First time home buyer, some observations.

[SD Realtor]

Tillers I understand. I didn’t mean to imply that you should put offers in on every short sale but if you do see a home you really love and it is a short sale, I would indeed pursue it. Agreed that nowadays, more short sales are asking for deposits from buyers because of so many walkaways. However that deposit is still fully refundable.

Your post implied (to me) that you were not even looking at short sales so it sounds like I am wrong. My point is that I would make offers on any home I love regardless of what type of home it is. However, many people differ on offers they send in. Many people send in offers on homes they like, or that they are getting a good deal on. Other people only submit offers they truly love and thus will end up making only 1 or 2 offers a year.

[sdrealtor]

5year
If 5 people measured the sq footage of a house they would get 5 different figures. Sq footage should always be quoted to the best of someone’s knowledge. as realtors wqe dont have the ability to provide exact figures nor does anyone else. It depends upon how you measure a house and it can be done many ways. What most agents do and what is the best thing for them to do is to list a sq footage and cite the source it comes from. I typically go to the tax records as most agents do) and cite that sq footage. In many cases it is wrong but as soon as we put in our own figures someone will come along measure it another way and sue us. When it comes down to it, does the exact sq footage really matter? You go into a home and see if it works for you. Is a 2500 sq ft home that doesnt work for you any better than a 2200 sq ft home does? Buyer often get too hung up on what the sq footage is. It either works for someone or it doesnt.

[sdrealtor]

5year
If 5 people measured the sq footage of a house they would get 5 different figures. Sq footage should always be quoted to the best of someone’s knowledge. as realtors wqe dont have the ability to provide exact figures nor does anyone else. It depends upon how you measure a house and it can be done many ways. What most agents do and what is the best thing for them to do is to list a sq footage and cite the source it comes from. I typically go to the tax records as most agents do) and cite that sq footage. In many cases it is wrong but as soon as we put in our own figures someone will come along measure it another way and sue us. When it comes down to it, does the exact sq footage really matter? You go into a home and see if it works for you. Is a 2500 sq ft home that doesnt work for you any better than a 2200 sq ft home does? Buyer often get too hung up on what the sq footage is. It either works for someone or it doesnt.

[sdrealtor]

5year
If 5 people measured the sq footage of a house they would get 5 different figures. Sq footage should always be quoted to the best of someone’s knowledge. as realtors wqe dont have the ability to provide exact figures nor does anyone else. It depends upon how you measure a house and it can be done many ways. What most agents do and what is the best thing for them to do is to list a sq footage and cite the source it comes from. I typically go to the tax records as most agents do) and cite that sq footage. In many cases it is wrong but as soon as we put in our own figures someone will come along measure it another way and sue us. When it comes down to it, does the exact sq footage really matter? You go into a home and see if it works for you. Is a 2500 sq ft home that doesnt work for you any better than a 2200 sq ft home does? Buyer often get too hung up on what the sq footage is. It either works for someone or it doesnt.

[sdrealtor]

5year
If 5 people measured the sq footage of a house they would get 5 different figures. Sq footage should always be quoted to the best of someone’s knowledge. as realtors wqe dont have the ability to provide exact figures nor does anyone else. It depends upon how you measure a house and it can be done many ways. What most agents do and what is the best thing for them to do is to list a sq footage and cite the source it comes from. I typically go to the tax records as most agents do) and cite that sq footage. In many cases it is wrong but as soon as we put in our own figures someone will come along measure it another way and sue us. When it comes down to it, does the exact sq footage really matter? You go into a home and see if it works for you. Is a 2500 sq ft home that doesnt work for you any better than a 2200 sq ft home does? Buyer often get too hung up on what the sq footage is. It either works for someone or it doesnt.

[sdrealtor]

5year
If 5 people measured the sq footage of a house they would get 5 different figures. Sq footage should always be quoted to the best of someone’s knowledge. as realtors wqe dont have the ability to provide exact figures nor does anyone else. It depends upon how you measure a house and it can be done many ways. What most agents do and what is the best thing for them to do is to list a sq footage and cite the source it comes from. I typically go to the tax records as most agents do) and cite that sq footage. In many cases it is wrong but as soon as we put in our own figures someone will come along measure it another way and sue us. When it comes down to it, does the exact sq footage really matter? You go into a home and see if it works for you. Is a 2500 sq ft home that doesnt work for you any better than a 2200 sq ft home does? Buyer often get too hung up on what the sq footage is. It either works for someone or it doesnt.

[permabear]

[quote=Tillers]Square footage – This is NEVER accurate to the actual size of the home. Many of the places I look at are 20-30% lower then what is listed.[/quote]

I learned a bit about assessors and square footage recently, which helps explain a bit of the looniness.

The way square footage has been assessed has changed over the years. In recent history, basically the assessor takes the tract home developer’s word for it. These measurements can actually be a bit conservative, to prevent lawsuits. There were some CA lawsuits such as “Shea Homes said they were selling me a 15×20 bedroom but it was 14×18!” and the plaintiff won a settlement. This is also why dimensions are nowhere on the floor plans you get from new home developments.

However, for older homes and where dimensions are not submitted, the old methodology was to take the outside wall dimensions and subtract a certain percentage to get the livable space, which varied from 10-30% over the years, depending on current trends regarding closets, garages, etc (which don’t count as livable space). See:

http://www.kirchmeyer.com/klipsarchive/SEP2010.pdf

So, on custom homes or anything older than about 20 years, the “square footage per assessor” can often be wacky, or at least feel very different from more modern homes. Combined with sellers stretching measurements like you’ve seen, I always take a tape measure. 🙂

[permabear]

[quote=Tillers]Square footage – This is NEVER accurate to the actual size of the home. Many of the places I look at are 20-30% lower then what is listed.[/quote]

I learned a bit about assessors and square footage recently, which helps explain a bit of the looniness.

The way square footage has been assessed has changed over the years. In recent history, basically the assessor takes the tract home developer’s word for it. These measurements can actually be a bit conservative, to prevent lawsuits. There were some CA lawsuits such as “Shea Homes said they were selling me a 15×20 bedroom but it was 14×18!” and the plaintiff won a settlement. This is also why dimensions are nowhere on the floor plans you get from new home developments.

However, for older homes and where dimensions are not submitted, the old methodology was to take the outside wall dimensions and subtract a certain percentage to get the livable space, which varied from 10-30% over the years, depending on current trends regarding closets, garages, etc (which don’t count as livable space). See:

http://www.kirchmeyer.com/klipsarchive/SEP2010.pdf

So, on custom homes or anything older than about 20 years, the “square footage per assessor” can often be wacky, or at least feel very different from more modern homes. Combined with sellers stretching measurements like you’ve seen, I always take a tape measure. 🙂

[permabear]

[quote=Tillers]Square footage – This is NEVER accurate to the actual size of the home. Many of the places I look at are 20-30% lower then what is listed.[/quote]

I learned a bit about assessors and square footage recently, which helps explain a bit of the looniness.

The way square footage has been assessed has changed over the years. In recent history, basically the assessor takes the tract home developer’s word for it. These measurements can actually be a bit conservative, to prevent lawsuits. There were some CA lawsuits such as “Shea Homes said they were selling me a 15×20 bedroom but it was 14×18!” and the plaintiff won a settlement. This is also why dimensions are nowhere on the floor plans you get from new home developments.

However, for older homes and where dimensions are not submitted, the old methodology was to take the outside wall dimensions and subtract a certain percentage to get the livable space, which varied from 10-30% over the years, depending on current trends regarding closets, garages, etc (which don’t count as livable space). See:

http://www.kirchmeyer.com/klipsarchive/SEP2010.pdf

So, on custom homes or anything older than about 20 years, the “square footage per assessor” can often be wacky, or at least feel very different from more modern homes. Combined with sellers stretching measurements like you’ve seen, I always take a tape measure. 🙂

[permabear]

[quote=Tillers]Square footage – This is NEVER accurate to the actual size of the home. Many of the places I look at are 20-30% lower then what is listed.[/quote]

I learned a bit about assessors and square footage recently, which helps explain a bit of the looniness.

The way square footage has been assessed has changed over the years. In recent history, basically the assessor takes the tract home developer’s word for it. These measurements can actually be a bit conservative, to prevent lawsuits. There were some CA lawsuits such as “Shea Homes said they were selling me a 15×20 bedroom but it was 14×18!” and the plaintiff won a settlement. This is also why dimensions are nowhere on the floor plans you get from new home developments.

However, for older homes and where dimensions are not submitted, the old methodology was to take the outside wall dimensions and subtract a certain percentage to get the livable space, which varied from 10-30% over the years, depending on current trends regarding closets, garages, etc (which don’t count as livable space). See:

http://www.kirchmeyer.com/klipsarchive/SEP2010.pdf

So, on custom homes or anything older than about 20 years, the “square footage per assessor” can often be wacky, or at least feel very different from more modern homes. Combined with sellers stretching measurements like you’ve seen, I always take a tape measure. 🙂

[permabear]

[quote=Tillers]Square footage – This is NEVER accurate to the actual size of the home. Many of the places I look at are 20-30% lower then what is listed.[/quote]

I learned a bit about assessors and square footage recently, which helps explain a bit of the looniness.

The way square footage has been assessed has changed over the years. In recent history, basically the assessor takes the tract home developer’s word for it. These measurements can actually be a bit conservative, to prevent lawsuits. There were some CA lawsuits such as “Shea Homes said they were selling me a 15×20 bedroom but it was 14×18!” and the plaintiff won a settlement. This is also why dimensions are nowhere on the floor plans you get from new home developments.

However, for older homes and where dimensions are not submitted, the old methodology was to take the outside wall dimensions and subtract a certain percentage to get the livable space, which varied from 10-30% over the years, depending on current trends regarding closets, garages, etc (which don’t count as livable space). See:

http://www.kirchmeyer.com/klipsarchive/SEP2010.pdf

So, on custom homes or anything older than about 20 years, the “square footage per assessor” can often be wacky, or at least feel very different from more modern homes. Combined with sellers stretching measurements like you’ve seen, I always take a tape measure. 🙂

[paulflorez]

[quote=Tillers]SD Realtor, the reason I’m not dropping offers on every short sale I see is because I am required to leave an earnest money deposit. That’s $3K tied up (for each one) for the bank to play with while they play games with me on the waiting.[/quote]

You don’t have to leave a deposit. They do that because it’s so common for buyers to just walk away from short sales. If you make offers on 10 short sales and decide to go with 1 of them once you get approval, that’s 9 short sales that get walked away from and those people have to find new buyers who have to find new lenders who have to collect all new paperwork, etc.

Until they show you they have the short-selling bank’s approval, don’t put a single dime down. Once they show you that they have short-selling approval, it’s time to get working and you will need to put your EM in escrow.

A word of advice, if they tell you that they have bank approval, tell them to give you a COPY IN WRITING. They should send you a nice letter from the bank saying they approve and what the terms are. I learned the hard way when I was told by my real estate agent that the bank approved the sale at our offer price and that we need to get our EM in escrow and choose a lender NOW NOW NOW!!! Only to have our chosen lender call us back and tell us “there is a second lien on the house that has not approved.” OOPS! Silly RE agents, when you said “the bank approved” you meant the first lienholder approved. Both lienholders/loans were from the same bank BTW.

In fact, ask for everything in writing. You can even see the progress on the SS negotiations by asking for a copy of the short sale counter offer form. That shows all the back/forth between the short-selling bank and your real estate company.

[paulflorez]

[quote=Tillers]SD Realtor, the reason I’m not dropping offers on every short sale I see is because I am required to leave an earnest money deposit. That’s $3K tied up (for each one) for the bank to play with while they play games with me on the waiting.[/quote]

You don’t have to leave a deposit. They do that because it’s so common for buyers to just walk away from short sales. If you make offers on 10 short sales and decide to go with 1 of them once you get approval, that’s 9 short sales that get walked away from and those people have to find new buyers who have to find new lenders who have to collect all new paperwork, etc.

Until they show you they have the short-selling bank’s approval, don’t put a single dime down. Once they show you that they have short-selling approval, it’s time to get working and you will need to put your EM in escrow.

A word of advice, if they tell you that they have bank approval, tell them to give you a COPY IN WRITING. They should send you a nice letter from the bank saying they approve and what the terms are. I learned the hard way when I was told by my real estate agent that the bank approved the sale at our offer price and that we need to get our EM in escrow and choose a lender NOW NOW NOW!!! Only to have our chosen lender call us back and tell us “there is a second lien on the house that has not approved.” OOPS! Silly RE agents, when you said “the bank approved” you meant the first lienholder approved. Both lienholders/loans were from the same bank BTW.

In fact, ask for everything in writing. You can even see the progress on the SS negotiations by asking for a copy of the short sale counter offer form. That shows all the back/forth between the short-selling bank and your real estate company.

[paulflorez]

[quote=Tillers]SD Realtor, the reason I’m not dropping offers on every short sale I see is because I am required to leave an earnest money deposit. That’s $3K tied up (for each one) for the bank to play with while they play games with me on the waiting.[/quote]

You don’t have to leave a deposit. They do that because it’s so common for buyers to just walk away from short sales. If you make offers on 10 short sales and decide to go with 1 of them once you get approval, that’s 9 short sales that get walked away from and those people have to find new buyers who have to find new lenders who have to collect all new paperwork, etc.

Until they show you they have the short-selling bank’s approval, don’t put a single dime down. Once they show you that they have short-selling approval, it’s time to get working and you will need to put your EM in escrow.

A word of advice, if they tell you that they have bank approval, tell them to give you a COPY IN WRITING. They should send you a nice letter from the bank saying they approve and what the terms are. I learned the hard way when I was told by my real estate agent that the bank approved the sale at our offer price and that we need to get our EM in escrow and choose a lender NOW NOW NOW!!! Only to have our chosen lender call us back and tell us “there is a second lien on the house that has not approved.” OOPS! Silly RE agents, when you said “the bank approved” you meant the first lienholder approved. Both lienholders/loans were from the same bank BTW.

In fact, ask for everything in writing. You can even see the progress on the SS negotiations by asking for a copy of the short sale counter offer form. That shows all the back/forth between the short-selling bank and your real estate company.

[paulflorez]

[quote=Tillers]SD Realtor, the reason I’m not dropping offers on every short sale I see is because I am required to leave an earnest money deposit. That’s $3K tied up (for each one) for the bank to play with while they play games with me on the waiting.[/quote]

You don’t have to leave a deposit. They do that because it’s so common for buyers to just walk away from short sales. If you make offers on 10 short sales and decide to go with 1 of them once you get approval, that’s 9 short sales that get walked away from and those people have to find new buyers who have to find new lenders who have to collect all new paperwork, etc.

Until they show you they have the short-selling bank’s approval, don’t put a single dime down. Once they show you that they have short-selling approval, it’s time to get working and you will need to put your EM in escrow.

A word of advice, if they tell you that they have bank approval, tell them to give you a COPY IN WRITING. They should send you a nice letter from the bank saying they approve and what the terms are. I learned the hard way when I was told by my real estate agent that the bank approved the sale at our offer price and that we need to get our EM in escrow and choose a lender NOW NOW NOW!!! Only to have our chosen lender call us back and tell us “there is a second lien on the house that has not approved.” OOPS! Silly RE agents, when you said “the bank approved” you meant the first lienholder approved. Both lienholders/loans were from the same bank BTW.

In fact, ask for everything in writing. You can even see the progress on the SS negotiations by asking for a copy of the short sale counter offer form. That shows all the back/forth between the short-selling bank and your real estate company.

[Author]

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