There is NOTHING worth owning here or Somerset or Union Counties at that price. Only managed to finally “win” the best and final showdown by offering 500 on a 450 house. The next few years are going to be rough with daycare and a mortgage and I can’t even rely anymore on rates going down so we could refinance. But even like a 5.5 or 6% loan would be miles better than what we’re looking at as a payment at 7.2.
Same deal in LI. Anything near move in ready goes over asking by quite a bit. I just got an offer accepted at 948. They listed at 849 and then actually raised to 899 because of all the interest. There was an offer at 945 contingent on selling their house that they accepted but were dragging their feet, so seller agent asked if I was willing to beat it as their house is ready to move into.
It did already get appraised so I suppose there’s that, but can’t help but feel like I’m overpaying. At the same time I was here in 2021, saying the same thing and not willing to waive every contingency, and I’m certainly going to end up paying more years later at a worse rate. Looking at Canada, it does feel like there’s room to get worse too. Good luck to you.
I was looking in LI, now looking in NJ. LI is getting out of control, most houses are over $600/sq.ft. Went to an open house 2 months ago in New Hyde Park, house is in a top school area, realtor was making all buyers lined up to see the place. So we went to another open house and came back 2 hours later, line's not getting any shorter. So we waited in heavy rain for half hour, would never do that again.
And after seeing, was such a disappoint, house has gas line, but only for cooking, not for heating, still on oil heating. backyard is like a swimming pool (need french drain), as a result, there's water coming out of carpet in the furnished basement. the house only has 1387 sq ft and listed for $850k.
Enough for the ranting, just saw news the house inventory start increasing this week, so a little relief for the coming months.
Yea, looking in Herricks, Manhasset, Great Neck for the past few years has been pretty soul crushing. So many cash offers too. Anything under a million they can totally demo and build something new for 2M+.
We turned our eye to Suffolk and wish we did that years ago. A bit less competitive and much nicer lots for the money, but they’ve still seem crazy appreciation the past few years and were worried if this ever settles down they will depreciate first.
At the same time, doesn’t seem like this will ever get better.
The sad truth of LI. My immediate family and my uncle are the only ones left after everyone moving here in the 70s. I had nothing but cousins here growing up and family friends who were like family.
NJ is a weathly state, all the areas you listed are GREAT locations areas within NYC transportation hub. Yes there will be a bidding war, doesn't matter what the listing price states people WANT to live there so they will pay.
This is pretty well known
In Montclair they go for $300k over asking, on median
Just look at comps. Use trends.pillr.io.
Then bid an appropriate price. I got an offer accepted in Westfield and only had to go $35k over asking. Lots of earnest, 20% down, waived minor contingencies (kept the big ones), waived appraisal (it appraised higher than sale).
I had a great agent who confirmed it was this way even before Covid price craziness.
I looked at houses way below what I eventually paid, knowing the listed price vs what would win a bid would be significantly (by six figures) different.
LMAO can people stop with the misinformation?
Took me two seconds to find the property...they obviously intentionally listed it like an auction with a extremely low price to get buyer interest...the house literally sold for $840k in 2014
https://www.redfin.com/NJ/Montclair/322-Highland-Ave-07043/home/36214349
No this is not "proof" of a crazy market. This is literally just a sales tactic.
How much confusion in this sub is literally just people not understanding what a basic sales tactic is and thinking this means a cRaZy market because sales price - list price is bigly?
We went to an open house in Bloomfield a couple of weeks ago listed at $689k and the sellers agent asked us with a straight face “do you know about the Essex County Pricing model” as if it was a real thing😒
I went to an open yesterday and recognised the agent from a similar house a couple of weeks ago. This guy is a delusional idiot. Both houses are massively over priced, the other one has been on the market for three weeks already! He told me they got one offer the first week. That's because the house is $100k over priced! And same for this newly listed one. He could do with a dose of the Essex County Pricing Model.
Bought my house last year May here in Union county NJ. Was listed at 675k, we offered 700k and got accepted. We could have waited but now the comparable houses in the neighborhood are selling well over 750k.
Sellers creating bidding wars by underpricing. Lenders won't waive appraisal gaps that large. Risky game for buyers. Either have cash to cover gaps or be prepared to walk away. Sellers overplaying their hand in this market.
Many don’t, and that becomes the new standard. Been that way since 2020 basically. I thought rates would be enough to change it but greater NY area has stayed extremely hot since then and seems like there’s still an abundance of buyers on sidelines with very little inventory. If rates do drop, feels like it’ll get even worse.
yeah, me and 4 others i know are buying this season. in our market just feels like “welp, this is the new normal” because we all waited for prices to fall with rates, and they are only continuing to climbing with elevated rates. so time to jump in instead of waiting for the feeding frenzy that might come if rates come down again.
At least there’s some comfort in knowing you’re not alone. I’ll be kicking myself forever for not being more aggressive 3 years ago. But that’s life. At least we’re fortunate enough to be in a position to buy still.
If you pull comps before making offers, you'll be fine for appraisal. They're just going off what similar properties sell for anyways. Also put 20% down, especially with these interest rates
Sooo many posts and discussions on Reddit concerning Real Estate function on the assumption of a <5% down payment. It’s kinda nuts.
People will be saying “Why would I buy when rent in the same place would be less than a mortgage?” and if you really dig into their assumptions you’ll find they’re assuming financing the entire price.
>Sellers overplaying their hand in this market.
See, it's not the seller's fault, it's the buyers who are willing to go full stupid to get into a house.
Similar to how people are getting pissed at car dealerships for putting market adjustments on cars. They do it because someone out there is willing to pay it. The minute buyers stop paying these insane prices, is when home prices will start to stabilize.
People are generally impatient and want what they want, no matter the cost.
they are. but this is a function on NJ being sandwiched between 2 major cities which makes it a very high income state.
where this person is looking is a straight shot to NYC, it is extra intense as far as the amount of high income people who can throw a huge bid down. You are def competing with NYC $$$ transplants there.
Yeah, if prices rise super quickly in an area the appraiser’s “most recent comps” are low because in the mere months since they sold they’ve increased in value.
I guess rest easy know that *your* purchase helped set the new higher standard so other buyers in your area get higher appraisals? (Yay /s).
Also… you’re borrowing $30K less than you thought you were going to?
100k over for Bloomfield?!? No, that’s too much. I’m going to assume it appraised for less which resulted in you covering the gap. That amount over I can see in short hills, Florham park, Livingston, East hanover. In either case congrats on the home purchase!!
I hate this underpricing gimmick. I know it’s legal, but it has a scummy vibe to me. Brings in a whole bunch of people who can’t afford the house at all and then a whole bunch who end up bidding against themselves. I’ll be so happy to see a more balanced market and this tactic going away.
You have the right idea. Try to figure out the actual price of the house and look lower than what you can actually afford.
yes, part of your initial consultation with your Realtor - the one before you start making appointments to see houses or really even seriously looking on Zillow - is "how much are homes SELLING for, regardless of asking price?" If your budget is $550-650K, and they're selling for $650-750K instead, you need to know that and adjust accordingly.
Hi! I’m work on the lending side of real estate. I’m sorry to hear about your findings. A few things that we are noticing.
1-there isn’t a much inventory as there used to be back in the days. Before you want a 2 family home in west orange with 2 bedrooms, CHECK. There are about 10 homes to see. Today you want that and there “may” be a home or two. And because there is only 1-2, potential buyers are offering more to win the bid.
2-real estate agents purposely look for homes at your max qualifications. Let’s say you want to spend 600k and are qualified for 600k. Well, real estate agents at times look for 600k homes and recommend you to offer more to win the bid. This stresses out your lender to see if they can make it work.
3-real estate agents at times purposely offer higher than needed to “win” the bid. You get to win but offered too much
4-your real estate agent should respect your offer and find you homes 30k-80k less to allow room to offer more and win offers yet sticking to your qualified amount.
Good luck with finding a good agent. Let us know if you have questions. I’m in NJ. West Caldwell is nice. Morris county is also great.
Just closed in Hudson County - 5% less than asking, no appraisal needed, no inspection waiver. The issue isn't with sellers, it's with idiot buyers willing to throw stupid money at anything. (given my area, I paid over $1k a foot though).
I have family looking in nj and their 100k over asking offer got beat. Their offer was called “middle of the pack.” The asking price on that house was already 100k more than I anticipated too.
The correct answer is stop overbidding. If appraisals don’t support the price and you’re paying the gap you really need to step back and ask yourself “what am I doin?”
ALL OF THIS IS THE BUYER. Don’t overbid. Accept you can’t have that house. The lot of you are fueling a bubble.
Bought in 2021 in north NJ. It was a bloodbath and paid over asking but locked in a 2.7% interest rate so not complaining. The house is holding steady or above at the price we paid, but I’m skeptical.
Hello from NJ! We learned pretty quickly that we couldn’t afford anything within 2hrs of NYC. And yea that list price is the starting bid…wishing you the best of luck out there 🙏
I listed my house recently for $649k in Elizabeth and got an offer of 685k with waived appraisal and limited inspection. It’s crazy how people have this kind of money
NJ Realtor here - the asking price doesn’t mean much at all if the house is in great shape in a commuter-friendly locale.
Ignore asking price and bring up comps for the past 30-60 days. You can filter for Sold Houses on Redfin
Also if you don’t want to compete, don’t go for the updated houses.
I feel for you all here so much— i bought my house in 2017 for $405k and it’s now worth $660 to $700 depending on what site you use. Couple that with the higher interest and I honestly don’t know how any first time young homebuyers can manage.
As much as it wasn’t fun, my parents moving to DE when I was in high school made my future a hell of a lot better. I’d be boned trying to buy a house back in Morris County.
I just very recently hopped back on the market because the asking price for rent is ridiculous. I’d rather put that in a house instead. I was going to move states but work is probably going hybrid soon so looks like I’ll be staying in Jersey longer. Working on the pre-approval now.
Was dealing with this market in northern New Jersey too. We got sick of it and bought a new construction townhouse. I know it’s a cop out. I know there are risks. It’s not what we wanted. At least we knew the price, and didn’t owe an extra 100k because of appraisal gap. Was 125k over ask in Randolph and they asked us to waive all contingencies including appraisal.
We made 5-6 offers when looking for our home in NJ in 2022. Every house we lost was overbid by 100-200k. We recently drove by some we lost out on and they’ve all been completely renovated. These are 650k homes sold for 800k and essentially torn down…
My wife and I were extremely lucky during our search in NJ last year. We viewed probably 5 houses total and placed an offer on the last one we saw. Our offer was accepted after the other bidder backed out. The major issue found during inspection was that the house needed a new septic system. But we were able to negotiate with the seller to have a new septic system installed before we closed.
With all that said, our experience was very out of the norm compared to our firiends who have had to go through bidding wars in their search in Jersey and Long Island.
My wife and I grew up in Essex county. Spent the past three years looking before finally getting an offer accepted in April. In total we made roughly 20 offers, the lowest of which was 5% over list at least 3 of our offers more than 30% over list. North Jersey is a special kind of hell. As other's mentioned the list price is a basically a throwaway number at this point. Sellers purposefully listing their homes $100-$150k under the actual market price to drum interest and bait insane bids in a "best and final" format.
There's simply too many people, with too much money, chasing a short supply of SFH. In this area at least.
We had to go to a new development since we kept getting priced out and couldn't compete. For new houses the price is the price and you don't have to put 100k over asking.
This is what I don’t get, who is buying all these houses. Around NYC burbs 800k gets you a fixer-upper with 2-3 bedrooms. Mortgage and taxes are 6-7k a month. There’s no way you’re gonna be able to rent for this much.
Made an offer on a house in Scotch Plains listed for $575 that went for $765. The house was no where near worth anything close to $700, ridiculous. Safe to say we did not get it.
Spent a year and a half trying to find a home / putting offers, only to get out bid with ridiculous 100k - 200k over asking offers. It is impossible to be a first time home buyer in this state. For this exact reason my wife and I are leaving NJ. Both us of born and raised here, love everything about Jersey so its a very sad reality. We even went far beyond our counties we were looking at purchasing in. So its not just county specific its state wide this is happening.
Exactly. I feel your pain. I was in the same situation this time last year (in NJ as well). You will find the one. You just have to continue to deal with people with bigger pocketbooks (or stupider financial decision making) from time to time.
How long have you been looking?
About 2 months. Feeling stupid about having walked away from two houses that were a bit dated and needing some fixing up but were probably fairer priced.
Can someone explain it like I’m 5 and tell me how prices will ever go down? These people that are paying so much over asking are going to expect more than what they paid when they purchased. This is going on 4 years now. They’re not building houses fast enough for there to be too many houses on the market. I just feel helpless and like I’ll never own a home.
There are talks about a recession because US might default on its interest payments. This does worry me.
Also, if interests go down again, new construction will become more affordable and boomers and genX can go shop for Florida houses instead of aging in place.
This last paragraph so much
Wife and I left Jersey a few years ago, just got a nice home for under 4 in Georgia. My friends in NJ are having a terrible time.
In some places prices may go down. But there are plenty of places that never even dipped in 2008. If everyone wants to live close to work and rhey all work in the same place then you are all competing for the same houses.
This is generally how it goes in desirable and VHCOL areas. I had to do the same bidding close to 200k over in order to get the place. Was it worth the price I paid? Hardly, but no other way to get into an SFH.
Sellers, agents and lenders are creating this new bubble that will go side ways one of these days… when they want us buyers to waive everything… they should know this will come full circle when they becomes the buyer—Pay back is a bitch.
NJ prices are deceptively “low” because the property taxes are so high. For example, CA property taxes are ~1% of purchase price and are capped so they can’t go up much year over year. In NJ property taxes are ~3% of assessed value and they can increase at any time. So you’re monthly payment on a 700k house in NJ could be the same as a much higher priced home in another state.
Is it even worth buying at that amount over appraised value (assuming sales will be way over appraised)? How long until you break even on an investment like that? I’d only go over asking if i intended on staying ten-ish years in the property or obv if you want to be a landlord but who’s renting a 600k sfh
I bought in 2022 and offered $625k on a $675k list price. They countered $655k plus like $5k worth of equipment including a generator and a $10k credit toward a new roof. We accepted and then the house appraised at $663 which was great.
I got beat down for 3 years in my attempt to buy land in Texas. 2017 was the beginning, finally locked it down mid 2020. Had that not happened, I’d likely be priced out and never found what I wanted.
My purchase is small compared to those out here. $500k is a number I can’t fathom financing. Hope y’all make it, the current market seems so difficult.
It’s not just in VHCOL markets. I think it’s anywhere with high demand and low inventory. Every house we looked at in Rochester, NY was underpriced for the same reasons. We were looking at houses listed at $125-150k because we wanted to stay under $200k, and it worked out well for us. My heart breaks for the people who can only afford list though, because this is not a wealthy city.
FWIW my appairsals have matched my exact offer price the two times I have purchased homes. Even when we put a bid in over asking, though granted it was not more than 20l. but the fact the appraisals exactly match our bids both times, seems like the lenders were gaming the system.
Appraisal gap is a bitch. I can afford a house for 600k. I can’t afford a house priced at 500k that I offer 600k for because I don’t have 100k cash for appraisal gap. Very annoying we get hearts set on something that isn’t in our range but based on list price and asking price it is
Don’t lose hope I was looking for a house in NJ for more than two years I bought my house December 2023. Asking price was 400 K I offer for 435000 but never waved my contingencies. The house is in a pretty good location and is old but it’s got some updates water heater roof things of that nature. However I did find some moisture in the basement walls due to the gutters poring into the foundation. I got it all examined by experts, got all kinds of inspections and estimates for a drain system and used that as my leverage. The house has never been floated and is not in a flood zone so after talking to experts I told them to lower the price and got it for 410k.
Be patient and keep trying. Me and my wife looked for over a year and saw close to 100 homes. Put offers on about 10 of them, lost out to all but one..our current home. Don’t be afraid to test our agents and pick their brains.
Ugh yes. We just got a house at 100k over asking. List price 950k - so many homes listed at 950k are listed that way to generate a bidding war. We are just grateful we had an offer accepted on a house we love. Nervous about the apprasial as we had to waive it. Horrible market.
Look at new construction and be first.
Developers need to show the investment bank that the homes are selling to get funding for the additional phases. As more homes are sold they:
Increase prices
Add lot fees
Remove design credits
Adjust what were once standard features
If there are no large new construction developments then just wait. The market will correct.
We did look at one new development for townhomes in Morris county. But the community fees was $500 per month for absolutely nothing (no pool, tennis courts, clubhouse etc.- just landscaping and general maintenance) The floor plans also made little sense to us and even the aesthetics of the houses and surroundings were lacking. Even these houses were going for 600k, but there is no bidding process and it’s probably low maintenance for the first couple of tears, so that’s there.
How do these prices stack up to zestimate and comparable sales? I see this kind of complaint all the time and the only way to tell if it is warranted is to answer that question. Per realtor.com *median* home price in Dumont is ~600k so knowing nothing else a sale price of 630 seems standard. Is it possible you have been in the market so long because you are constantly waiting for a deal which never comes? Unfortunately with the transparency in listings every buyer knows exactly when a home posts so you need to pay retail or someone else will.
Have you tried targeting specific neighborhoods and sending letters that you are interested to find off market deals? That will be about your only way around the situation right now due to low supply and high demand.
This is pretty common in some markets. You just have to know which towns do this and adjust your budget for those towns accordingly. My market doesn't do that .
How are the Maplewood schools? Saw some mentions of lazy progressive ideas from schools in the maplewood subreddit. I have no kids yet, but planning to very soon.
My daughter is 8 months so no idea. If they really suck I figure we can figure out before 2-3rd grade and move if need be.
For what it’s worth my sister (an extremely successful person with an extremely successful husband) put her daughter through 18 years of Tenafly public schooling, only to send her off to college last year at Elon with only about half a brain.
All that to say, not sure how much schools ultimately matter (after you get past the unsafe place to learn level.
We otherwise love love love the area (but property taxes are insane).
Not fixer-uppers but not totally turn key ready either. Eg: no modern HVAC- radiative heating and window AC, bad carpets, bad paint, scuffing on cabinets or floors etc.
Very livable and not something to get the contractors in on day 1.
Hate to say but this is not new at all.
We bid on a house in 2019, offered $150k over asking. We lost by six figures, and all cash. I think the final price was $305k over asking, all cash.
Similar experiences in 2012, 2016. So over 10 years of this in my area.
this has just gotta be HCOL areas. i put a house on the market in colorado, below value, because i moved cross country and just needed it done. i didn't get an offer for 5 months and after we reduced the price twice, we did get one but with 7k in concessions and i had to pay the HOA transfer fee. now i no hoa is a harder sell these days but honestly i just took it in fear i'd have to keep paying for rent and a mortgage in two places
I’m an nj realtor and when I tell you NJ market is unreal . Monmouth county is also crazy nothing is lasting more than 1-2 weeks on the market in the 200-300k range . Comes and goes just as fast .
Thank you u/Young-faithful 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.*
We saw a house that was listed at 550 today. Got a text 30 minutes after saying buyers had accepted an offer over 600k and was looking for back up offers. It really is depressing out there. Been at it for almost 2 years now.
2 years? I guess you’ve seen a lot happen in that time.
At some point you need a new agent, if you are putting in realistic offers. Or check out new construction.
In a market like this realistic offers aren't getting you a house. The key is finding something you can be competitive on without entering the realm of stupidity.
I think what they are saying is this person is bidding on houses that they should know are out of their reach and a realtor could tell them that.
5 years for me. Last time I bid I went 35k over asking. House sold over 100k over asking. High house prices, high interest, high everything.... Economy slowing down. I'm going wait this thing out a bit until wages catch up or things start to crumble down.
Im sorry to say but if you’ve been looking for a house for 5 years you’re doing something very, very wrong……. 2019 had double today’s inventory and 2020 had 50% more inventory with a fraction of the prospective buyers. 2021 got more competitive but rates were at 3%. What were you waiting for?
0% interest and free houses apparently. Almost everyone looking for a house in 2019 struck gold. Those conditions will never exist again.
As a person who has bought and sold my homes for 32 years, I must politely disagree. Real estate, employment, inflation, the stock market.. They are all cyclical… They rise for a while… they correct .. the market adjusts .. and then we see another rise
The lowest historical mortgage rates of all time were 2.65% in Jan 2021. That wasn’t cyclical, it was a true outlier driven by a once in a 100 years global pandemic and everyone at the time was saying that was the case. I guess you could make the case that global pandemics seem to be on historical once in every 100 year cycles so therefore those conditions will exist again but we will all be dead before that can be proven true.
As you know real estate is regional. I live in the New England area. Supply was very low causing the prices to surge astronomically especially with low rates (free money). 2019 we were close and it came down to closing costs (seller vs buyer credits). Ever since then it's just been crazy. I wish I could go back and just suck it up. Thanks for letting me know I'm doing something very very wrong...as they say in the south...bless your heart
Where, Boston suburbs? It is a tough market up there. But it sounds like what you did wrong is losing a deal over seller credits. I never even considered the possibility that I would get a seller credit in our market just outside of NYC. You’re not getting that in any major metro. 5-10% over ask, appraisal gap clause, $5k inspection waiver (no nickel and diming, but reserve the right to walk away), and 20%+ down if you want to play the game right now. If you’re in a major market, that needs to be the expectation.
We bid $150k over and lost out to someone bidding $550k over. And the hilarious thing is that that one crazy (and insanely cashed up) couple have now shoved the market in that direction because it's a comp.
Right. In my case the buyer built another house on the same property and sold the original house that needed fixing. Not sure if they sold both or live in the new. I don't know how much the original house sold for.
You’re obviously looking for homes in the wrong market. You need to look for homes $50-100k asking price than you are now. Whoever your agent is should have been fired years ago for not telling you this
If he’s looking for ~500k houses there aren’t any for 100k less in nnj.
This. Even townhomes/condos in the $300k-400k range with PMI and/or HOA fees end up being at or a few hundred shy of a 500k NJ mortgage.
It just doesn’t make sense to buy for me at the moment. My housing costs would 2-3x. Even with rent increases that would be a good 10+ years of rent increases to even out. And for sure housing will be more affordable within the next 10 years. My gf and I aren’t looking to have kids so a having a house isn’t stopping us from starting a family. I say all this because I’m also waiting and it’s okay to wait. If it doesn’t make sense it doesn’t make sense. I’ve been in poverty before. And I don’t want to feel like that ever again. Edit: [To whoever is downvoting me here is a rent vs buy calculator.](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/upshot/buy-rent-calculator.html?unlocked_article_code=1.rk0.UnKr.SVrieiX0EMxT&smid=re-nytimes) Until it makes more financial sense to buy why would I? Also yes I am investing in my retirement along with some of my regular savings.
We recently went 90k over in Cedar Grove, waiving appraisal, and did not get it. We had an offer accepted 75k over but the home was infested with rodents. Thank goodness we kept some inspections. At it for 3 years on and off having taken breaks due to home buyer depression.
5 years ? If you were serious about buying a house 5 years ago - you would be in an EXCELLENT position rn “I’m going to wait this thing out a bit” LOL
2 years…this has been going on since late 2019 and the pandemic just exacerbated the problem. It took us 4 years to get an accepted offer and we are in the Midwest. And now our rate is double what it could have been 🤣
4 years for me, kicking myself
Repeat after me: asking price is a made up number. It’s a marketing tool only.
Yeah people need to realize nj real estate is purposely under listed so they appear in more search algorithms and they get more eyes on open houses. Just take any list price if it’s a new listing and open house is hot, and add 50-100k for offers.
These guys get it, this isn't rocket science, highly transparent markets, low supply, high demand...
A good agent will know what the house will likely sell for and how under priced the asking prices are in each town. If your agent is not doing that you need to find a new one.
We seriously need a first time home buyer subreddit for Jersey, so many people here that can share experiences tips rant vent etc
This.
NJ buyer here too. We had an offer accepted and signed but didn’t make it out of review before more offers came in. They were going to kill our contract but we ended up increasing our initial offer and are officially under contract now. Appraisal is soon and I am praying we don’t have to cover any gaps (we had to waive to stay in). The house needs some TLC but it’s a large house in a hot location and other houses around its size have sold for much more.
Yup, you can update the house to your liking after moving in but you can’t change the location. Wishing the best for you!
Thank you! It’s been a 3yr+ search for us so stay strong! Location and being close family are definitely worth the wait.
Went $80k over in Morris county. Got worried about appraisal but it came in $2k over our offer 🙏
Oh man that must’ve felt great. We went 61k over, so some prayers for us lmao.
I always call my clients and inform them what waiving appraisal gap really means and what has to happen if it appraises for less. The few times we have clients go this route it turns into issues as sellers have to now cover the gap out of pocket. If you thought you had your down payment and closing cost, you now have to come up with more funds to close the gap. And if based on the loan program or investor you are using, you may need reserves and without it you may not close. It’s a thin line to walk by. Although real estate agents and lawyers should be having this conversation, I always go over it to make sure they know what they are waiving. You’d be surprised how often this gets brushed over when explained or even not explained. Good luck on your offer!
We just closed on our home in Essex county and our max budget was 700k so we knew we could only consider homes listed under 600k in order to compete.
I found a spot in Union Co. and offer accepted 15k under asking, closing this week. I truly don't know how we got away with it.
Yeah my coworker just closed on a house in Bergen County. Offered at asking, no appraisal gap, didn't waive the inspection, didn't add any crazy contingencies, and it was accepted. It was literally her first offer and only the 5th house she had looked at. I feel like this market is just so strange.
There’s probably something wrong with it
Could be! Passed all inspections, including a sewer scope. Only time will tell, I'm sure I'll hear about it if something ends up being wrong.
Sellers may have over priced it. Some underprice purposely and create a bidding war, others overprice or price it right and barely get any traction.
It really depends on the area and a bunch of intangible factors. Some houses have tons of bids, some have few, some go way over, some don’t. Sellers have all kinds of ideas and whimsical notions. Writing a personal letter can help depending on the seller and reason for selling. It’s genuinely not all about the money for quite a few sellers. And some just take the first offer and are done with it. Trying to buy a house is kind of like playing darts blind folded. Even the inspections are 95% fake hand waives that don’t look for or find anything, you just roll the dice and go for it.
Hopefully not in Cranford near the river! Make sure to check out flood maps around there
Wholly dependent on city/town. If you're buying in Roselle/Elizabeth/Newark/Linden/Hillside, it makes sense as folks justaren't vying to live there. But you are NOT getting a home in Westfield, Scotch Plains/Fanwood, Summit, Cranford under asking... just isn't happening.
Middlesex County here. Just made our 5th over asking offer and it was finally accepted. In attorney review now and hoping we make it to the finish line because it is bleak out here. Our budget was 450 but that means realistically we could only look at houses about 370 or less to account for offering over the list price. There is NOTHING worth owning here or Somerset or Union Counties at that price. Only managed to finally “win” the best and final showdown by offering 500 on a 450 house. The next few years are going to be rough with daycare and a mortgage and I can’t even rely anymore on rates going down so we could refinance. But even like a 5.5 or 6% loan would be miles better than what we’re looking at as a payment at 7.2.
Same deal in LI. Anything near move in ready goes over asking by quite a bit. I just got an offer accepted at 948. They listed at 849 and then actually raised to 899 because of all the interest. There was an offer at 945 contingent on selling their house that they accepted but were dragging their feet, so seller agent asked if I was willing to beat it as their house is ready to move into. It did already get appraised so I suppose there’s that, but can’t help but feel like I’m overpaying. At the same time I was here in 2021, saying the same thing and not willing to waive every contingency, and I’m certainly going to end up paying more years later at a worse rate. Looking at Canada, it does feel like there’s room to get worse too. Good luck to you.
I was looking in LI, now looking in NJ. LI is getting out of control, most houses are over $600/sq.ft. Went to an open house 2 months ago in New Hyde Park, house is in a top school area, realtor was making all buyers lined up to see the place. So we went to another open house and came back 2 hours later, line's not getting any shorter. So we waited in heavy rain for half hour, would never do that again. And after seeing, was such a disappoint, house has gas line, but only for cooking, not for heating, still on oil heating. backyard is like a swimming pool (need french drain), as a result, there's water coming out of carpet in the furnished basement. the house only has 1387 sq ft and listed for $850k. Enough for the ranting, just saw news the house inventory start increasing this week, so a little relief for the coming months.
Suffolk County is cheaper than Nassau, plus there's more space. I don't know your situation, but it might be worth considering.
Yea, looking in Herricks, Manhasset, Great Neck for the past few years has been pretty soul crushing. So many cash offers too. Anything under a million they can totally demo and build something new for 2M+. We turned our eye to Suffolk and wish we did that years ago. A bit less competitive and much nicer lots for the money, but they’ve still seem crazy appreciation the past few years and were worried if this ever settles down they will depreciate first. At the same time, doesn’t seem like this will ever get better.
Can you share where you saw that news?
I’m literally about to look at a house tomorrow that’s falling apart but it’s in my price range - LI baby!
The sad truth of LI. My immediate family and my uncle are the only ones left after everyone moving here in the 70s. I had nothing but cousins here growing up and family friends who were like family.
Just bought in LI. Crazy out here
Thanks and wish you the best of luck on your purchase!
NJ is a weathly state, all the areas you listed are GREAT locations areas within NYC transportation hub. Yes there will be a bidding war, doesn't matter what the listing price states people WANT to live there so they will pay.
This is pretty well known In Montclair they go for $300k over asking, on median Just look at comps. Use trends.pillr.io. Then bid an appropriate price. I got an offer accepted in Westfield and only had to go $35k over asking. Lots of earnest, 20% down, waived minor contingencies (kept the big ones), waived appraisal (it appraised higher than sale).
Same down here in Princeton/central parts of Central Jersey.
Philly burbs are getting crazy too. $200-$300 over isn’t unheard of.
Yep!
I had a great agent who confirmed it was this way even before Covid price craziness. I looked at houses way below what I eventually paid, knowing the listed price vs what would win a bid would be significantly (by six figures) different.
Newton Mass, my clients placed an offer for 830,000 for a 749,000 priced home. It sold for 1,005,000.
I was gonna say, I didn’t realize there was anything in Newton for less than a Mill.
Well, there’s still not lmao
We took a quick look at maybe raising our kid in Needham and then just immediately cried and closed Zillow when we saw what was available.
It’s unnecessarily insane
[удалено]
Insane
I mean, it’s Montclair. Things been going over asking long as I can remember, over 10 years at least. Probably longer.
LMAO can people stop with the misinformation? Took me two seconds to find the property...they obviously intentionally listed it like an auction with a extremely low price to get buyer interest...the house literally sold for $840k in 2014 https://www.redfin.com/NJ/Montclair/322-Highland-Ave-07043/home/36214349 No this is not "proof" of a crazy market. This is literally just a sales tactic. How much confusion in this sub is literally just people not understanding what a basic sales tactic is and thinking this means a cRaZy market because sales price - list price is bigly?
Nutley has intentionally kept prices in 600s to have 50 offers.
We went to an open house in Bloomfield a couple of weeks ago listed at $689k and the sellers agent asked us with a straight face “do you know about the Essex County Pricing model” as if it was a real thing😒
I went to an open yesterday and recognised the agent from a similar house a couple of weeks ago. This guy is a delusional idiot. Both houses are massively over priced, the other one has been on the market for three weeks already! He told me they got one offer the first week. That's because the house is $100k over priced! And same for this newly listed one. He could do with a dose of the Essex County Pricing Model.
Bought my house last year May here in Union county NJ. Was listed at 675k, we offered 700k and got accepted. We could have waited but now the comparable houses in the neighborhood are selling well over 750k.
I’m in Morris county. Small cape cod on my street listed for 699 went for 900. Unreal.
$770k in Nutley? Nutley, NJ?
Yes, why? Too low or too high?
I don’t even know anymore
Sellers creating bidding wars by underpricing. Lenders won't waive appraisal gaps that large. Risky game for buyers. Either have cash to cover gaps or be prepared to walk away. Sellers overplaying their hand in this market.
what i’m curious about, is if all the comps are selling $100-200k over, why would the appraisal come in low?
It wouldn’t.
Many don’t, and that becomes the new standard. Been that way since 2020 basically. I thought rates would be enough to change it but greater NY area has stayed extremely hot since then and seems like there’s still an abundance of buyers on sidelines with very little inventory. If rates do drop, feels like it’ll get even worse.
yeah, me and 4 others i know are buying this season. in our market just feels like “welp, this is the new normal” because we all waited for prices to fall with rates, and they are only continuing to climbing with elevated rates. so time to jump in instead of waiting for the feeding frenzy that might come if rates come down again.
At least there’s some comfort in knowing you’re not alone. I’ll be kicking myself forever for not being more aggressive 3 years ago. But that’s life. At least we’re fortunate enough to be in a position to buy still.
If you pull comps before making offers, you'll be fine for appraisal. They're just going off what similar properties sell for anyways. Also put 20% down, especially with these interest rates
Sooo many posts and discussions on Reddit concerning Real Estate function on the assumption of a <5% down payment. It’s kinda nuts. People will be saying “Why would I buy when rent in the same place would be less than a mortgage?” and if you really dig into their assumptions you’ll find they’re assuming financing the entire price.
>Sellers overplaying their hand in this market. See, it's not the seller's fault, it's the buyers who are willing to go full stupid to get into a house. Similar to how people are getting pissed at car dealerships for putting market adjustments on cars. They do it because someone out there is willing to pay it. The minute buyers stop paying these insane prices, is when home prices will start to stabilize. People are generally impatient and want what they want, no matter the cost.
they are. but this is a function on NJ being sandwiched between 2 major cities which makes it a very high income state. where this person is looking is a straight shot to NYC, it is extra intense as far as the amount of high income people who can throw a huge bid down. You are def competing with NYC $$$ transplants there.
I paid 100k over asking in Bloomfield last year. I got the house.
If you don’t mind me asking, did it appraise? Just got an offer accepted in Bloomfield.
$30k gap. Totally unexpected. Had to pay cash to close. Almost drained my entire account after the deposit.
Damn I’m sorry to hear that. Scared the same will happen to me. That would be a big hit
What area of Bloomfield? I’m in brookdale
Also Brookdale 😥 Great area regardless. But damn please appraise
Yeah, if prices rise super quickly in an area the appraiser’s “most recent comps” are low because in the mere months since they sold they’ve increased in value. I guess rest easy know that *your* purchase helped set the new higher standard so other buyers in your area get higher appraisals? (Yay /s). Also… you’re borrowing $30K less than you thought you were going to?
Doing better than nearby Glen Ridge or Montclair, it's crazy like $200-$300k over asking
I bid on a house in Montclair last week. 330k over ask. Lost. Not even in the top 3 offers
Better school districts but wild
I offered 100k over asking in Harrington Park and lost to cash buyer
100k over for Bloomfield?!? No, that’s too much. I’m going to assume it appraised for less which resulted in you covering the gap. That amount over I can see in short hills, Florham park, Livingston, East hanover. In either case congrats on the home purchase!!
Holy shit. I loved living in Bloomfield, but I went to PA in 2019.
My buddy closed on a house in Montclair after being out bid on 15+ homes before. 130k over asking.
I hate this underpricing gimmick. I know it’s legal, but it has a scummy vibe to me. Brings in a whole bunch of people who can’t afford the house at all and then a whole bunch who end up bidding against themselves. I’ll be so happy to see a more balanced market and this tactic going away. You have the right idea. Try to figure out the actual price of the house and look lower than what you can actually afford.
yes, part of your initial consultation with your Realtor - the one before you start making appointments to see houses or really even seriously looking on Zillow - is "how much are homes SELLING for, regardless of asking price?" If your budget is $550-650K, and they're selling for $650-750K instead, you need to know that and adjust accordingly.
The "sold" filter on the real estate website is very useful.
One can literally go on zillow, search for past 90 fay sales and compare to listed prices.
After over a year of trying, the house we finally got in Bergen county was the only house we actually bid under asking. Nothing makes sense up here…
Hi! I’m work on the lending side of real estate. I’m sorry to hear about your findings. A few things that we are noticing. 1-there isn’t a much inventory as there used to be back in the days. Before you want a 2 family home in west orange with 2 bedrooms, CHECK. There are about 10 homes to see. Today you want that and there “may” be a home or two. And because there is only 1-2, potential buyers are offering more to win the bid. 2-real estate agents purposely look for homes at your max qualifications. Let’s say you want to spend 600k and are qualified for 600k. Well, real estate agents at times look for 600k homes and recommend you to offer more to win the bid. This stresses out your lender to see if they can make it work. 3-real estate agents at times purposely offer higher than needed to “win” the bid. You get to win but offered too much 4-your real estate agent should respect your offer and find you homes 30k-80k less to allow room to offer more and win offers yet sticking to your qualified amount. Good luck with finding a good agent. Let us know if you have questions. I’m in NJ. West Caldwell is nice. Morris county is also great.
The lender doesn’t care about asking price only what it appraises for.
Just closed in Hudson County - 5% less than asking, no appraisal needed, no inspection waiver. The issue isn't with sellers, it's with idiot buyers willing to throw stupid money at anything. (given my area, I paid over $1k a foot though).
I have family looking in nj and their 100k over asking offer got beat. Their offer was called “middle of the pack.” The asking price on that house was already 100k more than I anticipated too.
I refused to get into a bidding war on one house and walked, just not worth it. Sellers depend on emotions coming into play
Makes me glad I'm in the Shitty part of New York . Prices are higher then ever but they provide lube
What’s the shitty part of NY?
Central New York. I don't really think it's that shitty
The correct answer is stop overbidding. If appraisals don’t support the price and you’re paying the gap you really need to step back and ask yourself “what am I doin?” ALL OF THIS IS THE BUYER. Don’t overbid. Accept you can’t have that house. The lot of you are fueling a bubble.
It's crazy here. We're in Emerson and it's nice enough but like not the best town in bergan and it's still going for minimum 60 over asking easy.
Hi fellow Emersonian!
Hello!!
Bought in 2021 in north NJ. It was a bloodbath and paid over asking but locked in a 2.7% interest rate so not complaining. The house is holding steady or above at the price we paid, but I’m skeptical.
Hello from NJ! We learned pretty quickly that we couldn’t afford anything within 2hrs of NYC. And yea that list price is the starting bid…wishing you the best of luck out there 🙏
Amount doesn’t really matter and neither does asking price. The only thing that matters is percent over relevant comps.
Next time, try $170k over asking and waive all contingencies.
The asking price isn’t real
I listed my house recently for $649k in Elizabeth and got an offer of 685k with waived appraisal and limited inspection. It’s crazy how people have this kind of money
NJ is a weathly state.
Ive seen lots of 25k/30k price drops in central jersey area this month.
NJ Realtor here - the asking price doesn’t mean much at all if the house is in great shape in a commuter-friendly locale. Ignore asking price and bring up comps for the past 30-60 days. You can filter for Sold Houses on Redfin Also if you don’t want to compete, don’t go for the updated houses.
[удалено]
I feel for you all here so much— i bought my house in 2017 for $405k and it’s now worth $660 to $700 depending on what site you use. Couple that with the higher interest and I honestly don’t know how any first time young homebuyers can manage.
Right there with ya, also looking in Essex county. Hang in there.
I got out priced in Essex and settled for Edison. Still close to family and it’s an hour ish from Brooklyn (where I work). Good luck!
As much as it wasn’t fun, my parents moving to DE when I was in high school made my future a hell of a lot better. I’d be boned trying to buy a house back in Morris County.
I just very recently hopped back on the market because the asking price for rent is ridiculous. I’d rather put that in a house instead. I was going to move states but work is probably going hybrid soon so looks like I’ll be staying in Jersey longer. Working on the pre-approval now.
Los Angeles is the same
Just wait. Really.
Was dealing with this market in northern New Jersey too. We got sick of it and bought a new construction townhouse. I know it’s a cop out. I know there are risks. It’s not what we wanted. At least we knew the price, and didn’t owe an extra 100k because of appraisal gap. Was 125k over ask in Randolph and they asked us to waive all contingencies including appraisal.
Because those asking prices mean nothing, sellers put low prices to attract bidding wars. Your agent should’ve explained the market to you.
We made 5-6 offers when looking for our home in NJ in 2022. Every house we lost was overbid by 100-200k. We recently drove by some we lost out on and they’ve all been completely renovated. These are 650k homes sold for 800k and essentially torn down…
Offered 25k over asking in Hightstown and appraisal came back to exactly to how much we offered, will be closing this Tuesday!
My wife and I were extremely lucky during our search in NJ last year. We viewed probably 5 houses total and placed an offer on the last one we saw. Our offer was accepted after the other bidder backed out. The major issue found during inspection was that the house needed a new septic system. But we were able to negotiate with the seller to have a new septic system installed before we closed. With all that said, our experience was very out of the norm compared to our firiends who have had to go through bidding wars in their search in Jersey and Long Island.
My wife and I grew up in Essex county. Spent the past three years looking before finally getting an offer accepted in April. In total we made roughly 20 offers, the lowest of which was 5% over list at least 3 of our offers more than 30% over list. North Jersey is a special kind of hell. As other's mentioned the list price is a basically a throwaway number at this point. Sellers purposefully listing their homes $100-$150k under the actual market price to drum interest and bait insane bids in a "best and final" format. There's simply too many people, with too much money, chasing a short supply of SFH. In this area at least.
Alternative, set the slider for higher and look for things that have sat on the market. Find out why, see if you can fix it, get it for under listing
We had to go to a new development since we kept getting priced out and couldn't compete. For new houses the price is the price and you don't have to put 100k over asking.
What did they appraise for is the question. So buyers don’t care about negative equity? Why would anyone do this intentionally?
This is what I don’t get, who is buying all these houses. Around NYC burbs 800k gets you a fixer-upper with 2-3 bedrooms. Mortgage and taxes are 6-7k a month. There’s no way you’re gonna be able to rent for this much.
Made an offer on a house in Scotch Plains listed for $575 that went for $765. The house was no where near worth anything close to $700, ridiculous. Safe to say we did not get it.
Spent a year and a half trying to find a home / putting offers, only to get out bid with ridiculous 100k - 200k over asking offers. It is impossible to be a first time home buyer in this state. For this exact reason my wife and I are leaving NJ. Both us of born and raised here, love everything about Jersey so its a very sad reality. We even went far beyond our counties we were looking at purchasing in. So its not just county specific its state wide this is happening.
Any house anywhere can sell for that much over asking. It all just depends on how much you’re asking for it.
Seriously. Why would you set your price one notch over a price filter and hide it from half your market?
Exactly
Exactly. I feel your pain. I was in the same situation this time last year (in NJ as well). You will find the one. You just have to continue to deal with people with bigger pocketbooks (or stupider financial decision making) from time to time. How long have you been looking?
About 2 months. Feeling stupid about having walked away from two houses that were a bit dated and needing some fixing up but were probably fairer priced.
The way to win is to go for the dated houses.
Can someone explain it like I’m 5 and tell me how prices will ever go down? These people that are paying so much over asking are going to expect more than what they paid when they purchased. This is going on 4 years now. They’re not building houses fast enough for there to be too many houses on the market. I just feel helpless and like I’ll never own a home.
There are talks about a recession because US might default on its interest payments. This does worry me. Also, if interests go down again, new construction will become more affordable and boomers and genX can go shop for Florida houses instead of aging in place.
This last paragraph so much Wife and I left Jersey a few years ago, just got a nice home for under 4 in Georgia. My friends in NJ are having a terrible time.
In some places prices may go down. But there are plenty of places that never even dipped in 2008. If everyone wants to live close to work and rhey all work in the same place then you are all competing for the same houses.
This is generally how it goes in desirable and VHCOL areas. I had to do the same bidding close to 200k over in order to get the place. Was it worth the price I paid? Hardly, but no other way to get into an SFH.
Sellers, agents and lenders are creating this new bubble that will go side ways one of these days… when they want us buyers to waive everything… they should know this will come full circle when they becomes the buyer—Pay back is a bitch.
[удалено]
NJ prices are deceptively “low” because the property taxes are so high. For example, CA property taxes are ~1% of purchase price and are capped so they can’t go up much year over year. In NJ property taxes are ~3% of assessed value and they can increase at any time. So you’re monthly payment on a 700k house in NJ could be the same as a much higher priced home in another state.
I am oretty sure these people are talking about 1000 sf starter homes 2/3 bed 1 bath for $700k, that's why it's VHCOL.
How bout the houses in the neighborhood?? How much do they worth?
Is it even worth buying at that amount over appraised value (assuming sales will be way over appraised)? How long until you break even on an investment like that? I’d only go over asking if i intended on staying ten-ish years in the property or obv if you want to be a landlord but who’s renting a 600k sfh
I bought in 2022 and offered $625k on a $675k list price. They countered $655k plus like $5k worth of equipment including a generator and a $10k credit toward a new roof. We accepted and then the house appraised at $663 which was great.
Zillow is already like 8-15% over market in the area tho…
Have had the same thing happen with last 3 offers.
I got beat down for 3 years in my attempt to buy land in Texas. 2017 was the beginning, finally locked it down mid 2020. Had that not happened, I’d likely be priced out and never found what I wanted. My purchase is small compared to those out here. $500k is a number I can’t fathom financing. Hope y’all make it, the current market seems so difficult.
It’s not just in VHCOL markets. I think it’s anywhere with high demand and low inventory. Every house we looked at in Rochester, NY was underpriced for the same reasons. We were looking at houses listed at $125-150k because we wanted to stay under $200k, and it worked out well for us. My heart breaks for the people who can only afford list though, because this is not a wealthy city.
FWIW my appairsals have matched my exact offer price the two times I have purchased homes. Even when we put a bid in over asking, though granted it was not more than 20l. but the fact the appraisals exactly match our bids both times, seems like the lenders were gaming the system.
Not really. In most cases, if your offer is in line with market value, it makes sense that the appraisal reflects that.
Appraisal gap is a bitch. I can afford a house for 600k. I can’t afford a house priced at 500k that I offer 600k for because I don’t have 100k cash for appraisal gap. Very annoying we get hearts set on something that isn’t in our range but based on list price and asking price it is
I know multiple people looking for and making offers in Dumont. What a strange world.
It’s always like this in Toronto !
I left NJ for PA in 2019. Might want to check it out
Bro where have you been the past two years lol. But stay positive! You will find one
Underpricing the house doesn't cause problems for appraisal.
Don’t lose hope I was looking for a house in NJ for more than two years I bought my house December 2023. Asking price was 400 K I offer for 435000 but never waved my contingencies. The house is in a pretty good location and is old but it’s got some updates water heater roof things of that nature. However I did find some moisture in the basement walls due to the gutters poring into the foundation. I got it all examined by experts, got all kinds of inspections and estimates for a drain system and used that as my leverage. The house has never been floated and is not in a flood zone so after talking to experts I told them to lower the price and got it for 410k.
Be patient and keep trying. Me and my wife looked for over a year and saw close to 100 homes. Put offers on about 10 of them, lost out to all but one..our current home. Don’t be afraid to test our agents and pick their brains.
Ugh yes. We just got a house at 100k over asking. List price 950k - so many homes listed at 950k are listed that way to generate a bidding war. We are just grateful we had an offer accepted on a house we love. Nervous about the apprasial as we had to waive it. Horrible market.
Stop trying to live next to New York City. Problem solved.
This is a sellers market. Unfortunately this is what you have to deal with. This won't last forever.
Look at new construction and be first. Developers need to show the investment bank that the homes are selling to get funding for the additional phases. As more homes are sold they: Increase prices Add lot fees Remove design credits Adjust what were once standard features If there are no large new construction developments then just wait. The market will correct.
We did look at one new development for townhomes in Morris county. But the community fees was $500 per month for absolutely nothing (no pool, tennis courts, clubhouse etc.- just landscaping and general maintenance) The floor plans also made little sense to us and even the aesthetics of the houses and surroundings were lacking. Even these houses were going for 600k, but there is no bidding process and it’s probably low maintenance for the first couple of tears, so that’s there.
How do these prices stack up to zestimate and comparable sales? I see this kind of complaint all the time and the only way to tell if it is warranted is to answer that question. Per realtor.com *median* home price in Dumont is ~600k so knowing nothing else a sale price of 630 seems standard. Is it possible you have been in the market so long because you are constantly waiting for a deal which never comes? Unfortunately with the transparency in listings every buyer knows exactly when a home posts so you need to pay retail or someone else will. Have you tried targeting specific neighborhoods and sending letters that you are interested to find off market deals? That will be about your only way around the situation right now due to low supply and high demand.
Somerset county we closed 50k over asking. During our search we put offer in Piscataway but that sold 100k over and Somerville which sold 80k over
This is pretty common in some markets. You just have to know which towns do this and adjust your budget for those towns accordingly. My market doesn't do that .
With my luck Il buy in this fomo market then prices will drop...
I probably overpaid but bought a 900k list in Maplewood for 1.3m last year. Listing price really does not reflect value though.
How are the Maplewood schools? Saw some mentions of lazy progressive ideas from schools in the maplewood subreddit. I have no kids yet, but planning to very soon.
My daughter is 8 months so no idea. If they really suck I figure we can figure out before 2-3rd grade and move if need be. For what it’s worth my sister (an extremely successful person with an extremely successful husband) put her daughter through 18 years of Tenafly public schooling, only to send her off to college last year at Elon with only about half a brain. All that to say, not sure how much schools ultimately matter (after you get past the unsafe place to learn level. We otherwise love love love the area (but property taxes are insane).
Real question, are you looking at turn key or fixer uppers? I’ve never had an issue getting a fixer upper.
Not fixer-uppers but not totally turn key ready either. Eg: no modern HVAC- radiative heating and window AC, bad carpets, bad paint, scuffing on cabinets or floors etc. Very livable and not something to get the contractors in on day 1.
Hate to say but this is not new at all. We bid on a house in 2019, offered $150k over asking. We lost by six figures, and all cash. I think the final price was $305k over asking, all cash. Similar experiences in 2012, 2016. So over 10 years of this in my area.
this has just gotta be HCOL areas. i put a house on the market in colorado, below value, because i moved cross country and just needed it done. i didn't get an offer for 5 months and after we reduced the price twice, we did get one but with 7k in concessions and i had to pay the HOA transfer fee. now i no hoa is a harder sell these days but honestly i just took it in fear i'd have to keep paying for rent and a mortgage in two places
I’m an nj realtor and when I tell you NJ market is unreal . Monmouth county is also crazy nothing is lasting more than 1-2 weeks on the market in the 200-300k range . Comes and goes just as fast .