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First time buyers in SoCal...
Hi everyone,
My husband and I are about to celebrate our second year of marriage we are both 27yrs old. We live in southern California and are trying to buy a home. We currently live in an apartment ($1350 + utilities) and we have saved about 90k. I would like to think that we are "good buyers" because we can put 20% down--HOWEVER-- we live in a city where the inventory is extremely low and we have investors buying up everything in our price range (350k-410k).
I would like to know if others are experiencing low inventory and investors snatching up everything that comes on the market. Also, does anyone know if there are any laws in place that prevent investors from taking homes from first time home buyers? It seems absolutely out of control here, we have offered 30k OVER asking and STILL did not get the property all due to an all cash offer from an investor. Any advice on what we should do would be much appreciated. Thanks!
Re: First time buyers in SoCal...
Yes, I live in Boston, and it's the exact same story here. You need to work with a very aggressive realtor (or a service like Redfin), be prepared to see a house the day it comes on the market (not kidding, unfortunately), and look at things you can do to distinguish yourself.
-Make sure you're pre-approved (not just pre-qualified) for a mortgage, and include the letter in any offer.
-Check non-traditional sources for listings like Craigslist and For Sale By Owner boards.
-Prepare a letter about why you want the house with every offer you send. We bid on a house with 3 very similar offers, and the letter is what got it for us.
-Consider what contingencies, if any, you can waive.
Good luck!
My husband and I are currently in the process of closing on our first home. We live in Upstate New York. The price range and area we are looking for is really hot right now. Most houses are only on the market for 48 hours before there are multiple offers. You aren't given an opportunity to think it over. My husband and I spent an hour discussing one house, come to find out within that hour the seller had made a decision and wouldn't give us an opportunity to make an offer. The house that we are closing on had 6 other offers (2 all cash offers), we were the 2nd lowest, too. What won the seller over for us, was that we didn't have contingencies and we had a decent down payment.
My advice to you is to keep trucking along. It's not meant to be. We were getting so discouraged, but decided that we weren't going to get emotional attached to a home, until we knew the outcome. Now that we have our home, we are SO attached to it. We love it and it's the right fit for us. Good Luck and let us know how it all turns out!
My DH and I are older (33 and 39 with 2 kids) and are in the same boat. We have $100K to put down but everything in the range we feel comfortable with ($350-$400K) is only on the market for a day or two and then they're gone.
For us, the situation is considering a move out of this area. I read the other day that it's going to be like this for a few years here...