784 replies to this topic

[jade76]

It's new series, like My First Place but from the sellers point of view, follows people who are selling their first home. Tonight's couple figured out how much money they needed to buy a new place and decided they HAD to get that much from the sale of the old place, and seeemd surprised to hear about realtor's fees. They did end up accepting a slightly lower price then their must have price after inspection and were still able to clear about $80,000 from the sale of the old one and were happy with that.

In looking for a new house, wife of course said she would change out the kitchen and put granite and stainless steel in the new place.

Edited by jade76, Mar 18, 2010 @ 9:44 PM.

[DebB]

It was kind of interesting seeing things from the seller's point of view, and I think it makes a good companion for for My First Place. That said, I couldn't feel too sorry for this couple. They were acting strapped for cash, but looking at the huge, nice house they bought...I just feel like that's a choice they made for themselves. They couldn't have been that strapped for cash, because, as has already been pointed out, the first thing the woman wanted to do was trade out perfectly functional appliances for stainless steel, and the tile counters for granite. I understand liking those things, but they shouldn't be "must haves" if you're already struggling to stretch your money.

[Catgirl14]

I thought it was nice to see it from the sellers pov, but I felt no sorrow for this duo. Did they really think that someone was going to pay more for their house simply because they needed a certain selling price. I never thought they were getting that listing price, and neither did their real estate agent.

Then they moved to what seemed to be the first house they looked at, and paid over budget. Why? 42,000 over budget and yet they are talking about replacing what looked like perfectly good counter tops with granite. Where are they getting the money for that? Is his job with his Dad going to pay that much? They are already living beyond their means. Were they that far away from his new job that they couldn't have stayed where they were for a couple more years? they kept talking about the kids, but they didn't have any yet. Even if they had one baby, they had a room for it. I don't get it. Still I did find it interesting.

[kitty32]

I did not like this couple. Didn't they say they'd only lived in the house for three years? And because they wanted to put at least 20 percent on a larger, more expensive house, they wanted a buyer to give them $100,000 more than they paid. And it was a tiny house, I thought it was overpriced for what they payed for it. They just weren't sympathetic because they acted so entitled.

[JasmineFlower]

Give me Buy Me anyday. This isn't as good as I would hope it would be, and I don't think the tone of saying things like "being a first time home seller" works as well as "being a first time home buyer" as is said on My First Place.

I didn't like this couple. They wanted the people who bought their house to pay for their new house. It totally annoys me when people get indignant about their home price and the reasoning is, "but we need it to get into our new home." I really miss Donna and Shannon Freeman who used to say on Secrets That Sell to the sellers - "That's really interesting. In your new place you are buying, are you giving them an additional $50k over the market price so they can get into a new house? Cause that's what you're asking for." It shut them up real quick. Someone needed to say it to this couple. Their whiny, we've lost $20k and all crap was very annoying and way too entitled. They should be grateful there's any equity in their house aside from their down payment given the amount of time they lived there. I'm guessing they pit down something like $40k on their first place and made about $60k in profits in less than 5 years? I don't want to hear complaints about that, especially since they were selling in 2009 and Denver was definitely a problematic real estate market.

By the end, I didn't hate them as much as I did in the beginning. The inspection demands were not unreasonable given that the house was built in the late 1800s and I'm glad they either realized that or were told that and they didn't put up a huge fight. Foundation issues can be expensive, they're lucky they got away with so little, things in the basement didn't look even.

I don't think they were living beyond their means with their new home. They clearly have money in savings. They just were greedy with the real estate market and didn't want to touch their savings. They have two incomes, seem like good ones given their professions, they have savings, they didn't seem overextended with the new house, despite going over budget. I'm not sure that original $400k budget was based on much more than them knowing they had to spend more and what down payment they could afford. And I don't think they bought the first home they saw, its just that part wasn't very in depth.

Edited by JasmineFlower, Mar 19, 2010 @ 3:36 AM.

[Ahoskie59]

I did not like this couple. Didn't they say they'd only lived in the house for three years? And because they wanted to put at least 20 percent on a larger, more expensive house, they wanted a buyer to give them $100,000 more than they paid. And it was a tiny house, I thought it was overpriced for what they payed for it. They just weren't sympathetic because they acted so entitled.

I agree. I had NO sympathy for them. The house they were living in was perfectly fine, to me there was no reason to move out. Whatever happened to a young couple getting married, renting an apartment for a few years and then saving to purchase the home you want and then stay there until the children have grown? Now it seems like everybody HAS to have a house before they walk down the aisle and then in a few years they'll need a bigger house with ten bedroom and nine bathrooms because hubby needs his "mancave" and the wife has to have a large kitchen and a purpose room and a room to do her crafts and many bedrooms for all the entertaining they just have to do.

[kitty32]

This show seems to be the home of the entitiled. This couple wanted to move because the house would be unsafe for the baby. That staircase would be unsafe for anyone and was sure to be an inspection issue. But, since they had an interest-only loan they owed as much as they had payed on the house and were bitching and moaning that if they didn't get a good price for the row house they'd have to ... dah, dah, dah, doo ... rent!! Then they went out and put a bid in on a new house -- and although maybe I missed it, there didn't seem to be any discussion on how they were financing that one.

Confusing and pretty odd.

[jade76]

I couldn't believe they were haggling over $750 at the end. Let's hope they didn't get another interest only loan for the new place.

[Catgirl14]

I going to stop watching this show if they don't get some people on who aren't entitled jerks. The couple last night (thank goodness they had that baby to stop me from wanting to punch them). All that talk about the stairs as though that wasn't a hazard from day one. Who are they kidding? I would have fallen with my lousy luck. The weird basement which would be a no sell for me, and only one bedroom. Why does no one get the concept at this point that no buyer wants to see your personal stuff dumped all over the place, let alone your kid's toys? If necessary, get a storage locker so you can maintain the staged look and then you can just move that stuff when the place sells (if it ever sells).

The haggling they were doing at the end made me hope the buyer would leave them high and dry. I want to know how they paid for their new place. I really hope they have the brains to start paying on their mortgage this time. I really did think we were going to be seeing them in a rental after all that drama.

[JasmineFlower]

I repeat, give me Buy Me anyday.

How exactly is $750 going to be the difference between buying and renting? How exactly did they buy the new house, a down payment from savings? The haggling over $750 was ridiculous. They should have been down on their hands and knees thanking God that some sucker out there wanted a one bedroom, one bathroom HOUSE in this market when they could spend the same and get two bedrooms. They should have taken any offer and ran.

When they kept saying that for them, every dollar counted, I wondered what made them think they were so special that every dollar didn't count for others.

And what would have been really perfect, since they were too cheap to fix, excuse me, install a banister in their house to make sure that them, their guests, or their kid didn't kill themselves getting down the steps, is if one of the visitors to their house had fallen on the stairs. Talk about a lawsuit waiting to happen. That is not a problem you leave unfixed even though you have strangers coming to tour your house daily. Completely idiotic.

[Ahoskie59]

That staircase would be unsafe for anyone and was sure to be an inspection issue.

I agree. A friend of mine and her husband bought a house with a staircase just like that and he put up a banister right after they moved into the house. Why couldn't they have done that?

How did they finance their new home if they only broke even with the sale? I wish the buyer would have made them fix the banister so they would have lost money in the deal.

I have a feeling that they were like those people on "Property Virgins" and "My First Place" that HAVE to have a house, despite not having enough money even though renting an apartment or buying a house with more than one bedroom and one bathroom would have been better.

[ccphilly]

Anybody see the couple in Colorado carrying 2 mortgages? He was trying to sell his childhood home and had already purchased a new house with the wife. I can't belive how much they were putting out a month between the 2 places. I guess I missed something-why didn't they sell the old place before buying the new one (the one with the $2900! a month mortgage)?

[jade76]

He was reluctant to let go of his childhood home and at first was pushing to rent it instead. When he said he took out a home equity loan to pay off credit cards and pay cash for a car I thought not again. Your home is not an ATM people, no wonder they couldn't sell for enough to pay off the mortgage. I'm always surprised at how much staging drives up the cost, they listed for $20,000 higher after the stager came in.

[Ahoskie59]

I didn't get why he and his wife weren't living in his childhood home. Why didn't his parents sell it years ago?

[kitty32]

His parents sold it to him for $175,000 -- then he'd taken out an equity loan to pay off credit cards and pay cash for the car which brought it up to 189,000. I don't know how long he'd been carrying that loan but they needed almost that much to break even so it couldn't have been that long. I'm not really sure why they couldn't have lived there for several more years, got the mortgage paid down some and then looked for another place. Buying a new house before you've even made much of an effort to sell the old one -- especially with a huge second mortgage -- seems crazy. And that was not an appealing house they were selling.

He obviously did not want to sell the house because of his sentimental attachment. They might have been better off renting it for the mortgage payment or a little above until he was ready to let go. I'm sure there are agencies or realtors who will find tenants and check them out for you. Then in a few years they could sell it without having to take a loss. I wasn't sure why she was so adamant about selling rather than renting.

[Ahoskie59]

His parents sold it to him for $175,000 -- then he'd taken out an equity loan to pay off credit cards and pay cash for the car which brought it up to 189,000. I don't know how long he'd been carrying that loan but they needed almost that much to break even so it couldn't have been that long. I'm not really sure why they couldn't have lived there for several more years, got the mortgage paid down some and then looked for another place.

They probably sold him the house with the understanding that he'd either live in it or rent it out. It seemed he lived close to the house, so why not rent? I have a feeling something was left out of this episode.

[JasmineFlower]

I hated the wife. Will he end up being mad at her in the future? Yeah, honey he probably will. You lost $35k on the deal and you made him sell his childhood home before he was ready, when you could have rented it for a few years and made the transition easier. Ridiculous to take that kind of loss when you aren't forced into that situation and add to that its his childhood home and she shouldn't just ignore his connection to it nor piss off her in laws, didn't make much sense.

[lz1982]

I sort of understood why she didn't want to rent it out--being a landlord is a whole other ballgame. I didn't get why they had bought a second house right away, though. True, the guy's childhood home only had one bathroom, but there were only the two of them there. Seems like it could have served them for a few years.

Also, the $2900 mortgage on their new house? Yikes.

[livinggreen]

If the Denver couple (no bannister house) needed every single dollar of their $189,000 asking price or they would have to rent. How did they buy a house for $44,000 over asking ?

[Bentley]

The realtor told him his childhood home after all the improvements he'd made plus staging could possibly sell for 170,000. Possibly. So if that was the best-case scenario for that house, did the guy get stiffed by his own parents by paying 175,000 a few years prior when the house was in even worse condition? I guess every family is different but in my family we have the "family discount" when we buy things from each other.

I'd like to know what that couple's combined income is that they could even contemplate 6000.00+ in monthly expenses. They seemed mildly worried at some points but not in panic attack mode like I would be, and they even turned down the first offer.

[JasmineFlower]

I sort of understood why she didn't want to rent it out--being a landlord is a whole other ballgame. I didn't get why they had bought a second house right away, though. True, the guy's childhood home only had one bathroom, but there were only the two of them there. Seems like it could have served them for a few years.

First, being a landlord doesn't have to be bad, even if not ideal, and if she wanted something handsoff, they could hire a management company to do it for them. I don't see how that option is possibly worse than losing $35k just because and the situation wasn't forced. I don't know anyone including those who have more money than these two who would just breezily take a $35k hit as happily as these two did. It was strange.

As for why not living there. I didn't like his childhood home and the area didn't look to be anything special. My guess was the wife said they were moving and they moved to a more yuppie area. I understood not living in his childhood home because I wouldn't have wanted to live there either. But, its obviously a personal preference. Doesn't mean they necessarily need to move into what looked to be a 4 bedroom house in a newly built community for the two of them though.

The realtor told him his childhood home after all the improvements he'd made plus staging could possibly sell for 170,000. Possibly. So if that was the best-case scenario for that house, did the guy get stiffed by his own parents by paying 175,000 a few years prior when the house was in even worse condition? I guess every family is different but in my family we have the "family discount" when we buy things from each other.

Well, let's remember that they sold this house to him about 5 years ago and this is Denver. That likely means the house was worth much more than the current value the realtor placed on it in this episode. I think there was definitely a family discount here. So, as a guess, the parents may have been able to sell the house for $225k but instead sold it to him for $175k. Denver has been hit very hard by the real estate crisis, so whatever today's value is in most areas is going to be substantially less than 5 years ago unfortunately.

I'd like to know what that couple's combined income is that they could even contemplate 6000.00+ in monthly expenses. They seemed mildly worried at some points but not in panic attack mode like I would be, and they even turned down the first offer.

I wish we knew a ballpark of their salaries. They give them on My First Home (TLC) either an estimate or just their income and I like that, let's you know if they are living way above their means or what. They never seemed to panic, I agree, and somehow were only anecdotally upset about losing $30k+, in was very good natured at the end. Go figure. I didn't get the impression they were pulling down $500k between them a year and this isn't going to be felt by them in some way.

[lz1982]

First, being a landlord doesn't have to be bad, even if not ideal, and if she wanted something handsoff, they could hire a management company to do it for them. I don't see how that option is possibly worse than losing $35k just because and the situation wasn't forced. I don't know anyone including those who have more money than these two who would just breezily take a $35k hit as happily as these two did. It was strange.

I agree--being a landlord was preferable to just leaving the house on the market and they never should have had two mortgages to begin with. I just meant, I could understand why she wouldn't want to be a landlord.

[JasmineFlower]

I'm still confused by this couple and their willingness to lose $35k. It repeated last night, and I caught a few minutes and there is actually a scene where he asks her, is it worth it to sell this house if we have to lose $30k to do so? Obviously he didn't think so, but she also said no, its not worth it. So, truly, color me confused.

[DebB]

If the Denver couple (no bannister house) needed every single dollar of their $189,000 asking price or they would have to rent. How did they buy a house for $44,000 over asking ?

I finally caught this episode, and I didn't get that, either. Also, why sell at all? Just put up a railing and buy a baby gate. They didn't really seem to be in a financial position to upgrade.

Edited by DebB, Apr 6, 2010 @ 10:47 PM.

[Skittl1321]

I like this show. It's not as interesting as the "find a house" variety show- but it's given me a new perspective on selling a house. I think most people just hope they get as much as they paid for, I guess I never realized just how expensive it is to sell the house, even though I new the seller paid both realtors fees...

[aliyameadow]

I can see why the Denver couple would want a house with a bedroom for the baby; a baby in the parents' room gets old pretty fast. What I don't get is why a couple would buy a 1 bedroom house. Did the house belong to one of them before they got together or did they buy it together?

News flash folks, if you're living together, of the opposite sex, and having sex, you may make a baby. Why not buy at least a 2 bedroom town home as the first house, then there's no pressure to leave just because a baby comes along. Yeah, I know we've seen plenty of people on HGTV who think they must move from their 2-3 bedroom house because of a baby, but in reality, they don't have to move, they just want to move. That staircase without the railing looked like a death trap for someone carrying a baby up and down the stairs. I don't know why they didn't put one up, at least on the wall side, before this.

So, they got an interest only mortgage and made 50-odd dollars on the sale. Smooth smoothies, for sure. The market may be down, but an interest only loan just seems insane, no matter what the market is like. They were so afraid they would have to rent if things didn't go well. They probably should have rented anyway for awhile. It's not a sin to rent, especially if your previous foray into the wonderful world of real estate was an interest only loan.

[csichick]

I'm surprised the lack of railing on the staricase isn't a violation of code. It is in my area.

[Victorian Xmas]

I don't know why they didn't put one up, at least on the wall side, before this.

She said she liked the openness of the stairs.

I'm surprised the lack of railing on the staricase isn't a violation of code. It is in my area.

That area of Denver is grandfathered because of the age of the homes they do not have to put one up if they do not want to.

[Ahoskie59]

I'm surprised the lack of railing on the staricase isn't a violation of code. It is in my area.

I never thought of that but that is an interesting point. A friend of mine lives in Westchester in NY and when they bought their home her husband had to make a railing because there wasn't one of the staircase.

I wasn't surprised the couple on the show didn't bother with the railing, they didn't even follow up on their roof. The inspector couldn't go up there because it was snowing and they never followed up on it. I wonder how they're going to manage with a baby; to me they were wannabe hipsters who probably thought it was cool to have a loft home where they could sit and drink margaritas.

[lz1982]

They were so afraid they would have to rent if things didn't go well. They probably should have rented anyway for awhile. It's not a sin to rent, especially if your previous foray into the wonderful world of real estate was an interest only loan.

Yeah, it was weird how they talked about renting in such horrified tones. Maybe if they rented, they could save for a down payment and not need such a ridiculous loan next time. I wonder if they made a sizable down payment on their new house. The show made it sound like they were counting on making a profit to help with moving costs, but I know sometimes those things were scripted.

I actually liked their house, but I didn't understand why people who have or want kids would buy it.