I feel like buying a house should be a fun experience. As it stands right now it seems like the market it saturated with buyers. I put an offer in on one for FULL asking price and my offer was barely even considered and eventually NOT accepted.


Doing this all on my own in Southern California no less will be difficult but it's something I've always wanted to do. I know I need to be patient but does anyone else have any tips on buying in the current market?

I have bought and sold about 15 homes, most
in California.
What you are running into are probably
foreclosed homes, or 'short sells' where the
lender agrtees with the owner to sell for
less than what is owed on the mortgage.

During the foreclosure process, banks
(mortgagers) have 'pink-lined' every
neighborhood in town.

This is the base price they set for the
neighborhood (rather like red-lining to
restrict who can buy, but more benign.)
It is to help with appraisals when the
house is finally sold.

So, first, you need to find out what that
baseline price is for the neighborhood you
choose. They do not admit to doing this but
you can find it out by seeing what has sold
and for what.
The point is, no lender will loan you more
than that amount.

Once you know that 'bottom-line' you won't
be overpaying, in a market that now has homes
priced all over the market, driven by the
abundance of those homes available.

Second, be aware you may have to put in
a LOT of offers to yield one buy. But the excellently
priced homes can get you into a bidding war,
which does you no good because a lender will
still not exceed that baseline pricing when
loaning you the $$ to buy it.

As this is your first-time home buying experience,
a realtor is probably a must..let them do all the
blood, sweat and tears.

Let them line you up with quite a few options.
One option, of course, is to buy a 'new' place
as the price set will be the market price and you
are somewhat protected against volatility.
It also does not require a realtor.

But, finding that gem, right off the bat will
take supreme patience, so do not get locked
into something you 'must' have.

In the end, it is a most rewarding experience
and the joy of reaching the goal is wonderful :-)

I think my only issue in all of this is that I will have to put down multiple offers. A first home isn't something you just buy whatever is available ... or at least it shouldn't be. I want something I REALLY like, ya know.

My agent already does all that and I'm pre-approved for an FHA loan.

I know huh, you want what you want :-)
It speaks to you or it doesn't.

But it is a very weird market, that
has become a numbers game of attrition.

Those that pick up the bargains, have
been around and doing that a while, and
California buyers are particularly astute
by now.

They do not even attend foreclosure sales
at the county courthouse anymore, because
the amount needed to buy there, exceeds what
it will sell for when the bank gets it back,
and that used to be THE place to pick up
a bargain.

Your best bet, as you have an agent, is to make
sure she jumps on the newest houses for sale, I
think the MLS comes out monthly.

She can also check the REO's at any local bank
(Real Estate Owned) to see their inventory.

Myka! Congratz on your decision!

There are some guidelines you should follow in real estate investment.

1.Location Location Location!
Choose it wisely, The choice of a crappy location can haunt you for years when you need or want to sell.

2.Don't be a bottom feeder!
Yes getting a good deal is important but don't let it cloud your judgement... in times like these, you're competing with people or corporations that have way more experience in acquiring lowball properties... and consider this, would you really want a property that has been neglected for months or years prior to foreclosure? Instead, look for properties that have been listed for a while with no movement and throw THEM a lowball offer.

3. Get pre-approved before you go shopping... Timing is everything and you don't want to be behind the 8 ball by adding a mortgage approval condition with your offer to purchase.

4. Always have the property inspected by a qualified person unrelated to the seller or their realtor.

5. Keep an open mind to renovations... sometimes, underneath that old stinky wall to wall carpet lies beautiful strip floors ... This happened to me in my kitchen... They covered the awesome wood floors with glued on linoleum



Good luck!

EDIT*

Ignore #3 you're already all over that I see

I get new emails DAILY with the new listings. The house I put an offer on went on the market on a Friday afternoon and they were done accepting offers by the following Tuesday.

Find a house thats been on the market for a while. Are you working with an agent?

Thanks for the topic Myka. I'm looking for my first house too. I'm looking more around Northeast Ohio though.

Yeah I have an agent ... I've put multiple offers down so far to no avail.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/mystery-illness-solved-family-discovers-home-meth-lab-184815233.html

2.5 million homes in US???? Holy smokes!


The foreclosed house for sale on the up-and-coming street pined for fresh paint and other fixes, but the Hankins family saw its potential.
Plus, at $36,000, the price was perfect for a young family trying to make ends meet in small-town Klamath Falls, Ore.
"We said, 'It needs a little bit of love, but it's got good bones,'" Jonathan Hankins recalled. "We just had no idea that those bones were poisonous."
Within days of moving in this past summer, Beth Hankins, an ER nurse, started experiencing breathing problems. Then Jonathan got migraine-like headaches and nosebleeds. By the third week, their 2-year-old son, Ezra, developed mouth sores.
"He couldn't even drink water without being in pain," said Jonathan, 32.
They were about to schedule doctor visits when a neighbor shared the bad news: 2427 Radcliffe was a former meth house.
The family ordered a $50 testing kit and had the lab expedite the results, which revealed a contamination level nearly 80 times above Oregon Heath Authority limits.
"Our walls were poisoning us," said Jonathan, who quickly moved his family to a rental home.
Buying a foreclosed house from government-sponsored Freddie Mac meant the family was informed about being responsible for detecting hazards like lead paint and asbestos, but there was no warning from real estate agents or Freddie Mac about drug activity.
Because it was being sold "as is," the couple decided to save their money and skip a traditional inspection, which would have noted superficial repairs but not the chemicals used to cook the highly addictive drug. "In the case of methamphetamine, it's an invisible toxin," Jonathan said.
Twenty-three states, including Oregon, have laws requiring sellers to disclose if a property was ever used as a clandestine drug lab. In the Hankins' case, Freddie Mac says it never knew the two-bedroom, one-bath home had a checkered past.
"We certainly empathize with the situation, but we had no prior information about the way the home had been used," Freddie Mac spokesman Brad German told Yahoo News. "If we had, of course, we would have disclosed it."
It's a Catch-22 that Joe Mazzuca of Meth Lab Cleanup, a national remediation and training company, predicts others could find themselves in. Based on national and state data, Mazzuca conservatively estimates there are 2.5 million meth-contaminated homes in the U.S. "The signs and indicators aren't always there," he said. "You don't always see the meth residue. It's extremely dangerous stuff."
His concern was echoed at a congressional hearing in August on the efforts to curb domestic methamphetamine production.
Drug czar Gil Kerlikowske, head of the president's Office of National Drug Control Policy, testified that "U.S. meth lab seizure has more than doubled between 2007 and 2010, and these labs pose a major threat to public safety and the environment."
Mazzuca said the problem "is off the charts. We average a call every three to five minutes." One of those recent calls came from Michigan, a state with no disclosure law, where a father unknowingly purchased a meth-contaminated home. "He just buried his 14-year-old daughter after living in it for two years," Mazzuca said. "I could tell you stories like that for days."
With or without disclosure laws, Mazzuca believes scores of home buyers are at risk because only one in 10 meth labs are busted. Other times, he said, information can fall through the cracks by the time a big bank or government agency gets past the red tape of selling a foreclosed home.
He advised anyone considering buying a foreclosure to do their due diligence. He suggested the following actions:
Check the DEA's National Clandestine Laboratory Register.
Talk to the property's neighbors.
Contact the local health department and police for past issues.
Buy a kit to test for chemicals.
Jonathan Hankins in Oregon believes the seller needs to shoulder some of that burden.
"Consumers don't know about this problem, and a simple $50 test by them could have prevented all this," said Jonathan, who's now left to pay rent and a mortgage. "Thirty-six thousand may be a drop in the bucket to them, but it could ruin us financially."
He says his calls and emails to Freddie Mac have gone unanswered, so he turned to Change.org, a website that aims to promote social change by the use of online petitions. There he posted his frustration with what he calls the agency's false promise.
"Freddie Mac advertises, 'Our qualifying homes come with a reviewed title, and a repaired living space making them easier to sell and improving home values in your territory. We sell our homes responsibly. Freddie Mac is committed to having the best property maintenance and sales standards in the country.' We had no reason to expect otherwise. Instead, they irresponsibly sold us a ticking time bomb of dangerous chemicals without even telling us."
Attorneys have told the Hankins that the "as-is" fine print leaves them few options.
Decontaminating a former meth lab can run anywhere from $5,000 to $150,000, according to experts. Jonathan says he's been quoted a clean up cost more than his house is worth.
"We're not really angry at [Freddie Mac], but we're shocked that this could happen to anyone in America," he said. "It's an opportunity for them to set a precedent for others in the mortgage industry."

I'm going through the same thing. Looking in orange county with an agent, but not much is available. When it is a short sale or foreclosure, I have had to bid a bit higher than the asking price to even be considered. Trying to go FHA as well, for the low down payment, but it does limit you some. Also ask your lender if you can do a conventional but only put down 5%. Some are available under this program, but needs to be FHA certified. It's a waiting game mostly, and your lender can put in multiple offers if its bank owned. Takes about 45 days until they actually accept your offer. Good luck, it's tough finding what you may really want.

I'm not surprised.

Well then looks like I'll be seeing you on the battlefield!!! LOL

Ha, Yes, possibly, but I'm looking for a townhouse more so than a single family residence. Had the nice house in Yorba Linda before and I don't really want all the maintenance again. I have lost one condo, and a house being outbid. It seems really tough right now. Even stuff that's a wreck is going fast. I thought the process would be fun, but I'm getting burnt out with all this craziness. Hope your having better luck than I am.....

Stay hydrated and look for roaches.

That is exactly what I'm going through. Add being Fha approved onto the list and it makes this process damn near impossible.

Wish you all well.

I would add that you want to project where you could be if you buy a home that is not at least remotely accessible. Most adults experience at least one time in their lifetime where they are significantly disabled (non-ambulatory) and if you can not get to a bathroom or in and out of the front door the morgage company is not going to care. Ageing in place is something to seriously have to think about if you, or your parents, are not independently wealthy.

Also you might want to think about the fact that one sure cure for singledom is buying a home that can not accomodate one more person or persons if your happiness depends on it. One thing to give up closet space, a spare room, or office to a step child or new spouse it is another to hung in a home you can't budge in. As a single person you can get a roomate or even store stuff in extra space and a short term room mate can help you add payments and seriouly shorten your note.

Well, put in another offer Sunday eve. Had to overbid it 5k. It Had to be in by Monday Morning, I still haven't heard anything yet, But well see...Im not getting my hopes up.

How did it go?

I'm meeting with sellers on Sat morning but already got a verbal ok over the phone... I really hope it happens!

No cigar for me...But congrats on your success so far.
Yet another i'm outbid on, in the first round. This place was a total mess but had huge potential.
So I bid 15k under what the highest place in there has sold for. ( I would have put that much into it) I really can't see going beyond that. It is a place I will live, but also for investment. So back to the drawing board...I don't get very emotional about this stuff, but what a pain. haha