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.
Seller Assist?
We were under contract to buy a home in 2010 and kind of got burned...our first mistake was using the same realtor as the seller (we didn't have one at the time and in PA it's legal for a realtor to be a dual agent) and I don't feel he was really on our side. The seller had a lot of debt (that should've been the first red flag) and when the title company checked to make sure the title was clear they found that there were three liens against the house and it was already in foreclosure (the seller had never disclosed this to the agent). We walked away because we didn't want to wait for a short sale (we had already had the inspection, appraisel and put money down on carpet).
We weren't getting any kind of seller assist before (obviously...since the seller was broke) but we're looking at homes right now around the Baltimore area (we're relocating for DH's job) and the mortgage broker said that every home he's been involved with selling, the sellers have provided some kind of assistance with closing costs. Do most sellers give whatever is needed besides the 3.5%? Since I have no experience with this I'm kind of lost.
Re: Seller Assist?
I think this varies by area. A lot of offers in my area will ask for a certain amount to pay for closing costs, but in turn, the house sells for higher because that's less money the sellers are getting for the house. For example, say a house is worth 200K, if you offer the sellers 200K and ask for 10K in closing costs, to them that is only an offer of 190K. So if you want 10K in closing, you'll probably end up with a purchase price of 210K and get 10K back for closing (making the actual amount paid 200K). So it really depends on if you'd rather pay for your closing costs up front and get the house for a lower price but your savings takes a hit or if you'd rather have a higher purchase price but get to keep the money in your savings and pay the closing costs back with your loan over the next 15-30 years.
Sorry about your crappy first attempt at buying a home. I can't believe that guy thought he'd get away with not disclosing the fact that his home was in foreclosure!
We're in the DC area and our agent has discouraged us from asking for a seller assist at closing. But I think this market may be a bit stronger than Baltimore.
Your offer will be stronger if you have the cash in hand. But if you're ready to get beaten out by an investor or another person w/closing costs, I'd say try to get them paid by the seller. As OP mentioned, if the seller assists w/closing, you may have to offer the asking price or higher to account for the help.
Like the above posters mentioned, I think it depends on your market. Your realtor should be able to tell you if it's common or not. When we sold, our buyers asked for $x in closing and when we puchased we did the same.
Thanks everyone, we put in an offer tonight and asked for seller assist. I don't think anyone has had any interest in the house (it's really nice, and I'm betting it's because of the holidays and the fact that there's only two pictures of the home on the listing and they're of the exterior).
First... please get yourself a good buyer's agent, if you haven't already.
Second... in my market (Atlanta) sellers are still paying buyer's closing costs, and even sometimes things like warranties and so on. Even in short sales! Everything comes out of the proceeds of the short sale. It's essentially the seller's lender who is paying it. But, it is still happening. I routinely write contracts with 3-4% allowances for closing costs.
The only time a seller will assist in other ways (carpet, paint, etc) is if it's a normal resale. There is typically nothing like that offered in a short sale.