Looks like I’m moving back to NC

[ladypanther]

20 hours ago, hepcat said:

Hitting some snags that might prevent the move...house in Austin not appraising for what we thought due to market conditions. Plus we had a measurement issue from our tax record when we bought the house to now. Apparently we have 150sq ft LESS than we thought. Impacts the price which sucks. Real estate man....times have changed. 

That does suck.  Hope it somehow works out.

[hepcat]

11 hours ago, LinvilleGorge said:

That sucks. Read through the appraisal carefully and do your homework for the rebuttal. Did the 150 less square feet play a significant role? If so, are you sure the measurement is correct? Appraisers aren't perfect. I had the opposite experience in the sale of my home in Colorado. The appraiser measured it almost 150 feet bigger than it was. I definitely didn't say anything but I measured the house myself before we closed when we bought it. The listed figure was within 5 feet of my measurement. The appraiser was wrong, but it was in my favor so sweet. I think he probably counted the downstairs bedroom twice. He was off by exactly that much.

It was definitely a surprise since we bought the house for a price that reflected the higher square footage, and the appraisal when we bought the house was very close to the original number.

In passing I told my neighbor about this, and he said the previous owner had converted the garage to a finished room at some point. So we think the tax assessment sq footage was including the garage which is not finished space now. We might be able to get a credit back on our taxes though but that’s a small consolation. 

Not sure what we’re going to do. Waiting another week or two until our deadline and keeping an eye on the housing market. There are houses in our neighborhood that have sold quickly but most of them are sitting for 2 months with little activity. But part of that is that summer in Austin is the slow season due to the heat. So if we wait to list during the fall we might have better luck. 

[LinvilleGorge]

30 minutes ago, hepcat said:

It was definitely a surprise since we bought the house for a price that reflected the higher square footage, and the appraisal when we bought the house was very close to the original number.

In passing I told my neighbor about this, and he said the previous owner had converted the garage to a finished room at some point. So we think the tax assessment sq footage was including the garage which is not finished space now. We might be able to get a credit back on our taxes though but that’s a small consolation. 

Not sure what we’re going to do. Waiting another week or two until our deadline and keeping an eye on the housing market. There are houses in our neighborhood that have sold quickly but most of them are sitting for 2 months with little activity. But part of that is that summer in Austin is the slow season due to the heat. So if we wait to list during the fall we might have better luck. 

Yeah, I get the seasonal stuff. We bought our house at almost 8k feet in elevation in CO in the winter. Nothing moves up there in the winter. Folks come up there and see three feet of snow on the ground and single digit temps and run back to Denver. We would've almost certainly lost a bidding war if that house had hit the market in the summer.

[hepcat]

11 minutes ago, LinvilleGorge said:

Yeah, I get the seasonal stuff. We bought our house at almost 8k feet in elevation in CO in the winter. Nothing moves up there in the winter. Folks come up there and see three feet of snow on the ground and single digit temps and run back to Denver. We would've almost certainly lost a bidding war if that house had hit the market in the summer.

Yea that's the same everywhere but sometimes flip flopped since you'd think Summer is the busy time anywhere, but Austin definitely not. I tend to think we might benefit from waiting because we could get a better deal on a house in Wilmington if we waited. A similar house in the same neighborhood for the house we have under contract sold for $75k less in December 2022. But it's tough to gauge the market like that, we still bought at a reasonable price in a really desirable area with low volume. It's going to be a really tough decision. 

[thefuzz]

2 hours ago, hepcat said:

Yea that's the same everywhere but sometimes flip flopped since you'd think Summer is the busy time anywhere, but Austin definitely not. I tend to think we might benefit from waiting because we could get a better deal on a house in Wilmington if we waited. A similar house in the same neighborhood for the house we have under contract sold for $75k less in December 2022. But it's tough to gauge the market like that, we still bought at a reasonable price in a really desirable area with low volume. It's going to be a really tough decision. 

Let me know if you need some pointers about the ILM market, been in it for 20 years.  Don't do general real estate, meaning I don't tote buyers around and I don't list homes, but very much in the business.

 

[Brooklyn 3.0]

Just eat some of the money, hepcat, unless you're on a tight budget. You won't regret coastal living. After 12 years in Brooklyn, I just moved to Rockaway Beach (still NYC oddly enough) and it's great. 5 degrees cooler on average than the city, very quiet, constant sea breeze, everyone is chill and relaxed. Of course, I'm right on the ocean. I don't know if beach life is as good if you're far inland. But I say go for it, dude.

[hepcat]

1 hour ago, Brooklyn 3.0 said:

Just eat some of the money, hepcat, unless you're on a tight budget. You won't regret coastal living. After 12 years in Brooklyn, I just moved to Rockaway Beach (still NYC oddly enough) and it's great. 5 degrees cooler on average than the city, very quiet, constant sea breeze, everyone is chill and relaxed. Of course, I'm right on the ocean. I don't know if beach life is as good if you're far inland. But I say go for it, dude.

We are probably still going to move, but not because it financially makes sense. The house we got is a gem and the previous owners took really good care of it. The yard is beautiful and the neighborhood is awesome. We did get it for a good price. And my wife is hell bent on living next to the coast again and she has dropped some not so subtle hints that I’d be in the doghouse until we eventually moved if I back us out of this.

I am not on a tight budget, but there’s a limit. I’ve put almost $175k into the house we live in now. We completely remodeled it from top to bottom over the last almost 5 years. I even built a backyard office where I work every day. Our realtor has been doing a lot of leg work to get us all the information we need to list it and the feedback has been awful. I already mentioned the square footage decrease surprise which knocked about $40-50k off the potential list price. Then our realtor started reaching out to the listing agents for comparable houses in the neighborhood. It’s bleak. Really nice houses in the same price range we plan to list are sitting for 2+ months with as little as 1 showing and zero offers. A few of the nicer ones have gotten lowball offers that they are actually considering.

I am willing to eat some cost if our house won’t sell for the top dollar we thought it would, but some of the prices I’m seeing we might sell it for are so low it’s almost offensive. I did not expect the Austin housing market to be struggling this much. 

[toldozer]

13 minutes ago, hepcat said:

We are probably still going to move, but not because it financially makes sense. The house we got is a gem and the previous owners took really good care of it. The yard is beautiful and the neighborhood is awesome. We did get it for a good price. And my wife is hell bent on living next to the coast again and she has dropped some not so subtle hints that I’d be in the doghouse until we eventually moved if I back us out of this.

I am not on a tight budget, but there’s a limit. I’ve put almost $175k into the house we live in now. We completely remodeled it from top to bottom over the last almost 5 years. I even built a backyard office where I work every day. Our realtor has been doing a lot of leg work to get us all the information we need to list it and the feedback has been awful. I already mentioned the square footage decrease surprise which knocked about $40-50k off the potential list price. Then our realtor started reaching out to the listing agents for comparable houses in the neighborhood. It’s bleak. Really nice houses in the same price range we plan to list are sitting for 2+ months with as little as 1 showing and zero offers. A few of the nicer ones have gotten lowball offers that they are actually considering.

I am willing to eat some cost if our house won’t sell for the top dollar we thought it would, but some of the prices I’m seeing we might sell it for are so low it’s almost offensive. I did not expect the Austin housing market to be struggling this much. 

Did you actually have it appraised pre listing. Usually you don't get anything but bad news. Run the comps get it listed and let the buyers find out about the appraisal after they've already committed funds. 

[hepcat]

2 hours ago, toldozer said:

Did you actually have it appraised pre listing. Usually you don't get anything but bad news. Run the comps get it listed and let the buyers find out about the appraisal after they've already committed funds. 

We didn’t get it fully appraised but we had a measurement done after our realtor asked me to confirm our square footage due to conflicting records on our property taxes. 

[LinvilleGorge]

4 hours ago, hepcat said:

We are probably still going to move, but not because it financially makes sense. The house we got is a gem and the previous owners took really good care of it. The yard is beautiful and the neighborhood is awesome. We did get it for a good price. And my wife is hell bent on living next to the coast again and she has dropped some not so subtle hints that I’d be in the doghouse until we eventually moved if I back us out of this.

I am not on a tight budget, but there’s a limit. I’ve put almost $175k into the house we live in now. We completely remodeled it from top to bottom over the last almost 5 years. I even built a backyard office where I work every day. Our realtor has been doing a lot of leg work to get us all the information we need to list it and the feedback has been awful. I already mentioned the square footage decrease surprise which knocked about $40-50k off the potential list price. Then our realtor started reaching out to the listing agents for comparable houses in the neighborhood. It’s bleak. Really nice houses in the same price range we plan to list are sitting for 2+ months with as little as 1 showing and zero offers. A few of the nicer ones have gotten lowball offers that they are actually considering.

I am willing to eat some cost if our house won’t sell for the top dollar we thought it would, but some of the prices I’m seeing we might sell it for are so low it’s almost offensive. I did not expect the Austin housing market to be struggling this much. 

Oof. That's rough. If it won't put you in a financial bind I'd bounce. I don't see an overall housing crash coming but I think markets that were really overheated in recent years have some significant cooling off to do. Austin is near the top of that list.

[hepcat]

10 hours ago, LinvilleGorge said:

Oof. That's rough. If it won't put you in a financial bind I'd bounce. I don't see an overall housing crash coming but I think markets that were really overheated in recent years have some significant cooling off to do. Austin is near the top of that list.

If it was just my decision, I'd already be backed out of this deal given the reduced square footage and market conditions...but I have a family to think about and there may never be the perfect time to leave.

I do think part of the issue is the season. Summer in Austin makes you want to die. It hasn't rained in 2 months. It's been 105+ every day for the past few weeks, over 100 for 43 straight days with no end in sight (breaking the all time record for most consecutive 100+ degree days). I mean look at this forecast!

All the vegetation is dead. Our yard dead. Trees look sick. I had always planned to list our house in the Spring when our yard looks beautiful, but here we are. Rain should return in September so hopefully that helps with the temps and vegetation. Still have a little less than 3 weeks to make a final decision. Should be getting the home inspection report from the ILM house today and maybe there's some things I can use to reduce the price.

[ladypanther]

That is terrible !

[LinvilleGorge]

I've been to Austin quite a few times because the Cabela's in Buda is one of the top locations in the country and then they opened the Bass Pro in Round Rock. Yeah, summer is miserable. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And I make brisket every bit as good at home and there ain't no stinkin' lines for days.

[Brooklyn 3.0]

On 8/4/2023 at 7:35 AM, hepcat said:

If it was just my decision, I'd already be backed out of this deal given the reduced square footage and market conditions...but I have a family to think about and there may never be the perfect time to leave.

I do think part of the issue is the season. Summer in Austin makes you want to die. It hasn't rained in 2 months. It's been 105+ every day for the past few weeks, over 100 for 43 straight days with no end in sight (breaking the all time record for most consecutive 100+ degree days). I mean look at this forecast!

All the vegetation is dead. Our yard dead. Trees look sick. I had always planned to list our house in the Spring when our yard looks beautiful, but here we are. Rain should return in September so hopefully that helps with the temps and vegetation. Still have a little less than 3 weeks to make a final decision. Should be getting the home inspection report from the ILM house today and maybe there's some things I can use to reduce the price.

SCREW THAT. I would die.

Here are my next 10 HIGHS: 78, 77, 80, 82, 80, 79, 80, 80, 82, and 82.