[quote=CA renter]. . . Agree with SK. We live in an older, established neighborhood in a very desirable area, and very, very, very few were purchased with cash. . . . [/quote]
As I recall, CAR, you posted here that you purchased a house on the same street and/or in the same subdivision as the one you had been renting for several years. You made your initial offer BEFORE it ever hit the MLS, and, I can’t recall exactly, but you later got an agent to represent you to make counter offers?? (I’m unclear if your house ever did get put in the MLS.) You heard from an elderly neighbor that she wanted to move, and, above all, you wanted to remain in your neighborhood. That is why it took you so long to find a suitable house to buy. There just wasn’t any available listings in your “established area.”
That’s how it is in MANY established areas in CA coastal counties.
This proves my point. Many “potential listings” in “desirable, established areas” in CA coastal counties are “sewed up.” Unless one is actually on the same block or walks by the same houses every day, they really have no way of knowing if someone wants to sell before they list.
If your house had been in the MLS, you may have had to compete with many other offers and perhaps would not have “won” the bid on it.
My understanding is that you “could have” paid all cash for the house, but since your spouse had provable W-2 income, you guys were a candidate for a mortgage so you CHOSE to take one out for part of your purchase money. Congratulations! LOTS OF PROSPECTIVE BUYERS TODAY AREN’T QUALIFIED FOR A MORTGAGE. This doesn’t mean they are “deadbeats” who have low credit scores. All it means is that they are “retired” or otherwise have assets but not enough easily-provable “income” (which are not one and the same in a lender’s eyes). These people are not any less of a buyer than those with W-2 income. Neighbors using all cash for a home purchase can actually close faster than a buyer who will take out a mtg and typically have a shorter window for or less contingencies and thus are less of a headache to deal with because they intimately understand the neighborhood AND the house they have made an offer on.
I think the biggest fallacy in CA coastal counties is in the conclusions people reach when comparing the perceived “lifestyles” of those residing in their “owned” *newer* mcmansions and those residing in their 1947 bungalows :=]
