Weddingbee boards

I work in real estate. Are you dealing with the owners of the house directly (the people who live in the property and own the house outright) or is it bank-owned? If it's bank-owned, bad news-- regardless of the "economy" and the "market", if the listing says the house is sold as-is, you won't get any repairs from them.

If they're private sellers that own the house outright, they usually have an idea of what they think their house is worth (and therefore what they're willing to sell it for) vs. what the market will give them for it. This can be frustrating as a buyer, but you need to consider their perspective, too. People in this situation aren't very rational because "is was worth twice as much when they bought it".

The third option is a short sale, which is also the trickiest option. A short sale means that even though it hasn't been foreclosed on yet, you are dealing with a bank. The bank has a limit that they are willing to accept on the sales price because they are already selling it at a loss-- "short" of what the borrowers/people living in the property owe on their mortgage. So there is usually zero wiggle room in the purchase price and repairs are absolutely not allowed.

Without knowing the details of the situation, I'm afraid I can't help you more specifically. I can, however, say that if the property is unliveable to you guys without the repairs, and if you can't perform the repairs yourselves at your cost, it probably isn't the property for you. Nothing says the sellers have to sell you the property, and if they are private sellers (have paid off their mortgage and own the property outright or aren't upside down in it) they are probably more than willing to wait til they get the price they want.

This doesn't mean you can't submit a second offer, because as you said it never hurts to ask. But I'm betting if you didn't get a response to your first one and they haven't followed up, it's because your offer was a "low ball" to them, which is to say, so low it's unacceptable.

Reconsider the repairs and you might be able to get this place, but otherwise it probably sounds like you should move on or just wait until they get the message and lower the price themselves.

Footnote: I am not trying to be harsh, just honest! I wish you the best of luck either way.

Ugh, I feel your pain. Back when I was looking for my condo, I put in an offer on one that I loved but the seller had bought it at the top of the market and was looking at a big loss. The asking price was too high (IMO), so I offered around 15k less. He counter-offered asking price with no concessions. Weird. I walked away.

It wound up selling about a year later for around 70k less than I offered. I wound up with a fabulous condo, but I am still a little miffed that he was so stubborn at the outset. I know that people really want to get more for their property, but sometimes they just need to take the good offer and run.

NYEbride, it will all work out. I promise. I've had a few house offers fall through over the years. You guys will find a great house and be really glad that you didn't get the one that needed so much work. House hunting can be tough, but it is worth it in the end.

nyebride-- Sounds like a good conversation, then. Honestly, the hardest thing about buying a house is how emotional it is. Not that that can be helped, but it does make it tougher-- when it comes down to it, it's a business transaction, but we can't help but get attached to certain places or ideas and that can make things tough on both ends. If DH is willing to move on, though, that's a good thing.

Also, if the house appraised for $8k less than they are asking, no one would be able to get a loan at their asking price, which then means they are only able to accept cash, which means investors, who are savvy enough to not pay more than it's worth anyway. And if they know that and still won't budge, that shows you how stubborn they are about it. They may just be trying to pay off their mortgage through the sale to avoid a short sale or foreclosure, in which case they're not stubborn because they don't know, but stubborn because they have to be. Either way, they will only learn their lesson or change their minds over time, which you guys may or may not have, but it's probably not going to change over the course of a few weeks. I'd say, keep an eye on it, but if you haven't found anything else in six months and it's still available, maybe revisit the possibility of submitting another offer then.

But-- I think you could find something else. In fact, I know you can. :)