Making this our official ' House searching Thread '

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Posted by curiousgeorge

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Posted by Mici n KC

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Posted by FinallyEngaged

FH and I have been house hunting for the past 2 months and at times it is aggravating b/c these people ask for such a high amount and their house is basically falling apart.... or they are asking for a decent amount, but the house is falling apart so it is not worth all the $$ you are going to have to put in it.

I was getting extremely frustrated think we will never find a house, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel and I see girls are buying houses so it makes me feel a little better.

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I know exactly what you mean. FH and I went to open houses yesterday and couldn't believe the nerve of some people selling their homes for so much when there is all this work to be done. It's ridiculous!

We did find one that we are hoping to make a bid on though!

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I went to a house last weekend....Black and green mold all over the basement with water lines, and the floor was cruntching.....they were asking over 400 K taxes 8K a year on a 1200 square foot home....I almost died when I heard the price....i actually laughed out loud.....I was rolling.... someone had to stop me from

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those are the homes that make you so discouraged

i just went to a house in wantagh today, the pictures made the house look really pretty...They are asking 459,000..Well the house is worth about 350, because you need to invest 100 grand in fixing it. In a couple of rooms i had the eww face on!! even if the houses go down its not worth buying!

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Posted by femmes

i just went to a house in wantagh today, the pictures made the house look really pretty...They are asking 459,000..Well the house is worth about 350, because you need to invest 100 grand in fixing it. In a couple of rooms i had the eww face on!! even if the houses go down its not worth buying!

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omg your puppy is so cute!!!!

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Posted by Mici n KC

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Posted by FinallyEngaged

FH and I have been house hunting for the past 2 months and at times it is aggravating b/c these people ask for such a high amount and their house is basically falling apart.... or they are asking for a decent amount, but the house is falling apart so it is not worth all the $$ you are going to have to put in it.

I was getting extremely frustrated think we will never find a house, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel and I see girls are buying houses so it makes me feel a little better.

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I know exactly what you mean. FH and I went to open houses yesterday and couldn't believe the nerve of some people selling their homes for so much when there is all this work to be done. It's ridiculous!

We did find one that we are hoping to make a bid on though!

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You ain't kidding! I've been looking around online to get a good idea of the prices and what is available out there. Most of the houses are way over priced for what you are actually getting.

My favorite has to be the one house I saw for over 350K. It was literally in shambles. No wallboard, just the beams. No flooring, and in some places no floor! It looked like half of it was torched at some point and the stairs were unusable. I ended up sending the listing to FH as a joke telling him it was the perfect house for us. He just about fell out of his chair. First because of the condition of the house then because of the asking price.

Ok, so I just wanted to reply and say that I live in Patchogue and FH lives in Medford. We grew up here and I would have to say that Pat-Med is a good school district if you are concerned about that. Like most places, there are good and bad parts. I always thought that I wanted to get out and live somewhere different but now we are considering staying here! We cannot afford a house on our own now and we want to stay on L.I. My parents want to move out of our house and when FH and I got engaged, we all decided that we would get a mother-daughter house together. My dad had said we would try to get our house on the market this spring. I am starting to freak out! We still have work to do and who knows if and when our house will sell? FH and I are getting married next March and I want us to have somewhere to live!

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Posted by PrincessBride09

Ok, so I just wanted to reply and say that I live in Patchogue and FH lives in Medford. We grew up here and I would have to say that Pat-Med is a good school district if you are concerned about that. Like most places, there are good and bad parts. I always thought that I wanted to get out and live somewhere different but now we are considering staying here! We cannot afford a house on our own now and we want to stay on L.I. My parents want to move out of our house and when FH and I got engaged, we all decided that we would get a mother-daughter house together. My dad had said we would try to get our house on the market this spring. I am starting to freak out! We still have work to do and who knows if and when our house will sell? FH and I are getting married next March and I want us to have somewhere to live!

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Thank you!!!!

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Posted by MikeandJess

This is a great thread. If anyone knows the Merrick area well, let me know, I have a question!

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lived in merrick for two years and have family still there. ask away!

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Posted by femmes

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Posted by MikeandJess

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Posted by curiousgeorge

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Posted by femmes

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Posted by curiousgeorge

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Posted by DiamondPipa

Girls be patient, and remember, you can bid A LOT lower now, it's a buyers market!!!! We bid on a house in September and the sellers called us on NY Eve accepting our offer!!!!

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I NEED to hear more stories like this one!!!! Do you mind telling me how much less you bid? Congrats

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This year will be the time to buy, i have been looking myself. Take into consideration what you will be paying mortage, taxes, insurance etc. does the house need work? How much will you need just to update? Set the price where you will be comfortable so if they say no, you can go a bit higher if the house is what you really want..Houses arent selling the way they used to, so make it work for you..

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Okay so say I see a house for 400k,...we it be NORMAL and OKAY for us to offer 300K??? haha
Im sorry for the silly question, but this is our first time and we dont have any friends or family who
recently bought or are buying.

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I had the same question! We found a house for $439, and I told FH let's go in at $400 and he told me that my negotiation skills are lacking, lol

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300k for a 400k house is low to bid. Yes if the house is 439 id start at 400 and see where it goes from there, keeping in mind the condition of the house. just my opinion

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I am a real estate agent and if the price is 439 I think you can go for 390K if they don't take it they will just counter offer you. Sometimes you never know there was a house I sold at 410 and it sold at 375. So you never know just try

To all you real estate agents out there: I saw a house that originally was listed at $535K. In November they decreased it to a note that reads 'Sellers will entertain offers between $429K-$488K'.

Does that mean why waste my time making an offer less than 429K? Or will i insult them if I ask for less? I guess they put a range for a reason, but I never saw that before! Help =)

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Posted by sheyrena1314

To all you real estate agents out there: I saw a house that originally was listed at $535K. In November they decreased it to a note that reads 'Sellers will entertain offers between $429K-$488K'.

Does that mean why waste my time making an offer less than 429K? Or will i insult them if I ask for less? I guess they put a range for a reason, but I never saw that before! Help =)

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you've got a response to your forum mail--- incase anyone else is wondering as well--


In my honest opinion i think that if they were originally asking $539-- I personally would have offered them about $475k & that some people may think it is a little low---- but now that the price is reduced I really think that if they put 'Sellers will entertain offers between $429K-$488K' they will not accept anything lower then that-- I would offer $425k but the real estate salesperson may not even hear it let alone tell the actual sellers-- imho I would try 425k with the real estate lady but I dont think they will hear anything lower then that-- offensive? who cares they dont take it personally-- its all about $$ if someone only has 400k to spend they will offer that--if the sellers dont like it they will not accept it-

girls, althought I am not really looking (we are in the process of buying a condo in mass) i found two amazing homes in merrick, great prices, great condition, great schools... if we werent in contract, id see them

here are the links and a pic of each ... best of luck house hunting!!!

http://www.mlsli.com/uniDetails.CFM?MLNum=2028085&typeprop=1&start=1&rpp=20

http://www.mlsli.com/uniDetails.CFM?MLNum=2019727&typeprop=1&start=1&rpp=20

Really informative tread.

We just closed on our house in North Bellmore. It was a rough process, but it's all worth it in the end.

Good luck to everyone house hunting!

The pat-medford school district is really bad from what I've been told, so is the south country distrist...be war of buying homes in that area.

Also, there are a TON of houses in and around that area in better areas for $400K. You culd probably find something comparable to that house in a better area for the same amount or less.

My FH has his house in the Sachem district aournd the Lake Grove area.....which is also very nice. I like Nesconset as well. When we beging to look for a bigger house we'll probably look in those areas.

First I have to sell my co-op in Forest Hills though

This is a great thread!!!! Thanks for starting it.

if you put in the name of the town you want to research into google-- citydata.com usually comes up with the stats for where you are looking-- this may be helpful--- good luck everyonee--

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Posted by sheyrena1314

To all you real estate agents out there: I saw a house that originally was listed at $535K. In November they decreased it to a note that reads 'Sellers will entertain offers between $429K-$488K'.

Does that mean why waste my time making an offer less than 429K? Or will i insult them if I ask for less? I guess they put a range for a reason, but I never saw that before! Help =)

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What about a house that is lets say $330k or $350k is starting your bid at 300K to low? What is the norm?

hey ladies.. i need my real estate brides to help me out please..

i'm thinking of buying a condo or co-op in the city.. i'm not sure what the difference is.. but they all have a maintenance fee attached to it.. as you can see i'm clueless.. should i look for an agent to help me out, or am i better off doing this myself?

help..