So, we looked at a house and an acreage on Sunday and on Monday.
It's assessed value is $246K. I checked comps. There were three comparable-ish properties in the rural area. Each sold for approximately $25K over assessed value.
However, two were in cute little rural "neighborhoods" - you know where there is a group of homes in a country block. The third was on 4 acres. This one is alone and on a rock road, quite rural.
It shows terribly. The owner had a greek theme going and it is very out of date and think plastic chandeliers. (My dd is going to love them.) Something also died in the chimney. At the open house on Sunday, the realtor couldn't get the lock to unlock. We were there about 45 minutes of the 1.5 hour open house. We saw no one else. (2:00-3:30, we got there around 2:20 and left just around 3:00.) It was a very cold but sunny day.
Listed in August for $269K
Dropped in October to $249K
Dropped last week to $225K
Realtor says seller is now going through a divorce (inherited the home initially) and is anxious to sell. Thinks she'll sell for $200K.
This house doesn't show well due to the theme and a shocking amount of walls??? True. But it has amazing bones. The structure is fantastic. It's brick. It's built in 1992. It needs a new furnace and a new water heater IMO, and it's on a rock road.
What it needs badly is updated and about six walls knocked out.
But once you did? 2100 square feet of great living space with a clean, comfortable, easily finishable basement. Oh, and you'll have to dig the raccoon out of the chimney because ew, that's not pleasant.
Here's the thing if the realtor that showed it to us on Monday (not her realtor) hadn't said he'd talked to the other realtor and said she'd probably go as low as $200K, we'd NEVER ask $200K. It will probably appraise out at the $260-$270K range.
Will we insult her by offering $200K? Do we dare?
We also want a new oven in there. (But we're more than willing to finance the water heater because we want a heat pump and the furnace.)
Nervous. This will be our first offer and I'm anxious. To be honest, we would not want to lose this property - close commute, rural, lots of room to garden, great square footage. I can handle not to my taste. However, it doesn't look as though there is any competition either.
