Wyoming B.S. Thread

Between the soft faced and hard face they are my go to "hammers" outside of pounding in nails or stuff like t-posts. Use mine all the time. But just depends what all you are doing I suppose. Or what size dead
blow you have. The 13oz dead blow is probably my go to and works great for things like roll pins or when using punches. Then the bigger ones are great for aligning stuff

 

Hey so Ben... I just realized we've all been talking about your seals, but umm, you're replacing your shoes too, right? At least on the leaky side?

 

Solid point.

Need to do this as the oil soaked Are ruined now.

Oh lol I just use a mini sledge or real hammer for punches.

Or block of wood and mini sledge.

Only think I use the dead blow for is smacking something directly I don't want to damage.

 

Put an offer already on a house today. 26 acres.

No garage really. But lots of room to put one and killer views and house.

 

Awesome! Do you know if you're the only offer? Did you have to write in an escalation clause or anything? And where?!?! inquiring minds want to know

 

Escalation clause??

It's south of town about 10 miles. Pretty isolated but it's really nice.

Not sure on offers but it had 5 showings today. It was posted today too haha good ole housing market..

Luckily we had already seen it last year when it went for sale back then. So I put an offer in immediately.


Buuuttttt



Husband works the mine and due to the 5 showings. They aren't looking at any offers at all until tomorrow night so my quick wits didn't help us.

Not sure if any additional offers went in. Will find out tomorrow morning and if I want to adjust mine. I went lower but there is an unfinished basement and I put in my offer they don't need to finish it because they are planning on finishing it before sale is final. I'd rather do it myself for a studio build.

 

Good luck!

Escalation clause - sometimes also called a ladder - is where you make an offer of $300,000, but then add verbiage like this:

"Buyer agrees to pay $1,000 more than the highest offer received by the seller, not to exceed a sales price of $315,000."

That way, if someone comes in and offers $305K, instead of being bummed because you'd have paid that $6000 to get the place, you jump ahead of them and it's yours. At the same time, you only end up paying a little bit more than the "highest" bid, and not way more, b/c you were trying to be "safe" and bid a lot.

This is how I got my first house - I bid It was listed at $380K, I bid $400K, with an escalation up to $420K (5% more, which I figured was a small % in the overall scheme of a 30 year loan) and I ended up getting it for $407K. One of the best things I learned when making offers.

 

Interesting. None of my paper work even has that as an option. I'll ask tomorrow about it.

I don't really want to go above what they are asking. They have only lived there a year and bought it for 354k and listed it for 389900. It's not worth that. Not even worth 350 honestly because the well isn't a high production well. The appraisal is only 290k from the year look at records. But the market is so fucking high here.

It looks like they are just trying to break even accounting for sellers commission. But listed a but high to get offers.



Shits crazy out here now. No houses on the market. The one next to us finally went on the market Thursday. We've been watching them rebuilt it for over a year, it was a shit hole that some one got from a for closure. It's a nice house with a cool floor plan but the location is bad and neighborhood isn't great and lot is small. Only 1600' sq. We thought it would be 250-280k. Nope. 330 lol we've looked at house twice that big and newly built and huge lots in town for less in the last 6months.

Seller's market..

 

Just remember - what you think it should be worth, isn't what it is worth. It is worth what someone will pay for it.

At some point, offering "more than you think it is worth now" is WORTH IT, so that you actually get a house. An extra $50K (or whatever) over 30 years is a small price to pay to have a place to call home (where you can finally have a shop, etc.). Right now, the money you pay for rent - however many thousands that is a year - is just thrown away. Doesn't take too many years for that to add up to whatever little bit more you might offer on the house.

Also - the escalation clause doesn't have to be over their asking price. It's just an escalation of whatever your original offer is. Your offer could be:

Buyer offers $1, and buyer agrees to pay $1,000 more than the highest offer received by the seller, not to exceed a sales price of $XXX,000.

 

Yeah but with that logic I'd over pay and barely be able to afford living.

My loan approval is insanely high. But I'd have to completely stupid to even approach that price. I know some people do it and live pay check to pay check. Seems almost normal for Americans to live that way these days. The so called "American dream" haha I won't do that.

There is a line on cost and what I think it's worth. Cause that's what I'm willing to pay. If someone wants to pay more, than have at it.

And even then with this house it'll be a pretty high payment. There just sadly isn't much for a middle ground to build equity. Unless I bought a trailer house I guess lol not sure you can grow equity in those..

 

Congrats on finding a place to make an offer on at least! Be glad it was only 5 showings. Our house had at least 15 showings each of the three days it was on the market....which was as many as it could have due to how you had to schedule appointments with the covid stuff.

The wife and I also waited the three days to get all the offers together. Worked well in the end as the buyers agents would ask our agent what range the current offers were. Our agent kept all the buyers agents in the loop so by the time we got the offers they were already the "best". Made it simple for us and we didnt bother countering the one we picked.

Thankfully most people were understanding when our agent told them Monday night we would pick after telling them I was working 12 hour shifts the days the house was listed and the wife was working 12 hour minimum shifts at the hospital.



Im with you on theres what I thought the house is worth....which wasnt even in the ballpark of what it sold for lol.

Pretty much. If buyer X has a clause of say 110k. And Buyer Y has a clause saying up to 115k It would go to Buyer Y as the highest off. Wouldnt necessarily be 115k though as the clause would say "will beat any offer by Z amount up to 115k" So could be Buyer Y gets the "high offer" for 111k if Z was 1k.


When we sold our house we went with no escalation clauses. There are pro's and con's to them for sure. Our Agent pretty much did it behind the scenes by just keeping buyers agents informed...o hey they are getting offers in the X range now just so you know (where their offer was below X). But for a house with just a few offers its a lot simpler. We had 16 "official" offers after our three days and our agent told us there would have been more but the buyers agents asked for the current offer range and it was more than their clients could do so they didnt bother.

Its also important to remember highest price isnt always the best offer. Things like loan type (FHA vs VA vs conventional), agent fee's, inspections, ect all come into effect.

 

Just reading through all of this is stressing me out. Hopefully it works out for you guys as I am sure you're tired of giving somebody else your money in rent like we were.

I am glad we ended up buying when we moved this time, but I have to say I don't think I've ever been more stressed in my life. Driving a moving truck full of all of your stuff while hoping your paperwork is completed by the time you get there is something I do not want to do again. We literally got told we could get the keys 3 hours before we arrived. Moving for the military's needs and on their timeline is great

The market is heavily influencing where I would consider retiring if/when that day comes. I love it out West, but everything is so expensive compared to living just a little further East. In Northwest Arkansas (about 2 hours from all of our family) you can get a relatively modern 2,000+ sqft house on 80+ acres for ~$500k. Meanwhile you're lucky to get more than a couple acres it seems like out here.

 

I think you missed my point or I wasn't clear enough with my italics and bolding - I didn't say the house was worth what you or your bank said it was worth; it's worth the sale price - whatever someone (else) pays. That's just unarguable logic, because the house sold at that price. It might not be worth that same price in a month or a year (it could be more or less), and it might not appraise at that price, but at the moment in time, that is what it's worth to the market. Exactly the same as a stock price.

Totally, I get that, and I think you're right to keep your quality of life post-purchase in mind. Remember, we haven't talked about the actual cost of the house, or your cost of living, etc. so I had no idea if you were at that limit with your offer, or if you could go higher for a "nicer" house. If you are already at your upper limit - i.e. you couldn't find a "nicer" house and offer more, then yah, it may be that the current house is worth more (at this point in time) than you can/should pay and I commend you on having the wherewithall to recognize that. As you say, a lot of Americans don't.

Right, but then we're back to the point I made with Ben - the house is worth that additional amount at this point in time. And that's where I get into the "sometimes it's OK to overpay." Personal story again - my original budget on my first house started at $300K. I couldn't believe it that houses were listing for $300K and selling for $350K but eventually I upped my budget because that's what the market was dictating. Did I think the house I ended up buying was worth even the asking price? Nope, but I went above that because I'd been looking for 18 months, had personally gone to look at over 250 houses, and there was value to me in owning a place that I could fix up and really live in.

I totally get the variables like waiving inspections, agent fee's, earnest money, etc. being important, but I'm curious how the buyers loan type matters to the seller, as long as the buyer is pre-approved? To the seller, at the end of the day, there's one big check regardless of loan type, no?

All so true. Was stressful - but also fun for me to an extent. Maybe I'm just weird when it comes to financial stuff. I think the most stressful part for me was writing the earnest money check and then the down payment check. Yikes.

And market - yeah, it is getting costly out here. Still, there's a reason for that. Family further east might change the equation for me, but otherwise, I feel like it's just a price I'll have to pay to have public land around to enjoy.

​

 

It's our third house we've made a move on it 3 years. There just isn't any inventory here so when it comes up it's a mad dash.

They have 4 more showings tomorrow so they still aren't going to review any offers. So far though we are the only offer still. I'm sure that'll change. I'm feeling more confident as my offer includes them not finishing the basement which they are planning to do(some how in a month). Was told that will have some weight so will see.

Fun hahaha

And yeah we look at houses in different areas all the time and it is so much cheaper closer to the Mississippi. But..I can never leave. I love this place too much. West is best.

But yeah. Struggle is real. At least our rental isn't too bad. It's been great to us and cost of living in it is really quite low. My rent is only 800 a month and I only pay gas and electric no city bills due to our water being split with another house on the property so it's impossible to split it. It's been good and allowed me to save a lot. But I'm finding to get into anything that's not a POS that needs a new foundation, I need to spend 350-400k. Which is a lot and I don't have 20% down for that.

Well sure. Mean my original budget was under 300k. The. It was 325k. Then 350. Now it's like 400k but preferably under that. I'd be hurting to pay 400k but that's what stuff is going for.

None of then the worth their asking price haha which is scary in it's own right. To me it seems like stuff has been ballooning out of control for a while now. Surely it's going to pop like in 2008 again. And then what? Worth the risk either way I think.

But also one of the defining parts of my generation. Not being able to afford at least one or multiple things in life. Be it housing, medical bills, insurance, simple savings, or retirement. It seems almost impossible for a person to have all the above in an "acceptable" capacity these days.

Good ole life. I want to be 19 again with no worries hahahaha

 

Housing prices will fall again for sure. That's not a bad thing, necessarily.

I bought that first house I keep talking about in 2004 for $407K. By 2008, it'd climbed to something outrageous (in my mind), like $700K (zillow). In 2009, it fell to $425K (zillow) again. Today, it's worth $1.125M (zillow). So a "2008 drop" isn't a big deal in the scheme of things - as long as you can keep paying the mortgage and like the area where you are living. (that last bit is important too)

Nah, you only had one Tacoma then.

You have a good head on your shoulders, and good parents, so you'll be good and have fun through all the age ranges, I bet. But, you'll have more fun and be happier with a shop.

 

I would have to find the paperwork (isnt moving great...) but comparing two very similar offers, the main difference being FHA vs Conventional, the closing cost on the conventional was around ~1k lower than the FHA. Which isnt that much in the grand scheme of things but it could be. Why it was lower....no clue. Our agent did all the cost breakdown for us to show exactly how much would get paid for everything (and who was paying it..buyer vs seller)

Would also matter in the case of inspections as well. FHA do their own inspections by FHA inspectors (or appraisers, they seem to get called different things). They work for the bank more than the buyer/seller though. Thankfully they are only supposed to look for major stuff wrong though. But if they do note something, its that awkward time when the bank wont approve the loan so buyers/sellers have to figure it out. Which of course comes down to the offer. But if the buyer has waived their own inspection and repairs....you can see where it could be confusing.

But im not real estate person. Can only relay the experience we had from the past two months

 

true.

And i'd be much happier with a shop. This place doesn't have that..but like I said. Love of room to build one. Probably be a bit before I could build something but no clue on that.

Also good god, seattle is nuts haha It's bad here but I don't think the housing prices are going to double any time soon.

 

Seattle is crazy and it's metro is no better, my parents bought a second house there and the only way they had a chance at getting it was it was a cash offer.

Also, in less adult news, I'm probably buying another car to flip. This one is gonna be fun cause it's entirely out of my usual wheelhouse

 

Not to be a pessimist but I'd wait for the bubble to pop and then look for a house. No sense buying in a seller's market if you can wait another year or so. @Blackdawg Lander is the same way. Everybody from the cities are buying here now.

 

Dubois is the same, everyone who can leave high tax metro-hellholes is. Hopefully they’re not bringing their politics with them.