If you like the townhouse…keep your eye on it but it is WAY TOO EARLY to begin thinking about haggling with the new owner…you, my friend, have just run into the “greatest fool”. ANYONE who has purchased a home/townhome/apartment(er..”quas”dominium) in the last few months has been hitting the tank (nitrous, that is) a bit too hard. I’d suggest finding a townhome (or single family) that you like that has been on the market for several months and probably has an eager seller.
If I had to buy today (which I don’t and I won’t), I would pay no more than 55-60% of the most recent “comps” for an exact replica (location, size, features) of the home you’re looking at. Any thing else would be financial suicide should you need to sell your house in the next several years. This is an educated opinion, nothing more, and I could be wrong…but I sure as hell wouldn’t touch anything near the prices we are seeing today.
Research the links from this website on the right hand side of the page..you’ll see the meltdown has begun in many markets, including CA. Check out this link to see even more…http://patrick.net/housing/crash.html.
Again, I would pay no more than 55%-60% of today’s asking prices. Use that as a guide and you shouldn’t go wrong…granted, it’ll take some time to achieve your objective, but you should be able to uncover some distress situations out there REAL SOON that will bring a smile to your face and a painful grimace to the face of your new neighbors! Good luck!
