maybe he’s pressed for time? i don’t know why he would sell at $350k.. if it’s really worth $430-440k?

i have a few ideas

1) Possibly he is trying to fund some other purchase/investment and needs to free up capital and by unloading this house he can move on something else?

2) maybe he didn’t really pay $440k and got the thing for only $350k….due to his connection wtih the builder (he/his family was an employee of the builder) and maybe he is not really losing a thing, and just passing up possible earnings he’ll pay capital gains on?

i figure if he listed it tomorrow..he’d list it at $420-430. he’d get offered $400k? then pocket $375k after agent commisions. if it sits a while before it sells, and I’m not living there paying rent, he is carrying maybe $2000/month in costs…. so 3-4 months of it sitting there will cost him another 6-8k….

so it’s possible that he may be concerned that $350k is basically what he’s going to realize from a sale no the open market anyway…and he’d just assume get it in the next 30 days, instead of waiting almost 6 months to get it..

who knows. the guy owes me nothing. if he thought he could make more money by selling to someone else he would.

i’ve come across a handful of agents who i’ve talked to while looking at rentals…and discussed my situation. they all said i was dumb to not buy it at that price. or course several of them also told me that the housing market was not going to go down much, “not like the late 80s” it will be “different this time”…so they don’t know everything….or they are wearing blinders….only seeing what they want to see…

bottom line – i do think the price he’s offering it to me for is decent. but i think if i sit back and wait 1-2 years…i can get a bigger/better house for the same price. when the houses that are curently $500k are selling at $350-400k… or less…