Son and daughter in law made a strong offer last year on a very nice home in DC NW that ended up with 8 offers. Their offer included the willingness to go some above the highest offer. Their realtor said their offer was #2 of 8 . They were not given an opportunity to counter. My guess would be that the winning offer was an all cash offer but of course not sure. If you can come in with an all cash offer , no contingencies, that is I’m sure definitely the most persuasive kind of offer.
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When we sold our house a couple of years ago, we had 5 offers for the exact same amount of money. Our realtor told us, this is the couple most likely to close, look at the evidence.
Even after the inspection, we barely budged and gave them a small allowance. They closed.
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My DD lost one house to an all-cash no contingencies offer. It hasn’t closed yet, but her agent thinks it was less than but close to DD’s offer, both above asking.
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They definitely could have closed and did on another place soon after. But,DC NW is very expensive and they did have to get a mortgage. 1 + million type prices very common so they were looking above that kind of range.
Yup, DD is buying in Arlington, VA!
I’m co-signing.
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I applaud you for that! Cosigning is not something we wanted to do but I’m sure it is a blessing that you could do that.
DS gave an almost asking price offer in very expensive neighborhood but seller decided to take the house off the market in the hope prices will rise if they wait few months. DS is upset that he didn’t buy when Covid started and both prices and interest rates were low.
It will likely work out very well for you, but please have a plan (money saved) in case a roomie moves out, loses their job, it takes a while to replace a roomie. etc.
I’ve got a plan if that happens but I’m not too worried.
There’s a massive shortage of rooms where I am and young people can’t afford to buy. Landlords are selling up but lots of young people move in so rooms fill up pretty quickly.
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We did not have to co-sign because a) ShawD’s income is pretty decent; b) her downpayment is above 20% in large part because of a gift from her grandmother (who told her she could borrow interest-free against what she will inherit); and maybe c) it is a two-family home so there will be significant rental income. She is also going to take a roommate in her unit but they would let her count that rental income. Not sure why. But, the mortgage is in the high six figures.
ShawD is the anxious type. I have been traveling in Europe and Africa but prepped her pretty well and was having FaceTime calls between midnight and 3 AM with her. I asked her to ask her agent (who specializes in multi-family homes) to prepare a spreadsheet to analyze the economics of the property. I then suggested she asks the guy at our financial advisor who deals with the kids (in part, though he is terrific generally) to go over the spread sheet with him and make sure it works for her economically. He loved the economics. Then she called the attorney I use, who is the husband of one of her godmothers and he a) gave her tips; and b) gave her the name of a lawyer he used for his son’s condo purchase. And, one of our architect friends accompanied her on the inspection and reassured her that many of the things the inspector was reporting wouldn’t need to be done for years.
Without that support and without financial sophistication, she would have been crazy but with all of the help, she seems to be working through it all. Like ShawWife she is simultaneously over-the-top warm and charming and absolutely genuine and people really want to help her.
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Same here, but it’s sad that only people who have help from their parents can afford houses.
So true! That said, I don’t think people should buy a dump or buy in a terrible neighborhood, just for the sake of buying property.
We have never moved from the house we bought in late 1980s and are happy here. It was the right size when our kids were living here and remains a good size for us. If D opts to move back here permanently and wants to live with us, we could remodel and build a separate space for her—above the carport or somehow build a 2nd story.
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S / DiL are on their third property offer; first two they lost out to 25% above ask in a field of 20+ offers. This one they expect to lose out bc it is a foreclosured flipped house and they made the offer contingent on a clean inspection.
This property isn’t doing viewings for investors/flippers until next week, after prospective homeowners have offers in. This is a new tactic – it’s bank-owned, and you’d think they would just want to cover the defaulted mortgage but nope, they want to see what the market will bring and then show that to flippers? Mystified.
I bought a townhome at 23 with my wife. Actually we bought one month before our wedding. This was in 1995. It was in the burbs of Chicago, but it was far out. It was what we could afford at the time. To do this for the first year of working after school we lived with my wife’s parents. We also had to pay for our wedding. We also had to furnish the place, but some things had to wait. We used my small TV from college for over a year before getting a decent sized one.
We both had good jobs, but we also had lots of college loans. I had to do a quick job change before the wedding and my commute was 60-75 mins for almost 2 years.
Our interest rate was 7.25% on a 3 yr ARM.
Needless to say our honeymoon was a driving one. We didn’t take fancy vacations or eat out a lot. Sometimes we would go to the movies and the popcorn was dinner. That was the choice.
I bought a house at 23. H was 27. It was a small 60s ranch and yes, lots had to wait. Our spare bedroom had no mattress for 9 months until we got a tax refund. We put our suitcases inside the frame and draped the comforter on it! And we didn’t buy ANYTHING we didn’t have to. In the mid 90s as a teacher and an engineer, our combined gross salary was in the 40s. I am very good squeezing blood out of a turnip.
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My DD and spouse both work for a FAANG company. They are probably in the top 2-4% of income earners for people their age. They cannot afford to buy a house within commuting distance of the big city they live in. We can’t afford to help them with anything that would make a dent.
Meanwhile, a close friend’s daughter and SIL just bought an $800k condo on Long Island. Daughter is a speech therapist at a school and her husband is mid level at an ad agency. There had to be some major parental contribution (definitely wasn’t from my friend). Otherwise, how is that even possible?
This was us in the mid 80’s. We moved the furniture from our three room place into our 7 room house. No living room furniture at all (it all went into the family room which we used more). One bedroom was completely empty. We had the second bedroom and the third had a crib and a small dresser. Nothing else.
But we had zero debt except our house…so we could make it work. It took us seven years to get things done. Every year, we did one major thing…windows, wood floors on the main level, carpet in the bedrooms, new deck. We even did new vinyl flooring in the bathrooms ourselves. Painted everything ourselves.
Our parents did give us some cash gifts along the way. Used that to buy furniture for our second child’s bedroom, and to buy a couch for the living room. We were also gifted some nice rockers by grandparents. It all worked.
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Haha yes. That was us. And I forgot our furniture! Our den furniture came from a low end motel that was remodeling. H sorted through all the cushions and picked out the best ones. And our good living room furniture? We bought out of the Walmart parking lot from a guy named peanut.
And that furniture lasted us 10 years until we could upgrade to cheap furniture from a regular store.
Neither of our parents gave us any gifts. I didn’t dare ask for $$$ either. I wasn’t brought up that way. You lived with what you could afford.
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We used to say our first apartments were furnished in “Early American Dead Relative”…didn’t own a house until we were in our 30’s, with a small amount of parental help.
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In mid-nineties, two researchers were able to afford a 3 bedroom new construction trilevel in a good school district just north of Seattle with a 10% downplayment and a second mortgage to avoid the dreaded PMI. Interest rates were about 7-plus percent back then. Now that house is close to 5-6x the price we paid… the salaries for comparable jobs are 2-3x what they’ve been back then.
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The top 5% of wage earners in Manhattan make $595K a year. If your DD and spouse are in the top 2-4%, they certainly can afford something.
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