Hi sdgrrl – Sorry to be so late to the party here. I don’t have much to add to the many excellent comments in the thread. Here are a couple thoughts that jump out (which have been expressed by others, but fwiw I agree):
– The bait-n-switch low listing price is cheesy but while it might annoy me, it wouldn’t really change whether I want to buy the property or not. What matters is the price you can get it at, and whether it’s worth it to you.
– The “as is” thing could be a deal breaker, or a complete non-issue… that entirely depends on the state of the house. So I echo everyone’s advice to have someone inspect the hell out of the place, and only then will you be able to evaluate this aspect (and the accompanying super weird “afraid of their own shadow” comment). I’ll be curious to hear what they turn up. BTW if you don’t know a good inspector, I really liked the guy who did my house, and have recommended him to others with good results: http://www.masterspecs.info
Overall there’s some unusual aspects to it but nothing that would kill the deal for me personally — pending, of course, the findings of the home inspection.
With that said, bear in mind that I don’t have anything resembling expertise in individual real estate transactions. So, just my two cents, for what it’s worth.
The thing I have more of a handle on is the overall market and specifically valuations. There, not much has changed since last year’s update. The net of it is, homes are quite expensive (though not bubble expensive), but rates are so low that if you are financing the bulk of your purchase, it can still make sense to buy, because you are locking in a pretty reasonable monthly nut. However, that only really helps you if you intend to hang on to the home for a long time. If you have to sell reasonably soon, then the change in price will matter more than monthly payment, and with valuations at these levels, that doesn’t really seem like a good risk vs. reward.
So tell me a bit more about your “intentions” towards the home. Do you envision staying there long-term? If home prices were to decline 20% (not a prediction, but an entirely plausible possibility based on current valuations), would you be ok, or would that screw up your plans somehow? Even if you do want to stay there, is there a chance you’d be forced to move by job changes etc? All that might help determine whether it makes sense to buy in general — this place, or otherwise.
Keep us posted on the place… if you get that far, I’m interested to hear how the inspection goes (mostly bc of the somewhat ominous “afraid of their own shadow” comment), and whether you are able to find out why it fell out of escrow.
