WEBlue

Awww what a shame!

That's my big fear--if we ever do finally find a house we want to buy, someone may already be in the process of bidding on that very one. Some houses around here have been on the market months & months, and it's spring now, house-buying time!

Wibblypig

Awww nooooooo The house opposite it bank owned and we would love to buy it but don't have a big enough deposit or credit history yet, I would hate to see it sold but I suspect it will do before we have the chance to buy it

tinman0

Market for houses is dead in the US. As for bidding, if the property has had no offer (accepted) in months, then you are unlikely to be bidding against anyone.

The good thing about the US system is that once a sales contract is executed, the sellers cannot suddenly pull out and take a better offer.

If you haven't got on the market, this coming 12 months you need to move. Prices are not going to stay this low forever. Once the foreclosures have worked through the system (and there are even more coming up this year than ever before), the prices will start heading north again. Seriously, if you can afford it - buy now. This THE buyers market of a generation.

WEBlue

This is what we're hoping, LOL! My husband got upset a few weeks ago, because we found a house we might have liked, rang the realtor for a viewing the next day, then the realtor rang us back to cancel the viewing as it had just gone under contract. I told him that house obviously wan't meant for us, but he was crushed.

Yes, this is indeed a wonderful thing!

Thanks for the advice! You've confirmed our feeling that this is a unique opportunity. There's a lot on the market in our area & it takes some real footwork to separate the dross from the good stuff. We never thought it would take us this long to find a house, but we also never thought we'd have so much choice.

Southy, hope you can find another good deal!! There are surely some more out there in your area. . . .

Bob

OP...have you considered buying some land and just building from scratch? I've you've got the budget for a complete rebuild, it really isn't adding all that much more for a cardboard outer shell as the insulation would be the biggest cost....plenty of pre-fabs you can get if you won't want to make the frame quicker and easier.

Southy_SWFC

We have looked into it but at this point it doesn't make sense. The house we were looking at was $19,000 with the land itself valued at $28,000 so we'd have spent all our money on just buying land before we even start on the build. I think the way forward for us will be to buy somewhere that needs less work and spend the money up front. Its looking more and more likely we'll be heading out of the Augusta area which is a shame.

Bob

Look towards Lake St George. Minutes away, nice area...as long as the land/house isn't lake front, it's cheap as chips.

China, which is even closer isn't a bad spot to be in either.

Southy_SWFC

Never heard of lake st george but looked it up and it doesnt look far away. Think we'll be looking more at Hollowell, Gardner, Chelsea or Randolf first.

Bob

Anywhere along Rt 3 around the lake would be lovely, Liberty and Windsor are worth a look.

All close to Augusta....anything north of will be cheaper than towns south of.

Gardiner is a bit meh I though, but I don't know the other two towns at all. Winthrop might be worth a look too, to the west

Southy_SWFC

We drove through Gardiner on the way to Brunswick this weekend at it looked nice. Like anywhere it had its rougher areas but the houses looked good and theres some decent prices online.

Southy_SWFC

Going to look at another house today, albeit from the outside. This ones in a similar state but doesn't need as much doing to it. The water, electricity and gas lines are all certainly OK, just needs a load of hard work putting into it. Its also not in as nice an area as the other one but the location is good, if that makes sense.