Just to add another thing....we are also looking at foreclosures. We aren't blind. We realize that to get a half-way decent property for a good price that is what we are going to be dealing with. We are fine with that fact. I also realize that means more money will have to go into it. We have family members (father and uncle) that are plumbers and home builders so we have that covered in terms of not having to pay a contractor to help us fix something up. - Tue Mar 4 2008, 07:07
Seriously Don, I am not here to argue with anyone. We fired our first agent for many reasons. One being that she wanted us to put offers down on houses that was more than we could afford. The house we ended up putting an offer on (we put in an offer lower than what she suggested...she told us "no way they will deal with you"....but they ended up dealing with us....everytime they countered she told us to take the offer instead of recountering.....if we had taken her advice we would have paid 50k higher. She definitely wasn't looking out for our best interest.....it seemed that she just wanted a quick sale and her comission)There were others reasons too but I'm not going to get into that right now.
Another reason we decided to move on with another realtor is because we like Ashburn better than the houses we were looking at in Germantown/Gaithersburg. We have made up our minds...we are going to live in Ashburn and we are looking for a townhouse. I understand that we aren't going to find our dream house and we aren't trying to do that. We aren't being unrealistic in our search. We aren't looking for houses that are 350k and expecting to pay 200 or 250k. The ones we have been looking at are 260k and under. We actually looked at 12 houses on Sunday that fit our criteria and that we could afford. And, yes I do find it offensive for someone to say I can't afford to live somewhere. Sorry if that irritates you....that's just the way it is. Bottom line here is: We want to live in ashburn, in a townhouse, for around 230-250k and it seems to me that we found that on sunday. The realtor we are dealing with now is much better than the first one we had....he is much more honest with us and actually is telling us every detail of home buying...which our first realtor did not. She knew we were first time home buyers but failed to tell us ALOT of things.
Anyway, I am done arguing with you or anyone else ....it is just making this whole process of home buying worse. - Tue Mar 4 2008, 06:59
Brad,
I totally understand what you are saying, but you have no idea what the cost of living is around the DC area. The amount of money we are spending in rent right now will be the same exact amount as our mortgage. Our lease is going to be up in 2 months and are rent will jump up $300 a month (which is more than what a mortgage payment will be.) The bottom line is that we don't want to rent anymore...no matter what our rent payment is. All of the houses we have been looking at have come down in price significantly (50k to over 100k) so we will definitely be making some kind of profit in 5+ years. - Sat Mar 1 2008, 11:27
Just to respond to a few of the comments. We definitely do not want to rent anymore! We are throwing our money away and not being able to save very much at all because rent is unbelievably high. I feel like that is the worst suggestion I have read so far.
Also, we do not want to live in Prince William County....that is just getting further and further away. We like Ashburn and we have found some houses there that we can afford. I find it offensive that you feel Ashburn "might be priced a bit too high for you." - Sat Mar 1 2008, 08:50
Are they even going to listen to the "small requests" since most of the houses we are looking at are foreclosures and being sold AS IS? Also, how much is a "little" over our comfort zone? - Fri Feb 29 2008, 23:15
we do not have a down payment...we are looking to do 100% financing. We have since fired that agent and are now working with some one else. She was way too pushy and basically wanted us to put an offer down on any house we "liked." We are also now looking in the ashburn area of VA. - Fri Feb 29 2008, 21:45
Thanks. That's what we were thinking too, but what about the houses that have only been on the market for a week or so? I am thinking that is out of the question to low ball their listing.....what's your opinion? - Sat Feb 9 2008, 17:59
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