Bidding.

[badmomma]

I believe that bidding on a house is one of the most important parts of a purchase.

It isn't quite like an auction but the highest bidder usually wins. If you want the home but don't think its worth what they are asking its ok to put in a bid for a lesser amount.

Sometimes you will actually get the home at that price. Many times however you will not unless you are willing to go up on your offer. I recently lost a bid war and did not offer any more.

The home that I was looking at was in need of some real repairs and expensive ones at that. I wasn't looking to drop thousands more into a home that I had to pay over $10k to purchase and had to make major repairs too.

Its all up to you and what you think you can handle financially. Oh and what you are going to get out of it afterward. Me I want a little more profit not less.

[flippinout]

If the repairs were going to be that expensive, plus time consuming, you are probably better off that you lost the bid.

Plus, you have to take into consideration all the problems that you cant see at first glance but will run across after the house has been purchased and you have gone in with your contractor to get a bid on the repairs.

These hidden problems can end up being even more expensive than the ones you knew about at the time you bought the property. There can be roof problems that you havent seen yet or problems with the wiring, or the basement that you arent aware of but that can end up costing a lot to have redone.

Put the additional problems you find on top of the ones you know about, and you end up paying dearly for what should have been an easy fix up.

[badmomma]

It is important to really check the house over really well. I like to turn on the lights in all the rooms.

Its also a great idea to bring something to plug into the wall plugs. Sometimes they don't work.

If you have a man who knows anything about the electrical box you should have him take a look at it.

You also need to check the heating and cooling system. By all means ask questions and if they can't answer them ask that they get some answers for you.

[luv2flip]

Losing a bid is not always a bad thing, if the expense is going to be too high for repairs you are probably bitting off more then you can chew or even want too.

[Geraldine]

A friend of mine tried for several houses in the same neighborhood and missed out on both of them. He was totally bummed until he found out that both houses had constantly had water in the crawl spaces. Turned out that was a big problem with the entire subdivision and very expensive to correct, not to mention the damage that had already been done. That was a big WHEW. Another thing on his list to check for before bidding on a house I guess. In his defense, there wasn't access to any of the houses beforehand. Guess he knows why now lol.

[badmomma]

That is exactly what I am talking about. Buying a home would seem like a simple task but there are so many things to be wary of.

We bought our current home and have loved it. It also has issues that no one pointed out.

There is a place in the back yard that fills up with water. It becomes a small pond every year and is infuriating.

There was a fire in the home at some point that we also did not know about. It wasn't until we started to redo the basement that we found the evidence hidden under drywall.

We also were not told the the man who lived here buried lots of aluminum siding and other scrap in the yard. We spent years finding it and getting rid of it.

Some things aren't going to be known to the realtor either so they can't tell you. If you get to spend time with the home owner ask questions. Its important to get to know the home as deeply as you can the surface may be a disguise covering up years of horror.