Home

[Desertdi]

@Lilysmom1 @Kachina624   People are buying up "mid-century" ranch houses....with NO landscaping and NO garage.....for half a million bucks..........in the HOTTEST place on earth outside of Saudi Arabia.     And $ a half-million is outrageous if you only live here during the winter.........it's cheaper to stay in a hotel(!!) di

[wagirl]

Having sold my house in January,  2 days after is was listed, with 10 offers-- 3 of which were from one person and $140,000 above listing price----then thinking of trying to buy another one---has numbed my grey matter to buying another house for awhile----I live in western WA and it is a sellers dream right now----bought the land and then built on it in 1986 for just under $100,000. Makes me shake my head in amazement.

[queendiva]

DS just had his offer on his first home accepted last week. I think the seller made another choice(s) earlier that may have fallen through.

He has found that you MUST offer above asking. I think his offer was 4th of 14. He is buying an end unit town home in suburban D.C.- another mad-$$$$ area. Turn-key condition. He found that in his $400K  price range a single family home was not an option. Fixer-upper, no garage, not the best location, etc. Previous offers on similar homes went to cash buyers, As Is, to be used for rental income. Fortunately he is military, will be getting a VA loan and has a housing allowance. The home will actually be much larger than his apt. and the monthly mortgage payment will actually be lower than his rent on a 850 sf apt. Another reason I think his offer was chosen is that he is flexible on the move date. Closing is planned for the end of this month, but the buyer wants to rent back until June. Moving to AZ, where DS was previously stationed. I wonder if the sellers are building? I hope the rent-back deadline is not extended, as DS is going to be away on assignment for the summer.

I think waiting to buy is rarely a good plan. While inventory may eventually increase, so will prices. Nothing to indicate a bubble like 2007-8. Building new right now seems to be a gamble. Best not to be in a hurry.

OP: Good luck with your choices. I am so happy that I moved in 2018.And I thought inventory was limited then! It was, but nothing like today.

[software]

Lumber is HIGH and interest rates are starting to creep up.

Finding a contractor will be the least of your worries.

[Kachina624]

---

@wagirl wrote:

Having sold my house in January,  2 days after is was listed, with 10 offers-- 3 of which were from one person and $140,000 above listing price----then thinking of trying to buy another one---has numbed my grey matter to buying another house for awhile----I live in western WA and it is a sellers dream right now----bought the land and then built on it in 1986 for just under $100,000. Makes me shake my head in amazement.

---

@wagirl    You must have thought you died and went to heaven.  Your timing was impeccable. 

[Bridgegal]

@Kachina624 

Yes.  I'm hooked up with Realtor.com and they send new listings as soon as they come on.   Our realtor usually gets appt. within a couple of hours , if not sooner.   No issues there.

Houses get multiple offers the first day.   We haven't seen anything yet that we wanted to make an offer for but keep hoping.   And then we'll probably get out bid.  UGH.

[stevieb]

@Bridgegal  To my mind, a home, particularly building a home, is a huge undertaking and a very large investment. As long as you are above board and make no promises you don't intend to keep, I say you do what you need to do. Not to sound jaded but I'm not sure the same can be said of the builders so I wouldn't sign anything without being very clear what I was signing.

[wagirl]

@Kachina624 ---yes I still can't wrap my brain around it---not anything outstanding about that house==just a box with smaller boxes in it--however--the hubs built on to the 3 car garage, a double bay garage--making it a 5 car garage with an attached house--for his cars--thats what did it.

[ccassaday]

I think it is fine to get a bid from both. Some builders may not give you a detailed bid until you sign a contract though. We chose the builder my sister worked with do went through everything before signing. Including picking out furnishings ect. I don’t believe they would of done that without a signed contract normally. Just a general bid. The other builder we went too could only give us a estimation without a signed contract.  What was nice about the builder we used is we had the exact cost and everything picked out before we signed the contract and building started since my sister worked there.