Just a hint for the beginners. Do your own appraisals and your own inspections and don’t accept the seller’s word for anything.
I was amused to see a nice ad offering a short sale: house worth $450k, bank willing to settle for $390k.
I looked at the location on the map and there are no $450k houses in that area. That neigbborhood is all tract houses, and most of them starter homes.
I figure the seller is going to rope himself in an “investor” from out of the area who thinks the magic words “short sale” are going to guarantee him a killer deal.
The house is probably cute. Nothing is older than 10 years in that area and the houses are stylish. It’s a good area to buy, but nothing in there is worth $450.
I don’t know anyone in normal state of mind to trust the seller’s word. Of course, homework would and should be done. And even if someone is beginner they supposed to undersand that. Seller is the most interested party, how we could trust his/her word? This is a good advise when some close friend recommend his close friend and you kind of feel comfortable with what this person saying. However, trust is important but audit is required.
When I first started in real estate many years ago a mentor of mine told me a very valuable thing. He said “The first work out of a sellers mouth is a lie. The second words our of a sellers mouth are a lie. Can you guess what the third words out of their mouths are?”
I’ve just seen another one. “Short sale bargain” and the price given was full retail. I think it is going to be a new buzzword for agents.
Investors do come into this area and buy things they shouldn’t and pay too much.
The Californians are the worst (or the best from the local viewpoint). They come in saying “Wow, that house would cost $600,000 in California! I’ll take 2 at that price” and they pay way too much, because they haven’t figured out that the house is not in California, and it isn’t worth the $300,000 that they have paid in the local market.