House prices when buying - do they sell for below, on or above the listing? (Phoenix: short sales, foreclosures)

[kodokan]

Hi all

I'm continuing to research our rapidly approaching move from Switzerland to Phoenix, and to avoid school disruption I'm trying to see if we can rent in an area that we could ultimately buy in after the first year.

We'll be looking to buy in the $250-$350k range, depending on area, upgrades necessary, etc. Assuming $350k is our top comfort level, what price of houses would be looking at on sites like Zillow and Trulia? (Let's also assume I'm talking about houses that are pretty much correctly priced for their area and the sellers' situation).

Now, in England where we're from, if I wanted to buy around 350, I'd be looking in the 350-385 price range, because we're in a strong chain-free buying position and it's the cultural norm there to make an offer around 5-10% off the listing price. In Switzerland where I am now, I'd look at 350, because houses here typically sell at the price given, as if they're goods in a shop. In Scotland, the system is 'offers over', so I'd look at listings in the 300 range or even lower, and expect to have to make an offer that's substantially higher.

So how does it largely work there, please, so I can get an idea of which areas I can look at on Zillow and so on, and be confident that we can buy there within our price range?

And does anyone know of a website or a good book that explains the US property buying process for US newbies?

Thanks very much for any help.

kodokan

[TiredOfyycCold]

Once again from my limited experience... Phoenix truly is the wild west!

You will find that houses go below the asking price (sometimes up to 30%), at the asking price and above the asking price in this current market. It's a crap-shoot and depends on many factors, most notably whether the house is REO, Short sale or regular owner occupied sale.

I would search in a range from your minimum up to 30% over your maximum. Make sure you use a better site for searching than trulia or zillow... I would suggest captain Bill's site. It runs on current data (unlike trulia or zillow) and allows you to add very specific criteria like neighborhood or zip code to search, min/max # of bedrooms, min/max # of bathrooms, min/max square footage, pool/ no pool and a multitude of other factors that may be important to you.

I would also suggest finding a buyers agent that can help you decide on neighborhoods to start searching in - Phoenix is huge... kind of like saying I'm looking to buy a house in London. There is no cost to you for using a buyers agent (except potentially in short sales) and a good one is invaluable. Just make sure you find someone who has LOTS of experience in this specific market.

Good luck!

[kodokan]

Thank you, Tired, very helpful points.

Originally Posted by TiredOfyycCold

I would search in a range from your minimum up to 30% over your maximum. Make sure you use a better site for searching than trulia or zillow... I would suggest captain Bill's site.

Assuming links to other sites aren't allowed on here, but if someone could send me the URL via PM I'd be grateful. I've read lots of Captain Bill's informative posts on the housing market.

Originally Posted by TiredOfyycCold

I would also suggest finding a buyers agent that can help you decide on neighborhoods to start searching in - Phoenix is huge... kind of like saying I'm looking to buy a house in London. There is no cost to you for using a buyers agent (except potentially in short sales) and a good one is invaluable. Just make sure you find someone who has LOTS of experience in this specific market.

Absolutely, although we've bought houses before in the UK the process here is all new to us, especially foreclosures and short sales. At the moment, I'm trying to come up with a mental Venn diagram to overlap 'work commute' with 'K-6 school district' with 'area we like that we could eventually buy in', so that when our move date comes through and we need to jump on a rental for the first year, I can confidently say 'we'll take this one' and then hopefully not have to completely change areas in a year's time when we buy. I'm surrounded by printouts from Google maps sketched over with school boundaries and sticky dots!

But overall, if I ignore distressed sales and houses that are clearly going to be a renovation money pit, I should be looking in perhaps 300-400k when aiming to ultimately spend 350k. Cool, very useful to know.

*goes back to Zillow and adjusts parameters whilst waiting impatiently for details of Capt Bill's site*

[TiredOfyycCold]

Moderator cut: snip

I think you'll find that when searching on line you may come up with too many listings that match your criteria (depending on how broad your criteria is)....

And since you've bought homes before, I'm sure you're aware of how pictures sometimes don't tell the whole picture.... or sometimes downright lie!

I found using google street view very useful to "drive" around specific neighborhoods and get a feel for an area - although some of the street view images are a few years old. The satellite shots are updated regularly, but not street view.

Also remember to look at HOA fees if applicable. It was important for us to be in an area with an HOA, but others look only for areas without an HOA - it's really personal preference. My feeling is that in this market I want some slight assurance that my neighborhood won't turn into a slum and bring property values down even further (if that is possible).

Good Luck!

[khuntrevor]

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/2121-W-Royal-Palm-Rd-APT-1065-Phoenix-AZ-85021/2138155204_zpid/#{scid=hdp-site-map-bubble-address}

This condo was listed for 66,900. I paid 22,000. It had sold three years earlier for 119,000. Zillow is accurate in some markets--not this one.

Moderator cut: off topic

[rgscpat]

For us, HOAs were a negative because we wanted freedom to change the appearance of our house or remodel without having to ask the permission of an architectural control committee. And, we weren't sure we'd get our money's worth from the fees they charge -- but everyone is different and some people like the amenities of an HOA and the ability to control what color the neighbors paint their front door.

[Jkgourmet]

Originally Posted by khuntrevor

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/2121-W-Royal-Palm-Rd-APT-1065-Phoenix-AZ-85021/2138155204_zpid/#{scid=hdp-site-map-bubble-address}

This condo was listed for 66,900. I paid 22,000. It had sold three years earlier for 119,000. Zillow is accurate in some markets--not this one.

Moderator cut: off topic

What does this have to do with the topic? The OP is not looking at condo's, that area of the valley, or in that price range. And what it sold for three years ago has no bearing on ANYTHING.

good for you that you paid so much less than listing. But seriously - this gentlemen has already stated he has concerns about school systems and is going to rent for a year before buying (sensible). Moderator cut: personal

Simply explaining why you felt zillow was inaccurate sometimes would have been far more helpful, IMHO.

[kodokan]

Thanks, all. Well, we're a way off buying yet - first of all we have to move over there, then swap our L1 visas for green cards - but when we do, we'll be looking for older properties on larger lots. Hubby grew up on a farm and likes to tinker with old cars, so somewhere with an oversized garage/workshop would be good, with plenty of parking. The school district has to be right too, of course. And shops within a couple of miles, as I'm firmly planning on being a weirdy European who bikes to the supermarket with a trailer .

The sort of places I've been looking at this evening, for example, are properties in the Paradise Valley school district just north of Cactus Road, between the 101 and Paradise Valley mall area. Or some of the pockets of Gilbert, the lots of about 1/2 to 1 acre that are quite rural-looking (being English, I can't quite bring myself to love desert landscaping just yet, but I'm really working on that...).

That's why I wanted to check how the pricing works - there are properties in those areas that fit our criteria and are comfortably in the price range, but that's no use to me if I find out that they always end up being in a bidding war and you have to mentally add another $100k on top!

If you have any suggestions of other areas I should look for similar properties (commuting to near Sky Harbor), I'd love to hear your ideas.

Thanks a lot.

[Kimballette]

Originally Posted by kodokan

Thanks, all. Well, we're a way off buying yet - first of all we have to move over there, then swap our L1 visas for green cards - but when we do, we'll be looking for older properties on larger lots. Hubby grew up on a farm and likes to tinker with old cars, so somewhere with an oversized garage/workshop would be good, with plenty of parking. The school district has to be right too, of course. And shops within a couple of miles, as I'm firmly planning on being a weirdy European who bikes to the supermarket with a trailer .

The sort of places I've been looking at this evening, for example, are properties in the Paradise Valley school district just north of Cactus Road, between the 101 and Paradise Valley mall area. Or some of the pockets of Gilbert, the lots of about 1/2 to 1 acre that are quite rural-looking (being English, I can't quite bring myself to love desert landscaping just yet, but I'm really working on that...).

That's why I wanted to check how the pricing works - there are properties in those areas that fit our criteria and are comfortably in the price range, but that's no use to me if I find out that they always end up being in a bidding war and you have to mentally add another $100k on top!

If you have any suggestions of other areas I should look for similar properties (commuting to near Sky Harbor), I'd love to hear your ideas.

Thanks a lot.

I love the bike with trailer idea, at least during the cooler times of year.

The areas you've identified thus far are great areas. The commute to the airport to Gilbert would be tiresome, however. The north Phoenix PV School District area is much better in terms of commute.

[kodokan]

Originally Posted by Kimballette

I love the bike with trailer idea, at least during the cooler times of year.

The areas you've identified thus far are great areas. The commute to the airport to Gilbert would be tiresome, however. The north Phoenix PV School District area is much better in terms of commute.

Thanks Kimballette - it's an electric assist bike (because I'm currently in much hillier Switzerland), so perhaps usable most months bar July and August. The air swishing past makes a nice cooling breeze...

Nice to hear that the PV commute would be ok. When we did a visit in May we stayed in Val Vista Lakes, and hubby found that mostly took him about 25-30 mins, which is within his tolerance zone (he likes audio books whilst driving). The places I'm looking at aren't far off Baseline, on the crossroads of Lindsay Rd and Houston Ave - within 30 mins from Sky Harbor, would you say? He could flex time of day a little to suit. The other clump is a bit lower down Lindsay, between Elliot and Warner, but it doesn't look that far on Google.