Home buying vent (posted on the nest also)

kimber182000

Hi Ladies-

I have not really posted on the bump very much more of a lurker. I am just so mad and thought I would warn you of these agents as well.  

 

I wanted to warn any of you buying or selling a house right now to never work with Korrin Abbey or Amy Harrison. They are real estate agents at Austin Patrick and Associates. My dh and I have been house hunting and last month we found our perfect house. We were super excited about it and made an offer right away. It is a short sale so we just got a counter yesterday. I was stunned when our counter offer was 15k above the listing price. I could not understand why they would counter my offer for more than they even listed it for. I have never heard of that! My agent figured out that the listing agent listed the property 20k less then the bank approved it for to generate offers??!! I was so upset, the 20k puts the house out of our price point and we would have never even looked at it.  Korrin Abbey and Amy Harrison have deceitful business practices and I after this I will not work with them again.

ebearwife

Unfortunately that is the way it works in today's market.  I feel your pain.  We had a similar experience early on in our hunt and I don't think its the agent's fault - its the bank.  The bank calls the shots and the agents are pretty much hamstrung.

tracigator

Having just sold a rental house via short sale a few months ago, it's most likely the bank and not the agents.  Depending who at the bank gets the paperwork for the short sale will be the deciding factor on the price of the house.  We had three different offers and had to get the short sale approved 3 different times.  Each time, the short sale was approved for a different amount.  It sucks but it's legal and it is the bank's fault, not the agent's fault.  Good luck on your house hunt.

ebearwife

I will make this suggestion.  If you really love the house, go back and assess the neighborhood market value plus any value of any damage that is in the house or yard.  Then resubmit the offer in your price range reflecting the market price of a similar house in the neighborhood minus the stuff you will have to fix when you buy  the house "as is".  That is how we got our foreclosure for $100k off the listing price.

Your spreadsheet should list go something like this:

market value for similar house - $300k

similar house has finished basement, yours does not: -$20k

damage due to mold, etc. - $-$10k

and so on so forth.... Bring your camera, take pictures.

kimber182000

Thanks for the advice!

That.Just.Happened

tracigator:

Having just sold a rental house via short sale a few months ago, it's most likely the bank and not the agents.  Depending who at the bank gets the paperwork for the short sale will be the deciding factor on the price of the house.  We had three different offers and had to get the short sale approved 3 different times.  Each time, the short sale was approved for a different amount.  It sucks but it's legal and it is the bank's fault, not the agent's fault.  Good luck on your house hunt.

I agree with this.  I am a realtor and unfortunately short sales are a total nightmare and very few people (seller, agent, lender, or bank) have any real idea what is going on or how the process works because the rules keep changing.  I always tell my clients that unless it is their absolute dream home, a short sale is usually not worth the hassle of dealing with.  That being said, you can get a great deal if you are willing to be incredibly patient, and I have put several clients into really nice homes they would not have been able to otherwise afford by doing them.  But you have to be prepared for the process....and it IS a process.

Good luck!