OMG, I just can't believe it

[HIU8]

We are just about to put our house on the market. We want to move to a bigger house in a better school area. So we are working with an agent getting things ready. Lo and behold...a house 2 streets from me just got on the market a couple of days ago. It's bank owned and at the corner of the neighborhood and the main road. Here is the kicker....IT'S PRICED OVER $100,000 LESS THAN WE PAID 5 YEARS AGO! They is no way in hell we can put our house up now (unless there is an issue with that house that is made known, and even then....). All the other houses for sale in the neighborhood are at least up for $200,000 more than this house, and ours would be priced like the others. This BITES. My agent is attempting to find out why it is priced so darn low. I'm bummed. We are going to be stuck here for a few more years and both DH and I really want out before DS enters K (knowing it will take about 6-9 months to sell our house on average around here now).

arghhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[KBecks]

Perhaps it will sell quick and get off the market. Good luck with your plans!

[ohiomom1121]

I completely feel your pain. We tried to sell twice in the last few years, totalling over a year and it was miserable. We ended up giving up both times because of the stress trying to keep a house clean with 2 little ones and a dog. We want a better neighborhood, and better schools by the time DD enters kindergarten too. It stinks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Good luck...maybe someone will buy that one up quick and then you can list (if you decide to wait). I just keep telling myself no matter what it takes to get out of here, hopefully we'll get a wonderful deal on the house we buy.

[pastrygirl]

We had something similar happen here. A realtor called and asked if we'd be willing to sell our house, because a neighbor's house was for sale but not as private as ours. It's virtually the same house; same builder. Our property is much bigger and our driveway is incredibly long. Then I found out that the other house is going for 100K less than the bare minimum I thought our house would go for! NO way are we selling for that price. We're staying until the market gets better, even though I desperately want to move!

[lowrioh]

A short sale house up the street from us just went down to $180K which is about $80K less than we were going to list our house from. The house is the same basic model as ours but it has a lot of little problems and one very large issue that would have to be addressed. Also, short sales and bank owned properties often offer no closing help, the buyer has to pay all closing costs including the Realtor fees and there are sometime liens against them.
My biggest fear is that these low prices are going to screw up the appraisal and buyers won't be able to get financing.
We don't need to move but I really wanted a bigger house.

[egoldber]

Perhaps it will sell quick and get off the market.

That doesn't help because it is still in the comps for the appraisal. :( This is why foreclosures affect EVERYONE in a neighborhood, not just the people foreclosing.

I'm sorry, that really stinks.

[HIU8]

DH thinks this won't pose an issue with the sale price of our house. I do not want to get an offer and find out the house appraises for THAT MUCH LESS. Much as I want to move and get out of here, I can wait another year or two while the market hopefully recovers a bit around here.

[egoldber]

Hopefully there is something going on with that house and that is why it is so low.

I hope your DH is right, but I have to say that once a foreclosure sold at a steep discount in our neighborhood, ALL the houses stopped selling while the sellers grappled with this. Nobody would pay "list price" any more when they knew they could get one in our neighborhood for that much less. Eventually people either dropped their prices or rented out.

[HIU8]

Neither is an option for us. We are going to wait and hear from our agent. Then we will see. Worse case---we will wait a few years to sell.

[Kungjo]

Can you go look at that house yourself and see why it's priced so low? Maybe there is a problem that would render the house not as sellable compared to your house or your neighbor's houses?

I have been house hunting for about a year. Although I haven't seen any foreclosures or short sales in the area that I want to buy in, I have seen some houses that need quite a bit of tlc. Although they are priced lower than the other houses in the neighborhood, they still aren't worth it to me nor to other house hunters since these houses have been on the market for over a year. Like most people, I would prefer a house that is move in ready or a house that has been well loved and taken care of over the years that need some updating than one that needs a major reno.

Yes, the house is on the market the same time you are putting yours on the market, but you may be lucky and sell before that house does and may limit the affect of that house's price on yours. Comps for houses sold, don't count till the house is sold. I would think that it would be better for you to just put it on the market for 6 months or so and see how well it does. If it doesn't sell, you can at least have your realtor gather comments from propsective home owners as to what work you need done. Then, take it off the market and do the improvements and then put it back on. May make your house mroe desirable. Who knows?

If you take a gamble and put your house on the market now, things may work out for you. Better than having your house compared to the foreclosure down the road. Remember that you don't have to accept lowball offers. If that's all you will get, don't entertain them.

GL

[KrisM]

It's bank owned and at the corner of the neighborhood and the main road.

Right there is a negative for that house, IMO. I would not want to be on a corner at all. I'd also not want to be that near a main road. I wouldn't want my back or side yard to be on the main road. If you're in a more desirable place in the neighborhood, you might have enough of an advantage over this house to make it a much better house. Maybe not completely the price difference, but maybe enough.

I'm sorry it happened though. How frustrating. We bought here nearly 4 years ago and our house appraised for $85k less than that price.

[Fairy]

Corner main road houses are always lower, so that's something to think about.

Can you rent yours out and then buy another? The rent money would offset the mortgage?

[HIU8]

Thanks for all the replies. We are waiting to hear from our agent to find out the deal. I want to go through the house just to see why it is being offered at so much lower. My first inclination was the location of the house. The houses in my neighborhood were built in 1970, so they are fairly older and many do have major issues that some owners ignore and others (like us) fix. We are probably still putting ours on the market in the next few weeks just to see what happens. We don't have the cash to put down to be able to rent ours out and purchase another right now, so it's not a good option for us.

[Fairy]

Oy vey. Good luck, Heather. Keep us posted.

[BelleoftheBallFlagstaff]

It won't effect comps until it sells and closes.... I know some people are weary of a house prices so much lower than other or bank owned homes...

[ha98ed14]

My biggest fear is that these low prices are going to screw up the appraisal and buyers won't be able to get financing.
We don't need to move but I really wanted a bigger house.

This is real. I think this is what happened to us. Even tho the house we were in escrow for was bank owned, the appraisal was 45K less than we were going to pay. Our lender would only lend us that THEIR appraisal said it was worth. We could make up a bit of the difference ourselves, but not 45K. So we lost the house. On it's face, we and our financing are the reason the house fell through, but IMO, the seller bank is the problem b/c they would not lower the price. If you don't need to move, stay put.

[ha98ed14]

DH thinks this won't pose an issue with the sale price of our house. I do not want to get an offer and find out the house appraises for THAT MUCH LESS.

This is exactly what happened to us, except we are the buyer not the seller. In our case, our lender would not lend us more than the appraised value, so we could not buy the house. It did not matter that we could afford the payments on the higher price; the lender wasn't gonna give us more than the house was worth. And this house was owned by a bank. So if you don't gotta sell, I think you are right to wait it out...

[Melanie]

You could put up some police tape in the backyard, maybe a chalk outline, happen to walk by and mention to prospective buyers: "Oh, yeah, a shame isn't it? You know, what happened...such a shame." *shake head* keep walking.

;)

Hopefully it will sell quickly so yours can be next!

This is what has happened left and right around here. No one is selling if they don't have to. Our values have completely plummeted. It's a great time to buy, though, so if you can rent your old home as an investment...