Canada Nesties
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
ahhh frustrating home situation!
Gahhhh so frustrated! Ok sorry all but I have to vent! The hubby and I are looking into buying our first house. We have baby on the way, coming end of april so I really really wanted to be into something and be settled before then. We found this house that would suit us perfectly and both fell in love! Our budget is around the 250-260 mark and unfortunately the house was listed for 295. Well we spoke with our realtor and got the comparables and the house assessment and found out all the houses in the area had been selling from 240-260 and the house was assessed at 241 and they had paid no more than 255 in the first place...so PERFECT!!!...we thought. We made an offer and they dropped to a whopping 288!!! Waaaaay over value...over 40 grand over the assessed value. I pretty much cried. Im soooo frustrated. There is very little inventory where we are and we are cutting it close to find a place. Has anyone else been in this situation? 
Re: ahhh frustrating home situation!
If you do a counter offer- make sure to put in that you want a quick close (this sometimes motivates sellers). When we put an offer in on the house for 355 (listed at 385k) we offered a 45 day close, without home inspection (this is risky but my dad is a custom home builder & he checked the house out), and financing was in place. We also offered a larger deposit (10k rather than 5k) & our offer was accepted within 4 hours. Each situation is unique but I think we got it so quickly b/c we were considered "motivated" & "safe" buyers. Good luck. Do consider though that if you bought a house for 255 you would want to make some money to cover your costs as well. No one buys a house with the intention of losing money (or if we are being honest breaking even) when they sell.
If there is very little available in this area then the vendors can probably ask more for the house. Supply and demand. Although if the assessment was only 241 a mortgage company would be reluctant to lend more than 241 especially not 295 (depending what you put down on the house). Sorry you're frustrated.
Are you talking about the tax assessed value? If so that may not accurately reflect the value of the home. Our city does its assessments in July - by the time you get them in January the market has usually changed.
Also, what time period are the comps for? Our market changed significantly in October, so anything that sold in August/September isn't really a valid comp.
I agree. Our home last year was assessed for property taxes at $299,000 but we have had it appraised by three people and they all would list is $318,000 at least and we could go another 5-10 higher if we weren't in a hurry. But if comparables are going for that much cheaper you might have a not very motivated seller on your hands. It probably depends on what there mortgage is at. If they have only had the house for a year or two and haven't been prepaying their mortgage they probably don't have much wiggle room after closing costs and other fees. Sorry! Its hard to say, there are so many variables!
If your realtor says that its not worth that much than I can totally see your frustration!
Have you offered again since their counter offer?